A mix of naked screenings, cosmic queer sci-fi, gothic horror scares, and razor-sharp satires will be on show at the Fantastic Film Festival Australia when it returns to Sydney (Ritz Cinema, Randwick) and Melbourne (Lido Cinemas, Hawthorn) in April.

Australia’s premier event for celebrating the cross-section of cult, genre and arthouse cinema has scoured the globe for this year’s lineup of films, presenting a selection of pioneering stories from auteurs unbounded by the limits of passion and imagination.

The festival will open with the first screening of Robert Eggars’ action-filled Viking epic The Northman, starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Björk, and Willem Dafoe. The film will screen at midnight, with drinks and a DJ performance starting at 11pm.

Sundance breakout We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is also part of the program. Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s debut feature follows a teenage girl on a path of self-exploration through an online roleplaying game.

After the success of last year’s nude screening, FFFA will host a 25th Anniversary naked screening of the award-winning comedy The Full Monty. Audiences are encouraged to embrace the spirit of the film and strip bare for a cinematic experience that won’t soon be forgotten.