# 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 specializes in fantasy, horror and cult films. Established in 1968, the festival takes place every year, usually in early October, and is considered to be one of the world's top 3 largest and most prestigious genre film festivals, alongside Fantasia and Fantastic Fest.

## History

The festival's origins lie in the International Week of Fantasy and Horror Movies, held in 1968.
The 55th edition of the festival was held from 6 to 16 October 2022. It was the 22nd edition of the awards.

## 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.

## Directors

As of 2023, the director of the festival since 2001 is Àngel Sala Corbí. Previous directors have included:
* 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.
The festival is accredited by FIAPF as a "competitive film festival specialised in fantasy films".
The Gorilla (Official Fantastic Section) are the festival's main awards. Award-winners are selected by an international jury. These awards are:
* 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 | | Janusz Majewski (Lokis) and Michael Skaife (Necrophagus) | Vincent Price (The Abominable Dr. Phibes) | Youn Yuh-jung (Woman of Fire) |
| 1972 | The Cremator | Robert Mulligan (The Other) | Rudolf Hrusinsky (The Cremator) | Geraldine Chaplin (Zero Population Growth) |
| 1973 | | Juan Luis Buñuel (Au rendez-vous de la mort joyeuse) | Eugene Levy (Cannibal Girls) | Andrea Martin (Cannibal Girls) |
| 1974 | | Robert Fuest (Dr. Phibes Rises Again) | Mark Burns (House of the Living Dead) | Cristina Galbó (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) |
| 1975 | | David Cronenberg (Shivers) | Paul Naschy (La Maldicion de la Bestia) | Lana Turner (Persecution) |
| 1976 | | Dario Argento (Profondo Rosso) | Peter Cushing (The Ghoul) | Brenda Vaccaro (Death Weekend) |
| 1977 | | Dan Curtis (Burnt Offerings) | Burgess Meredith (Burnt Offerings) | Karen Black (Burnt Offerings) |
| 1978 | Long Weekend | Richard Franklin (Patrick) | John Hargreaves (Long Weekend) | Camille Keaton (Day of the Woman) |
| 1979 | | Juraj Herz (Panna a netvor) | Gerhard Olschewski (Der Mörder) | Lisa Pelikan (Jennifer) |
| 1980 | | Veljko Bulajic (The Man to Destroy) | Nicholas Worth (Don't Answer the Phone) | Cyd Hayman (The Godsend) |
| 1981 | | Walerian Borowczyk (Docteur Jekyll et les femmes) | Mircea Bogdan (Povestea dragostei) | Linda Haynes (Human Experiments) |
| 1982 | | Tony Williams (Next of Kin) | Richard Chamberlain (The Last Wave) | Annie McEnroe (Warlords of the 21st Century) |
| 1983 | 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 | The Company of Wolves | Carl Schenkel (Abwärts) | Joe Morton (The Brother from Another Planet) | Amy Madigan (Streets of Fire) |
| 1985 | Re-Animator | Shuji Terayama (Farewell to the Ark) | John Walcutt (Return) | Lori Cardille (Day of the Dead) |
| 1986 | 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 | A Hungarian Fairy Tale | Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop) | Michael Nouri (The Hidden) | Jill Schoelen (The Stepfather) |
| 1988 | The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey | George A. Romero (Monkey Shines) | Grigory Gladiy (Otstupnik) | Kate McNeil (Monkey Shines) |
| 1989 | 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 | 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 | Europa | Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro (Delicatessen) | Dominique Pinon (Delicatessen) | Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply) |
| 1992 | Man Bites Dog | Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs) | Benoît Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dogs) | Joey Wang (A Chinese Ghost Story III) |
| 1993 | Orlando | Dave Borthwick (The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb) | Federico Luppi (Cronos) | Jennifer Ward-Lealand (Desperate Remedies) |
