To the main content To the footer
Programme Sections

Fanomenon

Fantasy, sci-fi, horror, dark comedy, cult films, the unclassifiable, and much more. This year we present an expanded programme of new films, two new competitions, and a retrospective, The Weird of Oz.

Fanomenon is packed with acclaimed new films that have wowed, shocked, thrilled, mesmerised, moved and entertained audiences at film festivals around the world. This year’s highlights include Thibault Emin’s psychedelic body-horror Else, John Hsu’s madcap ghost hit Dead Talents Society, a thrilling anthology from South Korea inspired by the Hemingway story The Killers, and Joel Potrykus’ Vulcanizadora, a raw and darkly comedic exploration of outcasts and misfits.

We are delighted to launch two new competitions for Fanomenon at LIFF 2024 – one for feature films with seven UK Premieres, and one for short films which has grown from our very popular selection of fantastic genre shorts.

Also very popular, our Fanathon film marathons return for LIFF 2024 with Sci-Fi day on 2 November, Day of the Dead on 9 November, and Night of the Dead on 15 November, this year opening with the world premiere of Aidan Leary’s Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round.

Films at LIFF 2024

  • The Gesuidouz

    Dir. Kenichi Ugana
    Fanomenon
    Fri 1 Nov - Sat 16 Nov
    Kenichi Ugana’s delightfully deadpan comedy about the creative process follows a misfit horror-themed punk band as they retreat to rural Japan to find inspiration.
    Tickets
    • Fri 1 Nov
      18:45 - 20:18
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets
    • Sun 3 Nov
      15:45 - 17:18
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets
    • Sat 16 Nov
      11:00 - 12:33
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets

  • Escape from the 21st Century

    Dir. Yang Li
    Fanomenon Opening Film
    Fri 1 Nov and Sun 3 Nov
    A wildly imaginative sci-fi action comedy adventure where three teenage friends sneeze and fight their way to the future and back to save their Earth-like planet..
    Tickets
    • Fri 1 Nov
      20:45 - 22:23
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 12
      Tickets
    • Sun 3 Nov
      17:00 - 18:38
      Cottage Road Cinema, Leeds
      Screen 1
      Tickets

  • A Samurai in Time

    Dir. Jun'ichi Yasuda
    Fanomenon
    Sat 2 Nov - Sat 16 Nov
    A sleeper box office hit in Japan, this heartfelt fish-out-of-water comedy pays loving homage to samurai cinema with a time-travelling twist.
    Vue in the Light, Leeds
    Screen 11
    Tickets
    • Sat 2 Nov
      11:00 - 13:11
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
    • Mon 4 Nov
      14:45 - 16:56
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
    • Sat 16 Nov
      13:00 - 15:11
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets

  • Sci-Fi Day

    Fanomenon / Fanathon
    Sat 2 Nov - 14:00
    Join us for this year's Sci-Fi Day marathon and explore a subatomic universe, a cosmic cult, dating in space after the Earth explodes, and the mystery of time.
    Vue in the Light, Leeds
    Screen 11
    Tickets

  • The A-Frame

    Dir. Calvin Lee Reeder
    Fanomenon / Sci-fi Day
    Sat 2 Nov and Mon 4 Nov
    A mind-bending sci-fi tale about an ambitious inventor who accidentally discovers a cancer treatment while opening a portal to a subatomic universe.
    Vue in the Light, Leeds
    Screen 11
    Tickets
    • Sat 2 Nov
      14:00 - 15:22
      Sci-fi Day
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
    • Mon 4 Nov
      12:45 - 14:07
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets

  • Jupiter

    Dir. Benjamin Pfohl
    Fanomenon / Competition
    Sat 2 Nov - Sun 10 Nov
    In this dark sci-fi drama, a teenage girl grapples with her family’s deepening devotion to a cosmic cult that promises a higher existence on Jupiter.
    Tickets
    • Sat 2 Nov
      16:00 - 17:40
      Sci-fi Day
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
    • Thu 7 Nov
      16:15 - 17:55
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 12
      Tickets
    • Sun 10 Nov
      20:00 - 21:40
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets

  • U Are the Universe

    Dir. Pavlo Ostrikov
    Fanomenon / Competition
    Sat 2 Nov - Fri 15 Nov
    After Earth explodes, a Ukrainian space trucker thinks he is the last living person in the universe until he receives a call from a French woman named Catherine.
    Tickets
    • Sat 2 Nov
      18:30 - 20:00
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
    • Thu 7 Nov
      21:00 - 22:30
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 12
      Tickets
    • Fri 15 Nov
      20:30 - 22:00
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 12
      Tickets

  • Tim Travers and the Time Travellers Paradox

    Dir. Stimson Snead
    Fanomenon / Sci-fi Day
    Sat 2 Nov - Fri 8 Nov
    In this wildly comedic, time-traveling, and universe-breaking adventure, an eccentric inventor embarks on a quest to unravel the mystery of time - mostly because he’s bored.
    Tickets
    • Sat 2 Nov
      20:30 - 22:20
      Sci-fi Day
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
    • Mon 4 Nov
      20:30 - 22:20
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
    • Fri 8 Nov
      20:30 - 22:20
      Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
      Screen 1
      Tickets

  • How to Make a Killing

    Dir. Frank Dubosc
    Fanomenon
    Sun 3 Nov - Wed 6 Nov
    Dark crime comedy set in the forests of the Jura mountains in France about a married couple whose monotonous life turns shady when they discover a €2 million loot.
    Vue in the Light, Leeds
    Screen 12
    Tickets
    • Sun 3 Nov
      13:30 - 15:19
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 12
      Tickets
    • Tue 5 Nov
      15:45 - 17:34
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 12
      Tickets
    • Wed 6 Nov
      20:45 - 22:34
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 12
      Tickets

