Drag Me To Fest (6)

Festival start: 28 November 2026      Festival end: 29 November 2026

Drag Me To Fest is the independent horror film festival that lights up Milan with a unique and immersive program and takes place at the end of November. Founded in November 2021 through the collaboration between Joe Godoy Gonzalez, Art Director and creator of the horror website Non Aprite Questo Blog, and filmmaker Chiara Natalini, the festival is a shining beacon for horror lovers—an event that has become a unique point of reference for fans, filmmakers, collectors, and the entire Italian horror community, ready to drag you straight into horror.

Located in the heart of Milan, at WAO Romolo C30, Drag Me To Fest offers a celebration of independent horror cinema in a 480-square-meter space designed to host screenings, talks, and special activities in a single, atmospheric home for horror. With the aim of rediscovering and enhancing the collective experience of cinema, the festival creates a unique environment where the magic of the big screen is shared and enjoyed live. This partnership, strongly supported by WAO, seeks to open new and thriving horizons for culture and cinematic meeting spaces in the city of Milan.

Drag Me To Fest collaborates with sponsors and partners such as Midnight Factory (a label of Plaion Pictures), WAO, Taboo, Rustblade Records, Vagin Lover, Horror Park, Fulci, Mostro Production, Bloodbuster, Horror Italia 24, Horror Dipendenza, and Nocturno Cinema.

Drag Me To Fest is much more than just a festival: it is a celebration of creativity and innovation within the horror film landscape. If you are passionate about horror movies and want to discover the latest trends in the genre in a stimulating atmosphere, don’t miss the chance to take part in this unmissable event.

Our prize is the audience

Since its birth, Drag Me To Fest has embraced an ideology that abolishes the concept of awards—a system that pushes cinema to be seen more as a competition than as a “place” of intellectual and emotional encounter. This does not mean that we do not believe in the pursuit of quality, and for this reason we always work to guarantee a careful selection of the films that can access our festival. But we want to remove the idea of assigning hierarchical value to works and avoid rhetorical thank-yous and self-celebration, focusing instead on giving visibility to the entire crew and to the stories that led to the completion of each film. The only “prize” we aim to guarantee through our work is a high-quality audience.

Films taking part in the festival may be selected to be included in a DVD-format anthology distributed worldwide.

Feature Films Category

• Eligibility: All horror/thriller feature films are accepted, including all subgenres.

• length: The maximum allowed running time is 120 minutes, end credits included.

• Year of Production: Films must have been produced no earlier than 2024.

• language and subtitles: Films not in Italian must have english or Italian subtitles.


Short Films Category

• Eligibility: All horror/thriller short films are accepted, including all subgenres.

• length: The maximum allowed running time is 20 minutes, end credits included.

• Year of Production: Films must have been produced no earlier than 2024.

• language and subtitles: Films must have english or Italian subtitles.


Festival Information

• Venue and Date: The festival will take place at WAO, Viale Cassala 30, Milan.


General Conditions

• Rights to the Work: By submitting the work, the author declares they own all necessary rights to the film and releases the festival from any liability.

• Promotional Use: By submitting, the author grants Drag Me To Fest the right to use excerpts and trailers for promotional purposes.

• Screening Authorization: Whoever submits the film or script guarantees they have the authorization to present the work at the festival.

• No Screening Fee: By submitting, the author accepts that the film may be screened without screening fees.

• Legal Responsibility: By submitting, the author agrees to protect the festival from any claims or legal expenses related to copyright, trademarks, credits, advertising, screenings, and damage or loss of the submitted works.

Required Material if Selected (to be sent via WeTransfer)

• Film copy in HD 1920x1080, H.264 MP4 format
• Signed release form
• english subtitles in SRT format and a transcript with timecode
• Film trailer, maximum 2 minutes
• Short film synopsis
• Director’s photo and biography
• Digital film poster
• Any backstage photos
• Cast and crew list