South African HORRORFEST (22)

Festival start: 28 October 2026      Festival end: 08 November 2026

2026 will be our 22nd annual edition of the South African HorrorFest, the original all-encompassing Halloween-season Horror event on the African continent.

The Horrorfest includes its main film festival component with feature films and short films from around the world (featuring many premieres); plus a literature chapter, short story competition (resulting in best-of anthologies published) as well as author readings; Halloween dress-up; live movie soundtrack performance to classic silent films and more.

Join our Horrorfest YouTube channel for video updates, trailers, awards clips, reviews and more: https://www.youtube.com/TheHorrorfest?sub_confirmation=1

The SA Horrorfest has been included in prestigious lists of Best Horror Festivals In The World, including Movie Maker Magazine and Dread Central.

We value real movies made by real people, so AI "creations" will be taken less seriously.

After the covid period, the on-line streaming chapter has been paused, so only just cinema screenings are in the pipeline, although request for those not in the Cape Town area have been made, so we will look into restarting the on-line option (that is why the submission options still include streaming on top of the cinema exhibition) - stay tuned for updates (following our social media would be the best way to stay up to date - access all at this link and do subscribe / like / follow etc. :

https://linktr.ee/SAhorrorfest

If the on-line addition is reinstated, filmmakers can decide whether they want their movies to be geo-blocked for Africa only, or whether they'd like it to be accessible all over the world as part of the festival's Global Horrorfest.

All genre variants are accepted, as long as it contains Horror elements.

Join us at all our social media locations to stay in the loop on all festival developments, news and more, and subscribe at our new YouTube channel The Horrorfest where we feature all selected movie trailers, as well as filmmaker interviews and all manner of Horror culture.

All links accessible at https://linktr.ee/SAhorrorfest

When submitting, please ensure all our e-mail addresses are on your safe / white list to avoid it landing in spam and missing any notifications

- They include:

contact@horrorfest.info
SAhorrorfest@gmail.com
info@flamedrop.com

Screening Fee Shorts: 15$
Screening Fee Features: 15$

The highest quality movies are acknowledged with award certificates across a wide range of categories.

After the pandemic the Horrorfest was forced on-line.

This component was excluded in recent years, but we're looking at bringing it back as a hybrid event with both cinema and on-line shows for those too far outside of Cape Town and the rest of South Africa.
(With the niche nature of the event and all budget going into promotion of the festival and selected movies, unfortunately screening fees cannot be offered)

While we cannot tell you not to use AI in your production, please keep in mind that we value real movies made by real people, so AI "creations" will be taken less seriously. We understand that this is becoming a part of our lives, but as an indie event, we choose to keep real art alive.

When submitting, please select the AI Enhanced category (this goes for both visuals and music).

We won't award a Best Visual Effects or Best Soundtrack award to a prompt, so please be honest as we wouldn't want put anyone through the embarrassment of stripping it afterwards.

Please ensure all our e-mail addresses are on your white list as confirmation messages and other festival updates & communication can often land in spam. Our mails include: contact@horrorfest.info / SAhorrorfest@gmail.com / info@flamedrop.com

And please like / subscribe / follow all our social media accounts where you'll get instant festival updates, news and access our Horror community. You'll find all links here: https://linktr.ee/SAhorrorfest

There are no restrictions for the production's country of origin.

All languages allowed, but need (hardcoded) English subtitles if in another language.

Flamedrop Productions / Shadow Realm inc., and the South African HorrorFest cannot guarantee that the short- or feature films submitted will be selected and shown in public / on-line, as the festival selection members / committee will be the final arbiters.

If selected, your movie will be included in the virtual on-line chapter of the festival with select productions getting physical cinema shows as well (cinema slots are limited and we cannot include all selected titles for in person screenings).

You also agree to grant the Horrorfest non-exclusive permission to prospectively screen your feature film / short film after the official festival date as part of an Encore Best-Of replay program (including a selection of nominees and category winners).

Permission must be granted from the relevant rights holders (where applicable) of any copyrighted material used in your production (eg. music, film, video, news, audio, clips from other sources etc.), and the organizers of the South African HorrorFest cannot be held liable for the unlawful use of such material in submitted works.

It is preferred that your production is not streaming on any platform or run in any South African cinemas prior to, or during the Horrorfest period (late-October / earl-November). Please notify us if this will be the case.

Real pornography, human or animal abuse will not be tolerated and such entries will be discarded, and if necessary, reported.

If additional physical materials are supplied to the SA HorrorFest (discs, flash drives, external drives), these are non-returnable.

Information supplied on your production will be used in various Flamedrop Productions / Shadow Realm inc. / SA HorrorFest online and print publications as promotion.