‘Heat of Madness’ Sets World Premiere at Sitges 2026‘
Karim Ouelhaj is returning to the festival circuit with Heat of Madness, his follow-up to Megalomaniac, which will make its World Premiere at the Sitges International Film Festival on Oct. 14.
The Belgian filmmaker’s latest project continues his exploration of psychologically and visually confrontational genre cinema, this time following a desperate criminal whose pursuit of stolen money gradually carries him beyond reality and into something more supernatural.
Olivier Picard stars as Scola, a man preparing to become a father who hopes one final heist will provide the score he needs to change his life. Instead, his accomplices betray him and disappear with the loot, leaving Scola consumed by his determination to recover what was taken.
His search develops into a vengeful journey that eventually leads him into a supernatural world. Along the way, Scola encounters Petite Pomme, a mysterious figure played by Julie Carroll who attempts to make him recognize what his obsession is doing to him.
What follows is described as a road trip resembling purgatory, with Scola caught between confronting reality and surrendering completely to madness. The film moves through questions of obsession, guilt and redemption as the boundaries separating the physical and supernatural worlds become increasingly unstable.
Heat of Madness marks Ouelhaj’s first feature since Megalomaniac, his bleak 2022 horror film that earned the Cheval Noir Award for Best Film at the Fantasia International Film Festival. The film subsequently played more than 50 festivals internationally and collected more than 20 awards during its run.
For his follow-up, Ouelhaj appears to be pushing further into the heightened visual and psychological territory that defined his previous work.
The filmmaker describes Heat of Madness as a significant progression in his approach, with individual frames designed to function as pictorial compositions and the film constructed as an immersive sensory experience.
“Heat of Madness represents a major step in my career,” Ouelhaj said. “It combines a striking visual aesthetic with a fully immersive sensory experience, each frame designed as a self-contained pictorial composition.”
Ouelhaj cites art history among the film’s major influences, specifically the work of Moritz Retzsch, Jean-François Millet, Léon Spilliaert and René Magritte. Dante’s Purgatorio also informs the film’s journey and its examination of the different layers of the human soul.
“Drawing inspiration from art history and Dante’s Purgatorio, the film explores the layers of the human soul as well as our personal, psychological journeys,” Ouelhaj said.
Despite its visual ambitions and transgressive approach, the filmmaker says the intention remains to deliver an emotionally accessible experience rather than allowing the film’s stylistic construction to overwhelm its central character.
The premise provides a natural framework for those influences. Scola’s increasingly surreal journey places a criminal story inside what appears to become a psychological and supernatural descent, with the road itself functioning as a space between guilt, punishment and the possibility of redemption.
Ouelhaj wrote and directed Heat of Madness. Picard and Carroll are joined by Claudio Dos Santos and Louise Moor.
Florence Saâdi and Ouelhaj produced the film through their production company OKAYSS, with Justyna Koronkiewicz of Media Move handling international sales.
The World Premiere is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Oct. 14 at Sitges’ Sala Tramuntana Meliá, with Ouelhaj and select members of the cast and crew expected to attend.
For audiences familiar with the uncompromising darkness of Megalomaniac, Heat of Madness appears ready to send Ouelhaj’s characters into another unforgiving space — only this time, the road between reality and madness may lead somewhere beyond either one.
Heat of Madness makes its World Premiere Oct. 14 at the 2026 Sitges International Film Festival.
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