Sitges International Film Festival

The Sitges Film Festival was born in 1968 under the name of the 1st International Horror and Fantasy Film Week, and is considered the first fantasy film festival in the world. It is an essential ten-day visit, not only for film lovers, but also for audiences who want to learn about new trends and technologies applied to cinema and the audiovisual world in general. The Festival has been visited by top level actors, directors and producers like Quentin Tarantino, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Paul Verhoeven, George A. Romero, John Landis, Dino de Laurentiis, Takashi Miike, Wim Wenders, Tony Curtis, David Cronenberg, Vanessa Redgrave, Sam Raimi, Roger Corman, Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, Guillermo del Toro, Kim Ki Duk, Álex de la Iglesia, Guillermo del Toro and Susan Sarandon.

About the 2022 Sitges Film Festival, the 55th edition

The Festival's virtual worlds are already ready. This year Sitges 2022 presents a diverse and audacious lineup, confirming the good shape fantastic cinema has been in in recent years. Among the almost 200 feature films that will be screened at this 55th edition, we can find both great masters of fantastic cinema and up-and-coming filmmakers. From October 6 to 16, the seats of the Auditori, Prado, Tramuntana, Retiro and Escorxador will once again host the fervor and enthusiasm of the fans.

The Official Fantastic Competition Section will once again offer a varied selection of titles, themes and styles. After the victory of Lamb in the last edition, more international folk horror with Nightsiren by Tereza Nvotová, and The Knocking by Max Seeck and Joonas Pajunen. Childhood and the fraternal are the focus of Simon Rieth's Summer Scars by Simon Rieth, and in Tropique by Édouard Salier. Some seeds of the devil, such as NightMare of Kjersti Helen Rasmussen, and Huesera by Michelle Garza. The Official Selection competition will also present a showcase of very singular artistic expressions, such as Everything Will Be OK, the film by veteran Rithy Panh. The Origin, Andrew Cumming's debut film will take the audience to the Paleolithic, while Medusa Deluxe, Thomas Hardiman's debut film, immerses us in intrigue using the single take. Finally, representing the war genre, we will see Sisu, the third feature film by Finnish director Jalmari Helander, an action film that follows a Finnish soldier who will have to protect the Nazi gold he has found in the Lapland desert. On the other hand, representing the nineteenth-century drama, we will be able to see Emily, the directorial debut of actress Frances O'Connor, tells the story of the short life of Emily Brönte.

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• Venus, the latest and long-awaited film by Jaume Balagueró, will open the 55th edition of the Sitges Festival on October 6. The Catalan director tells us a terrifying story written together with Fernando Navarro, inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and starring Ester Expósito. After being premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, Sitges will be the film's European premiere.
• A more Asian Sitges Festival, more terror, more documentary. Korean thriller, Japanese anime, the latest films by Joe Begos and Jason Eisener, or the documentary about the impact of '[REC]' are added to the great event of world fantasy. Three titles arrive from South Korea that are a pure festival of the genre. A Man of Reason, by Jeong Woo-seong, a polar-style thriller; Project Wolf Hunting, by Kim Hong-sun, with generous doses of adrenaline and violence, and Alienoid >, by Choi Dong-hoon, which combines science fiction and martial arts with androids. Japanese anime will once again have a relevant role with Dozens of Norths, the visually fascinating proposal by Koji Yamamura; Yasuhiro Yoshiura's animated musical, Sing a Bit of Harmony, and Blue Thermal, by Masaki Tachibana, about a university aviation club. And from Indonesia comes the supernatural horror of Satan's Slaves: Communion, a sequel to Satan's Slaves featuring Joko Anwan.
• Spanish and Catalan genre cinema arrives with force this year. Among the films that can be seen, the distressing and disturbing Cerdita stands out, the rural terror that marks the debut of Carlota Pereda after her short film winner of the Goya, and the long-awaited As bestas, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, a dark thriller that confirms the unstoppable career of its director.
• As for the series, the first two chapters of The Midnight Club will be presented, the new series product of the alliance between Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong produced by Netflix.
• It is back for the Sitges Festival of the Órbita section, which will start with the action-packed H4Z4RD, by Jonas Govaerts , which will make the room rumble with the applause of the fans.
• The Festival receives with honors the visit of Eva Green, who comes to present Nocebo, Lorcan Finnegan's third film. The well-known actress from Sin City: A Dame to Kill For or Dark Shadows plays a fashion designer with a rare disease in this mysterious thriller.

