Monsters - Fantastic Film Festival is an annual movie festival held in Taranto (Italy) and focused on fantastic cinema, explored as a genre of cultural relevance and multiple expressive possibilities. Since its inception, the festival has scouted for new authors, deep themes, social commentaries, visual imagery who could stand the test of time. The festival has gained national and international recognition for its quality programs, in which interest for research and love for the great tradition of the genre are treated with equal respect and enjoyment. Restored classics, live performance, many screenings per days, homage to fondamental authors and special thematic programs have become the perfect formula for an event who wants to promote love for cinema and art, with truly passion for creatures, stories and emotion that horror, sci-fi and fantasy can offer.

During its first eight years, Monsters has showed over 200 movies, focusing on Masters of the genre like Lucio Fulci, Joe D'Amato, Mario Bava, Lamberto Bava, George Romero, Rob Zombie, Larry Fessenden, Jeff Lieberman, Stephen King, Claudio Simonetti, William Friedkin, Jean Rollin, Val Lewton, celebrating creatures and thematic subgenres like slasher, zombies, clowns, sirens and monsters from the sea, the Frankenstein Monster, black horror, the Wolf Man, Female Vampires, Creatures from the Mist. The festival has screened, often in national premiere, movies of new talents like Mathieu Turi, Julia Ducorneau, Natalie Erika James, Erica Scoggins, Alberto Viavattene, Santiago Menghini, Issa Lopez, Simone Scafidi, Roberto De Feo, Daniele Misischia, Karim Ouelhaj, Devanny Pinn, Carolina Sandvik, Paolo Strippoli, Syeyoung Park, Oscar Boyson, Daniel Oriahi, Matteo Burani, Thibault Emin, Kimbo Kim, Cris Tapia Marchiori, Yuriyan Retriever with live performance from artists like musicians Valerio “Nekroz” Di Masi, Collettivo Zeugma, Caterina "Zaleska" Palazzi, Gabriele Panico and comic artists Enzo Rizzi (creator of the well known “horror rock” icon Heavy Bone) and Alessio Fortunato (Dampyr). The festival has also rediscovered lost masters and promises like Bill Gunn, Fabio Salerno and Mariano Baino.

The Festival is organized by the Cultural Association BRIGADOON ALTRE STORIE DEL CINEMA, with the support of the national fund for festivals of Ministry of Culture (MiC), Centro Studi Cinematografici and is part of Apulia Cinefestival Network from Apulia Film Commission and Puglia Region.

The 9th edition of the Festival will take place from 26th to 31th October 2026, in Taranto.

Awards & Prizes

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM COMPETITION
Entry to the International Feature Film Competition is open to feature-length films (longer than 60′), which were completed after September 1st, 2025. Preferential criteria for selection will be the National Premiere screening at the Festival. Only Regional Premiere films are eligible for the Competition.
A highly qualified Jury of at least three members will award the following prizes:
- Monsters Award for Best Film
- Monsters Award for Best Director
- No ex aequo awards are eligible

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Entry to the International Short Film Competition is open to films under 20′ in length, which were completed after June 1st, 2025. The date of the film’s first public screening is determinant. Only Regional Premiere films are eligible for the Competition.
A highly qualified Jury of at least three members will award the following prizes:
- Monsters Award for Best Short Film
- Monsters Award for Best Director
- A Special Mention is allowed, to be awarded for the Artistic Contribution
- No ex aequo awards are eligible

A selection of films from the International Short Film Competition chosen at the sole discretion of the Direction will participate in the awardin for the
- Student Jury Prize - Pricò - Cinema is Young.

INTERNATIONAL MONSTERS KIDS COMPETITION
Entry to the International Monsters Kids Competition, focused on youger audience, is open to films under 15′ in length, which were completed after June 1st, 2025. The date of the film’s first public screening is determinant.
Only Regional Premiere films are eligible for the Competition.
A Jury of children between the ages of 5 and 12 will award the
- Monsters Kids Award for Best Short Film.

Rules & Terms

The festival is structured in a series of thematic sections, in which all the competitive titles will be comprises.

Feature films, shorts, documentaries and animations are submittable from all over the world. Every title submitted for the final awards must be related to the horror, science fiction or fantasy genres, his alleged subgenres or variations (thriller, suspense, horror-comedy). Each author is responsible for the contents of its own work.

Registration is done only using the www.filmfreeway.com platform and providing payment of the submitting fees. The Artistic Commettee of Selection can also invite specific movies to take part in the competition.

Submitting movies must be accompanied by a movie artwork, photos and a short synopsis, a director's statement will also be preferred.

If the film is not in italian or english language, it must be accompanied with english subtitles. In case of selection, a .srt file along with a low-res file of the movie must be sent, in order to provide a proper italian translation of all dialogues.

For any further information you can contact: brigadooncinema@gmail.com
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  • Muhammad Asadi

    GREAT FESTIVAL. SEE YOU GUYS NEXT YEAR , AGAIN.

    November 2025
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  • Pablo Udenio

    Although we couldn’t attend in person, we want to thank the festival for including Gunman (Gatillero) in the program — and on top of that, we won the Best Director Award!!
    A big thank you to the jury for the prize and their beautiful words:
    "For portraying, with a lucid and relentless gaze, the most frightening of monsters: man. Cris Tapia Marchiori drags us into a criminal abyss with no salvation for anyone. His sequence shot is a sensory and emotional experience, a hypnotizing nightmare."

    November 2025
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  • Jordi Romero

    Lo he seguido a distancia, pero la publi en redes era brutal y la programación. Nuestro corto "Siluro, la bestia del Ebro" formó parte en la edición 2024 y estamos muy orgullosos de ello!! Viva el Monsters!!!

    December 2024
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  • ali masoumi

    The best festival and the best experience

    December 2024
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  • Hamed Asgharzadeh Marghmaleki

    Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the festival, but it was a pleasure to follow it virtually. Don't worry to the organizers

    November 2023
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