Born in 1968 as the 1st International Week of Fantasy and Horror Movies, today the Barcelona-Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is considered the world’s foremost festival for international fantasy and horror films. Film buffs of these genres flock to Sitges and every hotel, Barcelona Apartments and hostel is full to bursting so if you plan to go, early booking is essential. The festival is an essential rendezvous for movie lovers and audiences eager to come into contact with new tendencies and technologies applied to film and the audiovisual world. This ten day long festival is one of the best in Spain. The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is the number one fantasy film festival in the world, and certainly does bring in the big dogs in sci-fi movies.
The films are mostly in English with Spanish sub-titles, and the festival attracts some famous main-stream Spanish actors eager to catch the latest in fantasy and horror. Some of the biggest names in the film world can be seen here during the first ten days of October, such as Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch, while past winners of the awards (known as Marias) have been Vincent Price – the king of horror – and Reece Witherspoon. The festival screens over 300 films at various venues around the town, and the highlight of the whole event is the Zombie Walk. Hundreds of horror fans roam the streets dressed as zombies, and there is a zombie film marathon. The Zombie Walk culminates in a huge beach party and the ‘horrific’ fun continues until the small hours of the morning.
Sitges’ status as the number one fantasy film festival in the world allows it to receive visits from top-level movie stars, directors and producers like Quentin Tarantino, Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster among others from the long list of people who, year after year, are a media attraction. The Festival is governed by a Foundation, made up of representatives from the Sitges Town Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia’s autonomous government) and other institutions, associations and public and private companies. The normally quiet Catalan town of Sitges, situated a few kilometres south of Barcelona, becomes the centre of international attention every October when the Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantastic de Catalunya turns Sitges into a mini Cannes.
SITGES Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantastic de Catalunya
From the 6th till the 16th of October 2011
C/ Joan Maragall 36
08870 Sitges
The official website of the festival: http://sitgesfilmfestival.com/
Tel. +34 93 894 99 90
Fax +34 93 894 89 96
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