| 1994 | 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 | Citizen X | Chris Gerolmo (Citizen X), Michael Almereyda (Nadja (film)) | Stephen Rea (Citizen X) | Bridget Fonda (Rough Magic) |
| 1996 | The Pillow Book | Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Gabbeh) | James Woods (Killer: A Journal of Murder) | Melinda Clarke (Killer Tongue) |
| 1997 | Gattaca | Scott Reynolds (The Ugly) | Sam Rockwell (Lawn Dogs) | Reese Witherspoon (Freeway) |
| 1998 | Cube | Michael Di Jiacomo (Animals with the Tollkeeper) | Jared Harris (Trance) | Évelyne Dandry (Sitcom) |
| 1999 | Ringu | Ben Hopkins (Simon Magus) | Noah Taylor (Simon Magus) | Emma Vilarasau (The Nameless) |
| 2000 | In the Light of the Moon | Geoffrey Wright (Cherry Falls) | Steve Railsback (In the Light of the Moon) | |
| 2001 | Vidocq | Brad Anderson (Session 9) | Eduard Fernández (Fausto 5.0) | Yūki Amami (Inugami) |
| 2002 | Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary | David Cronenberg (Spider) | Jeremy Northam (Cypher) | Angela Bettis (May) |
| 2003 | Zatōichi | Alexandre Aja (High Tension) | Robert Downey Jr. (The Singing Detective) | Cécile de France (High Tension) |
| 2004 | Oldboy | Johnnie To (Breaking News) | Christian Bale (The Machinist) | Mónica López (El Habitante Incierto) |
| 2005 | Hard Candy | Johnnie To (Election) | Lee Kang-sheng (The Wayward Cloud) | Lee Young-ae (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) |
| 2006 | Requiem | Martin Weisz (Grimm Love) | Thomas Kretschmann, Thomas Huber (Grimm Love) | Sandra Hüller (Requiem) |
| 2007 | The Fall | Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza (REC) | Sam Rockwell (Joshua) | Manuela Velasco (REC) |
| 2008 | Surveillance | Kim Jee-woon (The Good, the Bad, the Weird) | Brian Cox (Red) | Semra Turan (Fighter) |
| 2009 | Moon | Brillante Mendoza (Kinatay) | Sam Rockwell (Moon) | Elena Anaya (Hierro), Kim Ok-vin (Thirst) |
| 2010 | Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale | Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale) | Patrick Fabian (The Last Exorcism) | Josie Ho (Dream Home) |
| 2011 | Red State | Julia Leigh (Sleeping Beauty) | Michael Parks (Red State) | Brit Marling (Another Earth) |
| 2012 | Holy Motors | Léos Carax (Holy Motors) | Vincent D'Onofrio (Chained) | Alice Lowe (Sightseers) |
| 2013 | Borgman | Navot Papushado, Aharon Keshales (Big Bad Wolves) | Andy Lau (Blind Detective) | Juno Temple (Magic Magic) |
| 2014 | 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 | The Invitation | S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk) | Joel Edgerton (The Gift) | Pili Groyne (The Brand New Testament) |
| 2016 | Swiss Army Man | Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan) | Daniel Radcliffe (Swiss Army Man) | Sennia Nanua (The Girl with All the Gifts) |
| 2017 | Jupiter’s Moon | Coralie Fargeat (Revenge) | Rafe Spall (The Ritual) | Marsha Timothy (Marlina The Murderer In Four Acts) |
| 2018 | Climax | Panos Cosmatos (Mandy) | Hasan Majuni (Pig) | Andrea Riseborough (Nancy) |
| 2019 | The Platform | Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles (Bacurau) | Miles Robbins (Daniel Isn't Real) | Imogen Poots (Vivarium) |
| 2020 | Possessor | Brandon Cronenberg (Possessor) | Grégoire Ludig, David Marsais (Mandibules) | Suliane Brahim (The Swarm) |
| 2021 | Lamb | Justin Kurzel (Nitram) | Franz Rogowski (Luzifer), Caleb Landry Jones (Nitram) | Susanne Jensen (Luzifer), Noomi Rapace (Lamb) |
| 2022 | Sisu | Ti West (Pearl) | Jorma Tommila (Sisu) | Mia Goth (Pearl) |
| 2023 | When Evil Lurks | Baloji (Omen) | Karim Leklou (Vincent Must Die) | Kate Lyn Sheil (The Seeding) |
| 2024 | The Devil’s Bath | Soi Cheang (Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In) | John Lithgow & Geoffrey Rush (The Rule of Jenny Pen) | Kristine Froseth (Desert Road) |