Created in 2005, Fantaspoa - International Fantastic Film Festival of Porto Alegre - is the pioneer festival dedicated to bringing fantastic films to Brazil.
Fantaspoa has the following official sections: Short Film Competition (subdivided into live-action/animation and national/international), Ibero-American Feature Film Competition, and International Competition. The festival also has special programming sections that change from edition to edition.
In each edition, the festival grants 15 awards in the different competitive sections of the festival, apart from the Lifetime Achievement Award. This award has honored some of the best auteurs of the fantastic genre, such as Roger Corman, Christina Lindberg, Larry Wilson, Luigi Cozzi, Lamberto Bava, Ruggero Deodato, Claudio Simonetti, Stuart Gordon, David Schmoeller, Frank Henenlotter, Lloyd Kaufman, Simon Boswell, Richard Stanley, Bill Plympton, Katt Shea, Jeff Lieberman, IGG Nabwana and Yoshihiro Nishimura.
Each year the festival welcomes more than 50 guests that participate in Q&As after the screenings, bringing together the audience and the filmmakers. This initiative, as well as the several workshops and lectures that take place every year, fosters the study, diffusion, and production of cinema in Brazil.
Over its 18 years, Fantaspoa became the biggest genre festival in Latin America and the main film event in the city of Porto Alegre. For many filmmakers, the festival became a reference for conviviality. Many call themselves a family and over 100 have the festival logo tattooed. The festival is also considered the best exhibition window for fantastic films in Brazil. Fantaspoa is the only festival from South America that is a member of the Méliès – European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation (EFFFF). The Méliès federation brings together the 25 most relevant fantastic film festivals worldwide. In 2019 and 2021, Fantaspoa was listed on the MovieMaker's Bloody Best Genre Fests in the World. Also, Dread Central has named Fantaspoa one of the Best Horror Festivals in the World in 2021 and 2022.
The nineteenth edition of Fantaspoa will take place from the 13th to the 30th of April, 2023.
We invite the filmmakers that work with fantastic cinema to submit their works on www.filmfreeway.com/fantaspoa
REGULATION – 19th FANTASPOA
1 – The nineteenth edition of the FANTASPOA - INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL OF PORTO ALEGRE will take place from the 13th to the 30th of April, 2023.
2 – The primary goal of Fantaspoa is to provide opportunities for the exhibition and appreciation of films, rewarding their quality. The Festival aims at:
a) Creating a multimedia cultural forum in the city of Porto Alegre.
b) Promoting the Brazilian Cinema and encouraging film production in Brazil.1 – The nineteenth edition of the FANTASPOA - INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL OF PORTO ALEGRE will take place from 13th to the 30th of April, 2023.
3 - The Festival Committee will only consider for its main competition only fantastic films (horror, bizarre, thriller, science-fiction and fantasy).
4 – Eligibility Requirements for the feature film and short film competition (jury award):
- Running time for all feature films must be 60 minutes or more;
- Running time for all shorts must be less than 30 minutes;
- Film submissions in a foreign language must be subtitled or spoken in English or Spanish;
- The film shall not have premiered in the city of Porto Alegre;
- All submitted films must have been completed after January, 1st, 2020. The films must have Blu-Ray, or a digital file such as ProRes, H264, or Mp4 as their screening format; exceptions to that case must be arranged in advance between the producer/director/distributor of the films and the organizing committee of the festival.
5 – To submit a film to selection by the Festival Organizing Committee you must send an online screener, exclusively through FilmFreeway, before January, 31st.
6 – The delivery of materials is the sole responsibility of the filmmaker. The festival does not pay any kind of delivery fees.
7 – There's no limitation to the number of films a company/filmmaker might submit. No entry fee will be reimbursed by the festival, even if the film does not comply to the requisites of item 4 of this regulation.
8 – The festival does not pay screening fees.
9 – Films are programmed at the discretion of Fantaspoa team. The organizing committee of the festival reserves the right to select the films to be exhibited, as well as determine in which section they will participate.
10 – The Festival Committee will select the jury members for each section. Members of the jury can not have participated or have a special interest in the films in the competition they are evaluating.
11 – The official designation of FANTASPOA Festival is: FANTASPOA – INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL OF PORTO ALEGRE.
12 – All commercial/private property, including all trademark/copyrighted images and songs shown or recorded on the film, is the sole responsibility of the filmmaker. By submitting its entry, the filmmaker states that they are responsible as an agent to promote the film and that their film is an original work.
13 – The filmmakers agree that clips and images from their films may be used on the promotional material of the festival.
14 – There is no need to fill out entry forms. The submission of your film to the festival implies that you accept the conditions of the festival regulation.
