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.

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WHAT MAKES YOUR FILM A FANTASTIC MATCH FOR LUND FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL?

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. It is the aspect that elevates the traditional drama into something extraordinary. We consider all genres as long as the films has fantastic elements.

Awards & Prizes

Lund Fantastic Feature Award:

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). The winner recieves print and digital recognition and the opportunity to compete for the Melies d´Or. For more information on the competitions check out: https://melies.org/

Audience Award: Best short and feature based purely on the hard criticism of our audience.

Finn Fantastic Film Award: Best Swedish fantastic shortfilm with prizes which may include merchandise, print and digital recognition and a statuette.

Future of Fantastic Award: Best student-project short with prizes which may include merchandise, print and digital recognition and a statuette.

Rules & Terms

Lund International Fantastic Film Festival aims to reveal and promote fantastic films that tell stories out of the ordinary. We aim to promote fantastic film productions from all over the world, with a focus on diversity, imagination and storytelling.
For all films the following rules apply:

1. All films must have been completed no earlier than January 1 2023.
2. All submissions must be completely finished projects before the festival notification date.
3. Feature films must be over 60 minutes
4. Short films must be under 60 minutes
5. The films can be of any genre but must contain fantastic elements.

The selection committee reserve the right to reject any film that contains explicit sexual violence, if it's gratuitous or in no way integral to the plot.

The film should be submitted via online screener.
Note: We can only screen films of the DCP format.

The Festival notes that the submission is for reviewing only and the submitted project will not be subject to any screenings.

Submission fees are non-refundable.

Not Selected film:

All films that have not been selected will receive a message on the notification date. Please note that we won't be able to give individual feedback as to why the project hasn't been selected.

Selected film:

If your movie is selected the festival will not pay any screening fees.
By submitting, you agree to grant the Festival the right to use all provided content (materials and metadata) for promotional purposes for the Festival. This may involve posting on social media, website and other festival publications such as catalogues etc. Trailers and other video files will be uploaded to our youtube channel where they will be hidden only accessible through our website.

It is the responsibility of the filmmaker to clear all rights before your film screens at the Festival and the Festival will not be liable for any costs if this is not cleared before the screening of the film.

The projection format must be DCP, if you are unable to make a DCP of your film the festival can make one for you for a fee.

Once a movie is selected by the Festival's Selection Committee and cleared with the rights holding party, it can in no case be removed from the program.

Please note that by submitting your film you agree to the rules and regulations for the Festival 2024.

*Lund Fantastic Film Festival features the following competitive sections:

The Lund Fantastic Feature Award (International competition)
The Silver Méliès Award for Best European Feature & Short Film
Finn Fantastic Film Award for best Swedish short film
Future of Fantastic Award for the best school-project short film
Audience Award voted by are devoted audience

The programming board selects the films that will compete in the International feature competition. Special dispensation notwithstanding, only films meeting the following criteria will be selected:

1. All films must have been completed no earlier than January 1 2023.
2. The projection format must be DCP.
3. Running time must be at least 60 minutes

The programming board selects the films that will compete in the Silver Méliès competition for the best European Fantastic Feature & Short. Special dispensation notwithstanding, only films meeting the following criteria will be selected:

1. All films must have been completed in the 24 months preceding the next Golden Méliès Cycle.
2. All films must qualify as European Productions as defined by the Méliès International Festivals Federation in its regulations, available at the following address: www.melies.org
3. The projection format must be DCP.
4. Running time must be at least 60 minutes for feature films and maximum of 25 minutes for short film.

The programming board selects the films that will compete in the Finn Fantastic Film competition. Special dispensation notwithstanding, only films meeting the following criteria will be selected:

1. All films must have been completed no earlier than January 1 2023.
2. The projection format must be DCP.
3. Running time must be no longer then 59 minutes
4. All films must be of Swedish origin.

The programming board selects the films that will compete in the Future of Fantastic competition. Special dispensation notwithstanding, only films meeting the following criteria will be selected:

1. All films must have been completed no earlier than January 1 2023.
2. The projection format must be DCP.
3. Running time must be no longer then 59 minutes
4. All films must be part of a school-project and must be able to show documentation such as a certificate, school logo or mention in the film credits to be eligible for the competition.

General Technical Specification Lund Cinema:

Image speed: 24 fps (OK with 25 & 30 too)
Image format: FLAT or SCOPE.
Audio format: 7.1, 5.1, 4.0 or 1.0.
English subtitles for all films besides Swedish: burnt-in/ hardcoded
SMPTE or INTEROP.
Hard disk / USB: Formatted according to NTFS or Ext2 or 3
6 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Anders Elsrud Hultgreen

    I had a great pleasure of be selected to this year Lund Fantastic Film Festival.
    It was a great pleasure to compete for the Méliès Award at the festival.
    The dialogue with the festival was great and the festival did a good promotion of my film.

    November 2023
    Helpful
  • Lars Einar Skageberg

    Great festival with friendly and communicative staff!

    November 2022
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  • Three Wishes Productions

    Although we couldn't attend in person, we have nothing negative to say about our experience with Lund Fantastic Film Festival. A top Tier genre festival with lots of history and passion behind it. This festival is a must when submitting your film. Our film, Tistlebu, also had the great opportunity to win the best European short and Melies d'agent award. We can comfortably recommend this fantastic festival.

    November 2022
    Helpful
  • Seagull & Starfish Productions

    Great communication and made things possible in a challenging time.

    November 2020
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  • Niall Shukla

    Lund International Fantastic Fest is a really great festival! It has terrific organisation and communication to its filmmakers. I was very pleased to have my short “A Doll Distorted” selected for this festival. You can tell the whole team put a lot of passion and effort into organising the event and to each film they curate. There is also a real desire to make all the filmmakers feel like one big community. Sadly I could not attend being in the UK, but I have only heard great things from each of my fellow filmmakers who attend this festival each year. I would thoroughly recommend submitting to this festival!

    October 2020
    Helpful