Fantastic Fest is an annual

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, focused on

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

, horror, sci-fi, action and cult films, the largest genre festival in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of

Alamo Drafthouse The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an American cinema chain founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas, which is famous for serving dinner and drinks during the film, as well as its strict policy of requiring its audiences to maintain proper cinema-going etiq ...

. Lisa Dreyer is festival director. Annick Mahnert is head of programming. It is often cited as the largest and most prestigious genre festival in the

, and as one of the top 3 in the world alongside

Sitges ; , ) is a town about 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain, renowned worldwide for Sitges Film Festival, its film festival, Carnival, and LGBTQ culture. Located between the Garraf Massif and the Mediterranean Sea, it is know ...

and Fantasia.

History

The festival takes place in September at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, filling eight screens for eight days and hosting many writers, directors, and actors, either well-established or unknown. The festival has become known as a launch-pad for genre films, where critical acclaim at the fest can lead to big box office returns. A notable feature of this festival is the inclusion of "secret screenings". For these screenings, the audience often does not know what the film will be until seated, moments before it begins. It also features many themed parties, outings, film-themed "feasts", and other events that are hallmarks of the original Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. In 2007, '' Variety'' publisher Charles Koones included Fantastic Fest as one of "ten festivals we love". In 2008, '' Moviemaker'' named Fantastic Fest "one of the 25 film festivals worth the entry fee". In 2017, ''Moviemaker'' listed Fantastic Fest in "The 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World." In 2022, an online-exclusive section of programming was created: "Burnt Ends." In this new segment, Fantastic Fest wants to showcase "the weirdest, wildest, most fringe films out there."Burnt Ends @ Fantastic Fest 2022 https://2022.fantasticfest.com/burnt-ends

Festivals by year

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.fantasticfest.com
Fantastic Fest on IMDb
Fantasy and horror film festivals in the United States Film festivals in Austin, Texas Multigenre conventions Film festivals established in 2005 2005 establishments in Texas Science fiction film festivals

History

Festivals by year

See also

References

External links