If you want to have a good time watching movies, I suggest you go to the Sitges festival.
Popular, fun, cultural and extravagant, the Sitges Fantastic Film Festival breaks all codes.
At this time of year, the streets of this coastal town fill up with zombies and Hollywood stars.
Today, I'm taking you on a tour of this unique event in Catalonia.
Sitges Festival: article summary
The Sitges festival: a fantastic break just a few minutes from Barcelona
The festival made its debut in 1968 and has been held without interruption every year for over half a century since its first edition. It reveals a genuine commitment to the seventh art!
However, this was not always the case. In the middle of the Franco era, the Minister of Information and Tourism, Fraga Iribarne, was very suspicious of the festival and reluctant to grant the necessary authorizations.
The regime feared this would become a political weapon, and what's more, the San Sebastian Film Festival already existed. In the end, the government of the day decided to give the Sitges Film Festival a specific theme - fantasy cinema - and to accept the dictatorship's censorship committee, which examined and approved the films submitted. cut off all projections before they saw the light of day.
Big names like Méliès and Fritz Lang at first screenings
The festival's first screenings took place on September 28, 1968. The program included the film Aelita, by Russian director Yakov Protazanov, and short films by Méliès, Fritz Lang and Terence Fisher.
This simple programming interested hundreds of people. The legend of Sitges festival was launched.
A tourism-oriented event
In the 1960s, the Sitges town council wanted to reactivate the town's low season, taking advantage of the region's fine weather. It was then that the Photo Film Association proposed to create a film exhibition.
Au début, le festival était un spectacle modeste, principalement avec des projections d’écoles de cinéma locales. Toutefois, les organisateurs ont eu l’idée d’inviter des académies étrangères pour ajouter une présence internationale. Avec de
grands réalisateurs à l’affiche, le festival a pris petit à petit to become a must-attend event in its own right..However, it wasn't always a success. In its early years, the Sitges Film Festival encountered a number of problems. Firstly, the old Garraf road from Barcelona to Sitges was full of curves. As a result, many people didn't want to go to the festival, or were unable to get there. were late for the screenings. To alleviate this problem, the mayor was quick to promise a new road which, although two decades late, has finally arrived.
But that's not all! In addition to physical borders, viewers also found linguistic borders on screen. For a long time, the festival didn't translate or subtitle the foreign films on show, so that a large proportion of the local audience was unable to see them. couldn't understand them.
Big names on the jury: national and international.
Over the past 50 years, the festival has grown in popularity. Over the years, the event has attracted some of the biggest names in cinema, who now sit on the jury.
At national level, Luis García Berlanga was president of the international jury in 1972, Bigas Luna and Isabel Coixet were festival jurors in 1985 and 1999 respectively, and Juan Antonio Bayona was festival jury director in 2011.
On the international front, American producer, director and actor Tony Bill, who won an Oscar for The Beat, was president of the jury in 1983. Also Wes Cravenone of the great masters of horror cinema and director of "Freddy les griffes de la nuit" and "Scream", was a member of the jury in 1985.
An army of passionate volunteers
Visit 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games promoted voluntarism to involve the population in the event. Inspired by their success, they replicated this model at the Sitges Festival to get popular help on organizational issues.
The first volunteers in 1992, around twenty people, were responsible for welcoming the public and guests to the auditorium. Since then, the volunteer phenomenon has grown, and 150 people now take part. Each year, however, the event over 300 applications.
From now on, volunteers are responsible for welcoming participants, controlling access to rooms and surveillance, cleaning, assisting accredited visitors at information points, assisting the general public at stands, exhibitions, presentations or conferences, assisting the media or providing support for the production department, among other tasks.
A special love of Oriental cinema
Did you know that the films Zatoichi, Oldboy and The Ring won the Sitges Festival? Asian cinema has become one of the festival's major attractions. In fact, its popularity is so great that some of the world premieres of films take place in Sitges.
Zombie Walk: when zombies invade Sitges
The zombie parade through the streets of Sitges, first organized in 2008, has become one of the festival's most popular activities. First thing in the morning, professional make-up artists are on hand to help early risers transform them into truly terrifying creatures. These sessions, open to around 350 people, generate very long queues every year.
In the afternoon, hundreds of people dressed as the undead and in full make-up leave the Ermita de San Sebastià to begin the famous Zombie Walk. At the end of the tour, a night of zombie-themed films awaits you for end the day on a high note.
The Sitges Film Festival is the perfect place to discover fantastic new films. In addition to a wide range of activities, the festival features a number of films. Enough to spend a relaxing day out with family and friends.
Leave a Reply