Started in 1999 as the Flickers’ Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival, the festival was rebranded in 2015 as the Flickers’ Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Film Festival, or Vortex for short. The festival was created due to the high volume of genre entries received every year as well as the high demand for more genre screenings from the dynamic Flickers’ audience. This year’s festival will be taking place October 8-11 at venues throughout the city of Providence, highlighting a selection of 60 genre films. Check out the 2026 program below!
The Flickers’ Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Film Festival is Proud to Bring You Another Warped Year of Fear, Malice, Murder and Mayhem…
This October 8-11, 2026, the Flickers’ Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Film Festival will screen some of the world’s greatest independent fright films. Films presented will be from across the globe and represent a broad range of cinematic styles and approaches to the genre.
The Flickers’ Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Film Festival is an eerie-sistable salute to an often overlooked genre that will include numerous world premieres of shorts and features including the best of films submitted in competition from all over the globe. We guarantee that you will not see anything like them anywhere else. Don’t miss your chance to see these incredible works and maybe meet some of the filmmakers!
The ‘weekend of frights’ will occur at the hauntingly historic Uptown Theater as well as Apple Cinemas in the Providence Place Mall. Check out the 2026 program below!
In addition, check out highlights from last year’s festival here —>
