Sitges Film Festival

The Sitges Film Festival (Catalan: Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya) and also translated as Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia and originally the International Week of Fantasy and Horror Movies, is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain. It specialises in fantasy and horror films, of which it is considered one of the world's foremost international festivals. Established in 1968, the festival takes place every year, usually in early October.

Sitges Film Festival

Sitges Film Festival in 2009
Location	Sitges, Catalonia, Spain
Founded	1968
Most recent	2023
Awards	Best Film Best Director Best Actor Best Actress
Festival date	Last: 5 October 2023 (2023-10-05)
Language	Spanish
Website	Sitges
Current: 56th Sitges Film Festival
57th 55th

History

The festival's origins lie in the International Week of Fantasy and Horror Movies, held in 1968.^[1]

The 55th edition of the festival was held from 6 to 16 October 2022.^[2] It was the 22nd edition of the awards.^[3]

Venues

The main venue of the Sitges Film Festival is the Auditori (Auditorium), located in the Hotel Melià Sitges, which has a capacity of 1,380 seats. In the same building the Tramuntana Room provides space for journalists to gather each morning.

As of 2023, other venues are: Cine El Retiro, Cine Casino Prado, and various other venues in the "King Kong area" providing for exhibitions, gatherings, and other events.^[4]

Directors

As of 2023^[update], the director of the festival since 2001 is Àngel Sala Corbí. Previous directors have included:^[5][6][7]

• Roc Villas i Ventura (1999–2000)

• Àlex Gorina i Macià (1994–1998)

Awards

Since 1971 the festival has given awards to the best films, actors, and filmmakers.^[8]

The festival is accredited by FIAPF as a "competitive film festival specialised in fantasy films".^[9]

The Gorilla (Official Fantastic Section) are the festival's main awards. Award-winners are selected by an international jury. These awards are:^[10][11]

• Best Feature-Length Film
• Best Director
• Best Actor
• Best Actress
• Best Screenplay
• Best Special Effects
• Best Cinematography
• Best Original Score
• Special Jury Prize
• Grand Audience Award for Best Motion Picture (Official Fantastic Selection)
• Best Fantastic Genre Short Film

The festival also presents:

• The José Luis Guarner Critics’ Award
• Citizen Kane Award for the Best Debut Feature (Best New Director)
• The Noves Visions (New Visions) Award
• The Carnet Jove Jury Award (film selected by a youth jury)
• The Grand Honorary Award (for Lifetime Achievement in Cinema)
• The Anima't Awards for Best Animated Short and Feature Film
• The Màquina del Temps (Time Machine) Award, given to individuals from the fantasy world film genre
• The Midnight X-Treme Award, for the best motion picture from the special screenings (selected by the Carnet Jove Jury)

and a few others...

