Sitges celebrates 50 years, will be honoring William Friedkin

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

2017 is a huge year for the Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, as it marks the festival's 50th anniversary. Fittingly, the celebration of this occasion won't be confined only to the ten days of the festival itself. The history of the festival will be shared with the public through a pair of exhibitions, the first of which is called 50th Anniversary of the Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia 1968-2017: Cinema is Fantastic.

Curated by festival programmer Diego López, the exhibition will 

present a journey through the 50 years of the Festival via its posters, outstanding films, guests and different images. 

This exhibition will be on display at the Catalonian Film Library in Barcelona, Spain from June 22nd through September 17th, and will then be on display in Sitges during the month of October. 

From September 5th through the 24th, the Royal Artistic Circle of Barcelona will be displaying the exhibition 50th Anniversary of the Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia 1968-2017: Fantastic Memoir,  

composed of documents from the Sitges Historical Archive, copies of the Festival Newspaper from 1979 to present day, catalogues from each year, books and original poster paintings.

The Fantastic Memoir exhibition will also be moving to Sitges in October.

The opening film of the first ever Sitges Film Festival was the Soviet science fiction classic AELITA, which was shown at the Prado theatre on September 28, 1968. This September 28th, there will be a special anniversary screening of AELITA at the Prado theatre. The Catalonian Film Library will also be hosting a series of screenings of fifty outstanding films from the festival's history, including THE EVIL DEAD, THE THING, and RESERVOIR DOGS, just to name a few.

The film festival itself will be held from October 5th through the 15th, and the theme of this year's festival is Dracula, as you can see in the poster below. This celebrates the 25th anniversary of the release of Francis Ford Coppola's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA.

Guillermo del Toro has been named "the Godfather of the festival's 50th anniversary", and it has been announced that Asian filmmaker Johnnie To will be in attendance. The filmmaker chosen to receive the festival's Grand Honorary Award this year is William Friedkin, director of the horror classic THE EXORCIST. THE EXORCIST will also be part of the Catalonian Film Library's series of screenings.

Tickets to the 2017 edition of Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia are not yet available, but will be going on sale soon.