Fantasia 2025 | Foreigner

At Fantasia 2025, Foreigner emerges as a quietly powerful meditation on belonging and otherness. Set in the early 2000s, the film follows Yasamin, a Persian newcomer navigating the fraught social landscape of a Canadian high school. What begins as a tentative coming-of-age drama steadily unfurls into an undercurrent of unease, as subtle acts of exclusion and coded microaggressions build toward a simmering sense of dread.

Visually, cinematographer Saarthak Taneja excels at transforming mundane school corridors and classrooms into spaces charged with tension. Every lingering shot of locker-lined hallways or sidelong glances in the cafeteria feels deliberately measured, inviting the viewer to lean in and catch the small moments where Yasamin’s confidence falters. Complementing this is Finka Wood’s synth-driven score, which—without resorting to jump-scare gimmicks—wraps the narrative in an atmosphere that’s both nostalgic and unsettling.

But it’s Rose Dehgan’s performance that anchors the film. She brings a layered vulnerability to Yasamin, capturing the brave façade a teenager erects while feeling profoundly out of place. Dehgan’s takeaway scenes—like her tentative first friendship or her reaction to a whispered insult—resonate long after the credits roll.

In its understated way, Foreigner doesn’t just depict the immigrant experience; it makes you feel how small indignities can pile up into something disorienting and even frightening. It’s a haunting but empathetic portrait of a young woman caught in a displacement between two worlds—and a reminder that horror can thrive in the everyday.

Courtesy of Fantasia Film Festival

The 2025 Fantasia Film Festival runs from July 16th to August 3rd.