  • Animalia Paradoxa

    Dir. Niles Atallah
    Fanomenon / Competition
    Sun 3 Nov and Fri 8 Nov
    Niles Atallah conjures an astonishingly rich post-apocalyptic world in which a strange, human-amphibian creature struggles to survive.
    Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
    Screen 4
    Tickets
    • Sun 3 Nov
      13:45 - 15:05
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets
    • Fri 8 Nov
      15:45 - 17:05
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets

  • Fantastic Planet

    Dir. René Laloux
    Fanomenon / Retro:Rene Laloux
    Sun 3 Nov - 13:45 - 14:57
    René Laloux's mesmerising psychedelic sci-fi animated feature won the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and is a landmark of European animation.
    Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
    Screen 1
    Tickets

  • Time Masters

    Dir. René Laloux
    Fanomenon / Retro: Rene Laloux
    Sun 3 Nov - 15:30 - 16:48
    Presented in a new 4K digital restoration, Time Masters is the animated space adventure from visionary director René Laloux and legendary comic artist Mœbius.
    Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
    Screen 1
    Tickets

  • Drone

    Dir. Simon Bouisson
    Fanomenon
    Sun 3 Nov - Wed 6 Nov
    In this tense Paris-set thriller about the invasive gaze of new technology, a young student is increasingly disturbed by a mysterious drone.
    Vue in the Light, Leeds
    Screen 11
    Tickets
    • Sun 3 Nov
      18:45 - 20:35
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
    • Tue 5 Nov
      13:30 - 15:20
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
    • Wed 6 Nov
      20:30 - 22:20
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets

  • Sister Midnight

    Dir. Karan Kandhari
    Fanomenon
    Sun 3 Nov - Fri 8 Nov
    In this fantastical punk comedy written and directed by Karan Kandhari, a frustrated and misanthropic newlywed gives free rein to her feral impulses.
    Tickets
    • Sun 3 Nov
      20:30 - 22:20
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets
    • Tue 5 Nov
      18:15 - 20:05
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets
    • Fri 8 Nov
      11:30 - 13:20
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 12
      Tickets

  • Vulcanizadora

    Dir. Joel Potrykus
    Fanomenon / Competition
    Fri 8 Nov - Fri 15 Nov
    Cult director Joel Potrykus presents a darkly comedic and unpredictable exploration of two aging slackers intent on carrying out a disturbing pact.
    Vue in the Light, Leeds
    Screen 11
    Tickets
    • Fri 8 Nov
      13:45 - 15:10
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
    • Sun 10 Nov
      21:00 - 22:25
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
    • Fri 15 Nov
      18:00 - 19:25
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets

  • Chlorophyll

    Dir. Ivana Gloria
    Fanomenon / Competition
    Fri 8 Nov and Sun 10 Nov
    In this intimate film fairy tale from Italy, Maia - whose hair and blood are naturally green - is constantly drawn to connect with nature, trees and flowers.
    Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
    Screen 4
    Tickets
    • Fri 8 Nov
      18:30 - 19:45
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets
    • Sun 10 Nov
      18:15 - 19:30
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets

  • Day of the Dead

    Fanomenon / Fanathon
    Sat 9 Nov - 13:00
    The Day of the Dead marathon is back for LIFF 2024 with a psychedelic body horror, a supernatural horror comedy, and two horror thrillers.
    Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
    Screen 1
    Tickets

  • Else

    Dir. Thibault Emin
    Fanomenon / Competition / Day of the Dead
    Sat 9 Nov and Thu 14 Nov
    Thibault Emin's mesmerizing debut feature is a body horror romance set amid a strange epidemic that causes the infected to melt into their surroundings.
    Tickets
    • Sat 9 Nov
      13:30 - 15:10
      DAY OF THE DEAD
      Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
      Screen 1
      Tickets
    • Thu 14 Nov
      18:00 - 19:40
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets

  • The Weekend

    Dir. Daniel Oriahi
    Fanomenon / Day of the Dead
    Sat 9 Nov - 15:45 - 17:42
    A smart and suspenseful horror thriller from Nigerian director Daniel Orhian, rooted in family values and culture but with a deliciously dark twist.
    Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
    Screen 1
    Tickets

  • She Loved Blossoms More

    Dir. Yannis Veslemes
    Fanomenon / Competition
    Sat 9 Nov and Tue 12 Nov
    The Greek weird wave just got gloriously weirder with Yannis Veslemes’ existential fever dream about time travel and family ties.
    Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
    Screen 4
    Tickets
    • Sat 9 Nov
      18:00 - 19:26
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets
    • Tue 12 Nov
      20:30 - 21:56
      Everyman Cinema Leeds, Leeds
      Screen 4
      Tickets

  • Dead Talents Society

    Dir. John Hsu
    Fanomenon
    Sat 9 Nov - Wed 13 Nov
    Ghosts must be frightening enough to survive in the afterlife in this delightful and hilarious paranormal rivalry romp from Taiwan.
    Tickets
    • Sat 9 Nov
      18:45 - 20:30
      DAY OF THE DEAD
      Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
      Screen 1
      Tickets
    • Sun 10 Nov
      15:00 - 16:45
      Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
      Screen 1
      Tickets
    • Wed 13 Nov
      20:45 - 22:30
      Vue in the Light, Leeds
      Screen 11
      Tickets
of 2