Bufo will have two major premieres at the Fantastic Fest, the biggest genre festival in the US!
Ilja Rautsi‘s debut feature horror-comedy, RED SNOW, will have its world premiere in the Horror Competition while Markus Lehmusruusu’s futuristic drama, THE SQUIRREL, will celebrate its international premiere as part of the Official Selection.
In Red Snow, a vampire disguised as Santa Claus invades the home of a family whose rebellious teenage daughter wants only one thing: to become a vampire herself and escape her miserable life. Mostly known for his work as a screenwriter on HATCHING and NIGHTBORN, Ilja Rautsi made a name for himself with two outrageous short films that have travelled to and won awards at festivals around the world: HELSINKI MANSPLAINING MASSACRE and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DICKS, both produced by Bufo. Charades is handling the international sales for Red Snow.
The Squirrel is an original drama set in a futuristic universe. In a sterile world without nature or animals, Pasi, a lonely designer of synthetic pets, unexpectedly discovers the last surviving squirrel. He decides to defy the rules and keep it alive, but things don’t go quite according to plan: the squirrel gets depressed, Pasi falls in love, and his carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Markus Lehmusruusu’s films explore the identities we build—and what happens when they no longer feel true. His feature RICKY RAPPER AND THE STRONGMAN was the most-watched Finnish film in Finnish cinemas in 2019. Reinvent Yellow is handling the international sales for The Squirrel.
The Fantastic Fest is taking place from September 17th to September 24th, 2026, in Austin, Texas.
