Major international directors and cult classics: what not to miss at Sitges Film Festival

The 57th edition of the Sitges International Fantasy and Horror Film Festival is here, showcasing the best in contemporary genre film and looking back at some classics that have shaped the history of this cinema style.

In total, there are 235 feature films and 120 shorts showing at the Sitges Fantasy and Horror Film Festival between October 3-13. 

Titles showing this year which stand out include Terrifier 3 from the Art the Clown saga; The Substance, Demi Moore’s latest work which won Best Screenplay at Cannes this year and received a 13-minute standing ovation; Nightbitch, the surreal horror comedy starring Amy Adams; Apartment 7A, the long-awaited prequel to The Devil's Seed, and Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End, by Catalan filmmaker Carles Torrens.

Once again the festival will welcome A-listers in the world of cinema, such as actors Giancarlo Esposito, who will be recognized with the Time Machine Award this year and is known especially for his role as Gus Fring in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Geoffrey Rush, Nick Frost, and Corey Feldman. 

Legendary director Steven Soderbergh, who made films such as Traffic and Ocean's Eleven, will kick off the festival in Sitges on Thursday with his new movie Presence, while Australian Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush will also be in town to show off his latest, The Rule of Jenny Pen.

Soderbergh will have the responsibility of opening the festival on Thursday with Presence, a film of terror and intrigue. In the film, Rebekah, played by Lucy Liu, her husband (Chris Sullivan) and their children begin to experience unexplained phenomena after moving into a new house in the suburbs. The strange presences that manifest around them make them cross the fine line between reality and perception.

What not to miss

The festival is divided into different sections, including official selection, which are titles competing for the top honors of the festival, classic films, experimental works, animated, shorts, and independently produced movies. 

Major international directors are competing in the official selection, including Asif Kapadia, with 2073, Quentin Dupieux with The Second Act, and Marielle Heller with Nightbitch.

Quentin Dupieux returns to Sitges with his film that opened the last edition of the Cannes Film Festival, while Soi Cheang also returns with the action/thriller Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. 

Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz are back with The Devil's Bath, while Alice Lowe will present Timestalker.

Ireland is also well presented this year with one of the year’s biggest surprises in genre cinema this year, Oddity, by Damian Mc Carthy, while Fréwaka, an Irish-language work by Aislinn Clarke, will compete in the official selection. 

As always, Sitges will be delighting film buffs with screenings of vintage classics, and this year The Texas Chain Saw Massacre arrives in 35mm, the original 1954 Godzilla will be shown in 4K, and the festival pays homage to Tod Browning’s 1932 cult classic Freaks, accompanied by a cycle of films 🎪 exploring the circus and fairground space.

Away from the official competition, New Visions is a category of the festival highlighting experimental films, new languages and formats, and hybrid genres; Panorama highlights movies with an indie spirit; Brigadoon is for totally independently produced works; Anima’t is for animated films; while Seven Chances looks at older films worth revisiting or discovering.

Check out the full program on the Sitges Fantasy and Horror Film Festival website.