The inaugural edition of the Gérardmer Fantastic Film Festival was held in 1994. Back then the festival was entitled Fantastica. It was designed to replace the Avoriaz International Fantastic Film Festival (Festival international du film fantastique d’Avoriaz) that existed between 1973 and 1993. The next year, the festival was renamed to Fantastic’Arts in order to emphasize its focus on science fiction as a genre of art. The festival received its current name in 2008.
Each edition of the Gérardmer Fantastic Film Festival has a theme announced by the organizers in advance. For example, the 13th edition of the festival held in 2006 was dedicated to the number 13 and superstitions in general.
The program of the festival is built around competitive screenings of feature-length and short science fiction and horror films. The festival’s main award, the Grand Prix (Grand Prize) is awarded to the best feature film. The Gérardmer Fantastic Film Festival also awards the Special Jury Prize and the Audience Award.
The festival jury is made up of renowned filmmakers, actors and other industry professionals from around the world. Former jury members include Rutger Hauer, John Carpenter, Walter Hill, Ken Russell, Michael York, John Landis, Paul Verhoeven, Norman Jewison, etc.
Alongside competitive screenings, the program of the festival features special film premieres, night screenings (usually dedicated to the works of renowned filmmakers in the genre of horror and science fiction), themed retrospectives, etc. Among filmmakers who presented their works at the festival are Ronny Yu, Peter Jackson, Alex de la Iglesia and Michele Soavi.
Although the Gérardmer Fantastic Film Festival focuses on cinema like its name suggests, the festival also showcases novels, radio plays, music videos, video games, contemporary art and design, and other artistic works somehow related to horror and science fiction.
Photo: festival-gerardmer.com
