In 1995 a group of cinephiles got fed up with bootlegging genre-film that never saw the light of day in Sweden. They started a small festival focusing on the fantastical horrors in the world of film.
The festival has since developed into a festival embracing all sides of the fantastic genre to challenge our audience's imagination. We consider everything from "Amélie" to "Human Centipede " as part of the fantastic family, and we take pride in offering a platform for filmmakers to show their work on the big screen.
We believe that fantastic films can tell stories out of the ordinary, creating a space for the audience to explore and discuss daily life from a different point of view, no matter length, subject, human or vampire.
Over the years we have welcomed truly visionary creators such as Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero, Béla Tarr, Peter Greenaway and Neil Gaiman. We always strive to present the major fantastic directors of tomorrow. For example, in 2001 we hosted the Swedish premiere of the cult classic "Donnie Darko", and last year we previewed the Guldbagge nominated Swedish psychological thriller "Knocking" at an outdoor screening.
In 2021 we established a partnership with the leading Swedish streaming platform TriArtPlay, which means that we can offer part of our festival program to a national audience. From 2022 and onward, Lund Fantastic Film Festival will expand beyond the festival period itself by presenting events on a year-round basis.
Examples of feature titles that played at Lund Fantastic since 2018:
“Mandy” (Swedish premiere, 2018), "The Witch. Part 1: The Subversion" (2018), “The Mortuary Collection” (international premiere, 2019), “Swallow” (Scandinavian premiere, 2019), “Extra Ordinary” (Swedish premiere, 2019), “Boyz In The Wood/Get Duked” (Swedish premiere, 2019), , “Psycho Goreman” (2020), “Medusa” (2021) and “Violation” (2021).
Among the short films you find titles such as “Seine's Tears”, “Abracitos”, “A Tale Best Forgotten”, “Sunscapades” and “Night Bus”.
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WHAT MAKES YOUR FILM A FANTASTIC MATCH FOR LUND FANTASTIC?
In our context, the term “fantastic” is to be understood as a film that tries to stretch beyond the social realistic realms and traditional conventions and reach for elements that expand the shapes and forms of the art of film making.
A lot of people associate fantastic/genre film with horror, science fiction, zombies, ghosts, monsters and gore, but that is not the whole truth. Films within genres like animation and thriller are equally part of the fantastic family.
In essence, it’s a question of stimulating the fantasy, to introduce streaks that heighten the everyday outlook and challenge the expected paths.
That’s why - along with classical genre films like “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) and “The Exorcist” (1973) - audience and critics’ favourites like “Parasite” (2019) and the “Harry Potter” franchise join the bill.
Over the last years, horror and science fiction titles have established a solid position on the mainstream repertoire; “Midsommar” (2019), “Interstellar” (2014) and “Tenet” (2020) are prominent examples of this trend.
Lund Fantastic Feature Award - presented by Teletek: Best International feature with a cash prize of 2000 EUR.
Méliès d'argent: Lund's contribution to the Méliès d'or competition for best European short and feature film - in collaboration with Méliès International Festivals Federation (MIFF).
Audience Award: Best short and feature based purely on the hard criticism of our audience.
Finn Fantastic Film Award: Best national short with a smörgåsbord of prizes which may or not may include merchandise, print and digital recognition and a cash prize.
Future of Fantastic Award: Best student-project short with prizes which may or not include merchandise, print and digital recognition and a collaborative reward.