Winners

Year	Best Film	Best Director	Best Actor	Best Actress
1971^[12]		Janusz Majewski (Lokis) and Michael Skaife (Necrophagus)	Vincent Price (The Abominable Dr. Phibes)	Youn Yuh-jung (Woman of Fire)
1972^[13]	The Cremator	Robert Mulligan (The Other)	Rudolf Hrusinsky (The Cremator)	Geraldine Chaplin (Zero Population Growth)
1973^[14]		Juan Luis Buñuel (Au rendez-vous de la mort joyeuse)	Eugene Levy (Cannibal Girls)	Andrea Martin (Cannibal Girls)
1974^[15]		Robert Fuest (Dr. Phibes Rises Again)	Mark Burns (House of the Living Dead)	Cristina Galbó (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie)
1975^[16]		David Cronenberg (Shivers)	Paul Naschy (La Maldicion de la Bestia)	Lana Turner (Persecution)
1976^[17]		Dario Argento (Profondo Rosso)	Peter Cushing (The Ghoul)	Brenda Vaccaro (Death Weekend)
1977^[18]		Dan Curtis (Burnt Offerings)	Burgess Meredith (Burnt Offerings)	Karen Black (Burnt Offerings)
1978^[19]	Long Weekend	Richard Franklin (Patrick)	John Hargreaves (Long Weekend)	Camille Keaton (Day of the Woman)
1979^[20]		Juraj Herz (Panna a netvor)	Gerhard Olschewski (Der Mörder)	Lisa Pelikan (Jennifer)
1980^[21]		Veljko Bulajic (The Man to Destroy)	Nicholas Worth (Don't Answer the Phone)	Cyd Hayman (The Godsend)
1981^[22]		Walerian Borowczyk (Docteur Jekyll et les femmes)	Mircea Bogdan (Povestea dragostei)	Linda Haynes (Human Experiments)
1982^[23]		Tony Williams (Next of Kin)	Richard Chamberlain (The Last Wave)	Annie McEnroe (Warlords of the 21st Century)
1983^[24]	Le Dernier Combat	Luc Besson (Le Dernier Combat)	Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, John Carradine (House of the Long Shadows)	Elizabeth Ward (Alone in the Dark)
1984^[25]	The Company of Wolves	Carl Schenkel (Abwärts)	Joe Morton (The Brother from Another Planet)	Amy Madigan (Streets of Fire)
1985^[26]	Re-Animator	Shuji Terayama (Farewell to the Ark)	John Walcutt (Return)	Lori Cardille (Day of the Dead)
1986^[27]	Blue Velvet	Sergei Parajanov, Dodo Abashidze (The Legend of the Suram Fortress)	Juanjo Puigcorbé (Més enllà de la passió)	Caroline Williams (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2)
1987^[28]	A Hungarian Fairy Tale	Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop)	Michael Nouri (The Hidden)	Jill Schoelen (The Stepfather)
1988^[29]	The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey	George A. Romero (Monkey Shines)	Grigory Gladiy (Otstupnik)	Kate McNeil (Monkey Shines)
1989^[30]	Heart of Midnight	Peter Greenaway (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover)	Michael Gambon (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover), Nicolas Cage (Vampire's Kiss)	Rosanna Arquette (Black Rainbow)
1990^[31]	Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer	ex-aequo: Sam Raimi (Darkman), John McNaughton (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer)	Jeff Goldblum (Mister Frost)	Lindsay Duncan (The Reflecting Skin)
1991^[32]	Europa	Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro (Delicatessen)	Dominique Pinon (Delicatessen)	Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply)
1992^[33]	Man Bites Dog	Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs)	Benoît Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dogs)	Joey Wang (A Chinese Ghost Story III)
1993^[34]	Orlando	Dave Borthwick (The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb)	Federico Luppi (Cronos)	Jennifer Ward-Lealand (Desperate Remedies)
1994^[35] ^[36]	71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls & Justino, un asesino de la tercera edad	Scott McGehee, David Siegel (Suture)	Santiago Segura (Justino)	Jane Horrocks (Deadly Advice)
1995^[37]	Citizen X	Chris Gerolmo (Citizen X), Michael Almereyda (Nadja (film))	Stephen Rea (Citizen X)	Bridget Fonda (Rough Magic)
1996^[38]	The Pillow Book	Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Gabbeh)	James Woods (Killer: A Journal of Murder)	Melinda Clarke (Killer Tongue)
1997^[39]	Gattaca	Scott Reynolds (The Ugly)	Sam Rockwell (Lawn Dogs)	Reese Witherspoon (Freeway)
1998^[40]	Cube	Michael Di Jiacomo (Animals with the Tollkeeper)	Jared Harris (Trance)	Évelyne Dandry (Sitcom)
1999^[41]	Ringu	Ben Hopkins (Simon Magus)	Noah Taylor (Simon Magus)	Emma Vilarasau (The Nameless)
2000^[42]	In the Light of the Moon	Geoffrey Wright (Cherry Falls)	Steve Railsback (In the Light of the Moon)
2001^[43]	Vidocq	Brad Anderson (Session 9)	Eduard Fernández (Fausto 5.0)	Yūki Amami (Inugami)
2002^[44]	Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary	David Cronenberg (Spider)	Jeremy Northam (Cypher)	Angela Bettis (May)
2003^[45]	Zatōichi	Alexandre Aja (High Tension)	Robert Downey Jr. (The Singing Detective)	Cécile de France (High Tension)
2004^[46]	Oldboy	Johnnie To (Breaking News)	Christian Bale (The Machinist)	Mónica López (El Habitante Incierto)
2005^[47]	Hard Candy	Johnnie To (Election)	Lee Kang-sheng (The Wayward Cloud)	Lee Young-ae (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance)
2006^[48]	Requiem	Martin Weisz (Grimm Love)	Thomas Kretschmann, Thomas Huber (Grimm Love)	Sandra Hüller (Requiem)
2007^[49]	The Fall	Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza (REC)	Sam Rockwell (Joshua)	Manuela Velasco (REC)
2008^[50]	Surveillance	Kim Jee-woon (The Good, the Bad, the Weird)	Brian Cox (Red)	Semra Turan (Fighter)
2009^[51]	Moon	Brillante Mendoza (Kinatay)	Sam Rockwell (Moon)	Elena Anaya (Hierro), Kim Ok-vin (Thirst)
2010^[52]	Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale	Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale)	Patrick Fabian (The Last Exorcism)	Josie Ho (Dream Home)
2011^[53]	Red State	Julia Leigh (Sleeping Beauty)	Michael Parks (Red State)	Brit Marling (Another Earth)
2012^[54]	Holy Motors	Léos Carax (Holy Motors)	Vincent D'Onofrio (Chained)	Alice Lowe (Sightseers)
2013^[55]	Borgman	Navot Papushado, Aharon Keshales (Big Bad Wolves)	Andy Lau (Blind Detective)	Juno Temple (Magic Magic)
2014^[56]	I Origins	Jonas Govaerts (Cub)	Nathan Phillips (These Final Hours), Kōji Yakusho (The World of Kanako)	Essie Davis (The Babadook), Julianne Moore (Maps to the Stars)
2015^[57]	The Invitation	S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk)	Joel Edgerton (The Gift)	Pili Groyne (The Brand New Testament)
2016^[58]	Swiss Army Man	Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan)	Daniel Radcliffe (Swiss Army Man)	Sennia Nanua (The Girl with All the Gifts)
2017^[59]	Jupiter’s Moon	Coralie Fargeat (Revenge)	Rafe Spall (The Ritual)	Marsha Timothy (Marlina The Murderer In Four Acts)
2018^[60]	Climax	Panos Cosmatos (Mandy)	Hasan Majuni (Pig)	Andrea Riseborough (Nancy)
2019^[61]	The Platform	Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles (Bacurau)	Miles Robbins (Daniel Isn't Real)	Imogen Poots (Vivarium)
2020^[62]	Possessor	Brandon Cronenberg (Possessor)	Grégoire Ludig, David Marsais (Mandibules)	Suliane Brahim (The Swarm)
2021^[63]	Lamb	Justin Kurzel (Nitram)	Franz Rogowski (Luzifer), Caleb Landry Jones (Nitram)	Susanne Jensen (Luzifer), Noomi Rapace (Lamb)
2022^[64]	Sisu	Ti West (Pearl)	Jorma Tommila (""Sisu)	Mia Goth (Pearl)
2023^[65]	When Evil Lurks	Baloji (Omen)	Karim Leklou (Vincent Must Die)	Kate Lyn Sheil (The Seeding)