The Sitges Film Festival Grand Honorary Award

Colin Arthur, master of special effects for cinema, will receive this year's Grand Honorary Award at the Sitges Festival. Born in Surrey, England, Arthur began his career in 1968 when he created the ape masks for Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Among the films in which he has participated, we find "The Neverending Story", "The Shining", "Alien: The Eighth Passenger", "Conan the Barbarian", "Ryan's Daughter", "The Iron Cross" or "Abre los ojos".

Time Machine Award

Quentin Dupieux will receive the Time Machine award and will present this year Incroyable mais vrai and Fumer fait tousser, two different approaches to comedy absurdity that characterizes him so much. The American Ti West will also receive this award and will bring us Pearl, the long-awaited prequel to X. Set decades before the events of X, Mia Goth returns playing the future psychopath Pearl. An essential figure in Japanese animation of the last two decades, Masaaki Yuasa will also receive a Time Machine and will present his new feature film, Inu-oh. This new and psychedelic proposal aims to reimagine the ancient history of Japan by combining its theatrical tradition with an irresistible rock show, adorned with touches of surrealism.

Golden Honoray Award

Dario Argento will receive the recently created Golden Honorary Award for his contribution to horror cinema. Argento, who already received the Time Machine award in the 1999 edition and the Grand Honorary Award in 2012, became an institution of genre cinema in the 70s and 80s, decades in which he popularized the subgenre known as "giallo". The Italian director will arrive at the Sitges Festival presenting Occhiali Neri , the first film he has shot in ten years.

Sections of the SITGES – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia

Official Fantastic Competition Section (SOFC)

Feature films of any nationality, unreleased in Spain, produced during the previous year and the current year in which the festival is held. The theme must be fantastic, in its broadest sense, and quality and trend setting are valued. These feature films will compete for the prizes awarded by an international jury, chosen by the Festival's management. The award categories are: best film, director, male performance, female performance, special effects, script, photography, music, Jury Special, fantastic genre short film (automatically entered to be considered by the Selection Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood for the Oscars® Awards). The Grand Prize of the Public and those of the critics (José Luis Guarner for the best film and Citizen Kane for the best First Feature) awarded by the Catalan Association of Cinematographic Critics and Writers are also awarded.

Fantastic Officer Out of Competition

Films that do not enter competition with fantastic themes, but that stand out for their unique proposal within the recent genre production.

New Visions Section

Titles of all nationalities, unpublished in Spain, produced during the previous year and the current year in which the festival is held and which, in addition to being fantasy-themed, are committed to experimentation, new languages ​​and formats, and hybridization of genres. An international jury will award the different prizes in this section.

New visions - New authorship

A section of the Noves Visions section for short films by students from Catalan film schools. The shorts are selected (based on a pre-selection made by the participating schools), with the collaboration of the SGAE Foundation.

Fantastic Panorama Section

Titles of all nationalities, unpublished in Spain, produced during the previous year and the current year in which the festival is held and which, in addition to being fantastic and horror-themed, have an independent vocation. In this section, a prize is awarded for the best feature film by public vote.

Anima't Section

Animated feature films produced during the previous year and the current year in which the festival is held, unreleased in Spain. The short films selected must also be unpublished in Catalonia. An international jury awards the prizes in this section.

Seven Chances Section

Seven feature films, related to the theme of the festival, selected in collaboration with the Catalan Association of Film Critics and Writers. The films must be unreleased in Catalonia and preferably also in Spain when they are selected.

Midnight X-treme section

Selection of the best independent horror films. Films are nominated for the Midnight X-Treme Award, which is awarded by popular vote. The competition is reserved for unreleased films in Spain, and produced during the previous year and the current year in which the festival is held.

Brigadoon Section

Feature films, documentaries and short films of independent production, made during the previous year and the current year in which the festival is held. The t'sSelected works will be included in premieres, retrospectives, tributes and cult films. It is not necessary that they be unpublished in Spain. A jury awards the Paul Naschy Brigadoon Award for the best fantastic genre short film.

Sitges Classics Section

Retrospective section of the Festival with tributes, anniversaries and collaborations.

Sitges Coming Soon

Selection of upcoming Catalan, Spanish and Latin American productions.

Sitges Documents Section

Non-fiction feature films, made this year or the previous year and thematically related to the Festival. An international jury will award the prize for the best documentary.

Orbit

Feature films of genres related to the fantastic such as thriller, suspense, martial arts, action... that stand out for their unique proposal and their interest for the audience.