SINISTER HORROR FILM FESTIVAL — THE SECOND EDITION

December 13–14, 2025 | Cinemanía Plaza Loreto | Mexico City

On December 13 and 14, 2025, Sinister Horror Film Festival returned to Mexico City for its second edition, bringing together two days of horror cinema, animation, music videos, photography, screenwriting, and conversation at Cinemanía Plaza Loreto.

The 2025 edition marked an important step in the festival’s development. Its Official Selection brought together work from Mexico, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, Canada, Italy, Spain, Sweden, France, China, and other parts of the world, creating a program shaped by very different approaches to horror and dark storytelling.

For filmmakers, artists, guests, and audiences in attendance, the weekend extended beyond the screenings themselves, with interviews, red-carpet appearances, meetings between programs, and spaces to spend time together throughout the festival.

An International Program

The second edition expanded Sinister’s international presence through a selection that crossed countries, production scales, styles, and formats.

Feature films and shorts shared the program with animation and music videos, while screenwriting and horror photography extended the competition beyond the screen.

Rather than presenting a single idea of what horror should look like, the 2025 selection reflected the range of the genre itself — from different cultural perspectives to contrasting visual languages, filmmaking traditions, and approaches to atmosphere, fear, and imagination.

The complete Official Selection can be explored here:

Official Selection — Films, Animation & Music Videos

Official Selection — Screenwriting & Horror Photography

Two Days at Cinemanía Plaza Loreto

Cinemanía Plaza Loreto returned as the home of Sinister for its second edition.

Its longstanding relationship with independent cinema in Mexico City provided a natural setting for a festival designed not only around watching films, but around spending time with the people behind them.

Across both days, screenings were accompanied by interviews, red-carpet photography, conversations between filmmakers and attendees, and opportunities to meet between programs. These moments became as much a part of the weekend as the films on screen, giving participating creators a visible presence throughout the event.

The Sinister Awards

The second edition concluded its awards season on January 26, 2026, with the Sinister Awards Ceremony.

Presented online, the ceremony allowed filmmakers and artists from different parts of the world to take part beyond the physical screenings held in Mexico City and recognized achievements across directing, performance, cinematography, screenwriting, visual effects, music, makeup effects, photography, animation, and other creative and technical disciplines.

At the center of the ceremony were the festival’s highest recognitions.

Archai, directed by Eugenio Villani, received the Sinister Award for Best Horror Film, while Moral Hazard, directed by Luuk Audenaerde, received the Sinister Award for Best Horror Short Film.

The second edition also recognized Benjamin L. Brown for Best Director — Feature Film for Severed Road and Roberto Montalbo for Best Director — Short Film for Rear Road.

The Audience Award went to Speira by José Cruz Carrasco, adding the voice of festival audiences to the awards presented by the jury.

The complete list of winners is available here:

Complete Winners List — SHFF II

Honorable Mentions

Alongside the official award recipients, the second edition presented Honorable Mentions to a group of works that distinguished themselves during the selection process.

Among those recognized were Infiniteness of Nostalgia by Alejandro Nájera, Cassandra Insköld’s Last Word by Dan Asenlund, The Boy and Pitaya by Da Yu Hong, Mater Tenebrarum – Gehenna by Gabriel Alcón, and Goodnight Sweetheart by Kathrin Told.

These distinctions allowed the festival to recognize work that made a particular impression without expanding the competitive award structure itself.

The complete list of Honorable Mentions can be found here:

Complete Honorable Mentions — SHFF II

What the Second Edition Established

More than simply increasing the number and geographic range of submissions, the second edition helped define what Sinister wanted its festival experience to become.

The weekend placed greater emphasis on the visibility of participating creators, the social experience surrounding the screenings, and the idea that selection should involve more than having a title appear in a program.

Sinister Magazine also extended that relationship beyond the event itself through interviews, coverage, and editorial features connected to participating filmmakers and artists.

By the end of its second edition, Sinister had begun establishing the elements that would shape its next stage: international curation, recognition of the people behind the work, and a festival experience built around both cinema and the community gathered around it.

Special Thanks

Sinister Horror Film Festival extends its thanks to the partners, collaborators, artists, filmmakers, guests, and audiences who made the second edition possible.

Special thanks to Cinemanía Plaza Loreto for once again opening its doors to the festival and supporting independent and genre cinema in Mexico City.

We also thank Newtopia Studios, THE CR3W Studio, and Sinister Magazine for their collaboration and creative support throughout the second edition.