See also

• European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation

Other genre film festivals

• Fantasporto
• Fantasia International Film Festival
• Fantastic Fest
• Screamfest Horror Film Festival
• Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film
• Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival
• Dead by Dawn
• Fantafestival
• International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival
• New York City Horror Film Festival
• Toronto After Dark Film Festival
• TromaDance
• Lusca Fantastic Film Fest

References

1. "The Festival". Sitges Film Festival. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
2. Andrew Mack (1 March 2022). "Sitges 2022: International Genre Festival Now Open For Feature Film Submissions". Screen Anarchy. Naver. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
3. Shelagh Rowan-Legg (28 July 2022). "Sitges 2022 Second Wave Announces Edgar Wright, VESPER, and more". Screen Anarchy. Naver. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
4. "Theaters and venues". Sitges Film Festival. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
5. "Dimiteixen els responsables de Sitges Teatre Internacional", Teatralnet, 13 Feb 2001, (in Catalan). [Consulted 27-05-2020].
6. "Team", Sitges Film Festival official website. [Consulted 27-05-2020].
7. "Equip". Sitges Film Festival. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
8. "Festival Awards". sitgesfilmfestival.com. Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya.
9. (PDF). FIAPF. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2015.
10. Festival Awards, official website of the Sitges Film Festival. [Consulted 27-05-2020].
11. Festival Award-winners for the 52nd Edition (2019), official website of the Sitges Film Festival. [Consulted 27-05-2020].
12. Sitges 1971 Awards
13. Sitges 1972 Awards
14. Sitges 1973 Awards
15. Sitges 1974 Awards
16. Sitges 1975 Awards
17. Sitges 1976 Awards
18. Sitges 1977 Awards
19. Sitges 1978 Awards
20. Sitges 1979 Awards
21. Sitges 1980 Awards
22. Sitges 1981 Awards
23. Sitges 1982 Awards
24. Sitges 1983 Awards
25. Sitges 1984 Awards
26. Sitges 1985 Awards
27. Sitges 1986 Awards
28. Sitges 1987 Awards
29. Sitges 1988 Awards
30. Sitges 1989 Awards
31. Sitges 1990 Awards
32. Sitges 1991 Awards
33. Sitges 1992 Awards
34. Sitges 1993 Awards
35. Sitges 1994 Awards
36. Justino, a Senior Citizen Killer
37. Sitges 1995 Awards
38. Sitges 1996 Awards
39. Sitges 1997 Awards
40. Sitges 1998 Awards
41. Sitges 1999 Awards
42. Sitges 2000 Awards
43. Sitges 2001 Awards
44. Sitges 2002 Awards
45. Sitges 2003 Awards
46. Sitges 2004 Awards
47. Sitges 2005 Awards
48. Sitges 2006 Awards
49. Sitges 2007 Awards
50. Sitges 2008 Awards
51. Sitges 2009 Awards
52. Sitges 2010 Awards
53. Sitges 2011 Awards
54. Sitges 2012 Awards
55. Sitges 2013 Awards
56. Sitges 2014 Awards
57. Sitges 2015 Awards
58. Sitges 2016 Awards
59. "Sitges 2017 Awards".
60. "Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival (2018)". IMDb.
61. "Sitges Festival Celebrates ITS 52Nd Edition. l'Idem". 14 October 2019.
62. "Brandon Cronenberg's 'Possessor Uncut' Wins the Sitges Festival's Best Film, Director Awards". 18 October 2020.
63. "SITGES 2021 WINNERS: 'LAMB', SITGES 2021 BEST FEATURE LENGHT [sic] FILMS". 17 October 2021.
64. "55th Edition Award Winners". 20 October 2022.
65. "56th Edition Award Winners". 26 October 2022.

External links

• Sitges Film Festival at IMDb