Sitges Fanpitch (2)

Festival start: 08 October 2023      Festival end: 09 October 2023

For the eighth year in a row, the Sitges - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is organizing its feature film and series project pitch competition. Starting this 2022, Sitges Pitchbox will be renamed Sitges FanPitch, broadening the contents of the call for entries with training and the preparation of the competing projects.

Consequently, Sitges FanPitch is the international pitch competition event focused on horror, science fiction or fantastic feature films and series in development and is adding a training laboratory on sustainability and leadership of audiovisual projects.

This initiative still maintains its goal of discovering the very best genre projects and matching them with leading companies in the industry.

The event will take place in hybrid format on October 10th and 13th as part of the Sitges Film Festival.

A total of five series and five feature films from around the world will be selected. The people responsible for each of the selected projects will have the opportunity to make a sales pitch and meet with each of the participating companies. In addition, the 3 winning feature film projects will be eligible for travel grants for their international circulation. In the series category, 1 winning project will be selected, which will receive a cash prize for ongoing development.

For the second consecutive year, this edition will be complemented with the Showrunners LAB, an introductory and mentoring seminar on the role of the showrunner. The selected projects will be able to carry out individual mentoring sessions with each of the showrunners participating in this year's edition.

Training for the winning projects will be provided at THE SITGES SUSTAINABLE PITCH LAB. Social Perspectives, Resource Awareness & Pitch as a Tool for Change and Success, a two-day laboratory (October 11 and 12) within the framework of the festival, presented by Helene Granqvist and Valeria Richter.

All the selected projects will have the option of acquiring a free Industry accreditation of this edition of the festival to be able to attend all the Industry sessions (except the private ones), be part of the Sitges Industry Online-Catalan Films platform, and the viewings of films included in the accreditation.

SITGES FANPITCH 2023

For the ninth year in a row, the Sitges - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia is organizing Sitges FanPitch, its feature film and series production project pitch competition.

Sitges FanPitch is the international pitch competition event focused on feature films and series productions in development with horror, science fiction and/or fantastic themes.

The initiative still maintains its goal of discovering the best genre projects and hooking them up with leading companies in the industry. The event will take place in hybrid format on October 8th and 9th, 2023 as part of the Sitges Film Festival.

A total of five series and five feature films from around the world will be selected. These will be joined by the projects selected by the Festival at the collaborating Sitges FanPitch film markets.

The people responsible for each of the selected projects will have the opportunity to make a sales pitch and meet with each of the participating companies. In addition, the 4 winning feature film projects will be eligible for travel grants for their international circulation.

This year, the BIF Market, the section dedicated to the film market at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, joins the Sitges FanPitch market circuit.

In the series category, 1 winning project will be selected, which will be awarded a cash prize for its ongoing development.

For the third consecutive year, this edition will be complemented by the Showrunners LAB, an introductory and mentoring seminar on the figure of the showrunner. The selected series projects will be able to receive individual mentoring sessions with the showrunner participating in this year's edition.


PRIZES


All selected projects will receive free Industry accreditation for this year's Festival to be able to attend all industry activities (except private ones), be part of the Sitges Industry Online-Catalan Films platform, and the film screenings included with their accreditation.

The projects selected at Sitges FanPitch will be eligible for the following prizes:


FEATURE FILM CATEGORY


Four travel grants for 1 representative of each project (includes travel and living expenses at the destination):

- NAFF – BIFFF (South Korea)
- FRONTIÈRES MARKET – Fantasia (Canada)
- BLOOD WINDOW – Ventana Sur (Argentina)
- BIF MARKET – BIFFF (Belgium)


SERIES CATEGORY


Cash prize of 2,500 euros (incl. VAT) for the project's development*

* The representative of the winning series project must submit a proposal for expenses as part of the production development plan, which will be approved and paid for directly by the Sitges Film Festival of Catalonia Foundation.


SITGES FANPITCH 2023 RULES AND REGULATIONS


REQUIREMENTS


Candidate projects must present:

- Script.

- Dossier with a synopsis of the project, benchmark films and a description of the target audience (in English).

- Video pitch with a maximum runtime of 3 minutes (to be linked in the film's page on Festhome in the Trailer / Pitch option). The videopitch must be in English or subtitled in English.

- Poster proposal for the film/series.


PARTICIPATION COMMITMENT


The project selected for the Sitges FanPitch-Sitges FanLab will receive a diploma accrediting it as a finalist and winner of the call for entries.

The organization will recognize the signer of these rules and regulations as the sole interlocutor to negotiate all aspects related to the participation of the project and as the only person responsible vis-a-vis other companies or people who may participate in the production of the project.

In the event that the corresponding feature film or series is made, the winning projects agree to add the Sitges FanPitch and Sitges FanLab logo to the production credits.


DATES


Call for entries begins: June 1st

Call for entries ends: July 31th

Announcement of selected projects: Monday, September 1st

Call for entries via Festhome.

Contact: industry.hub@sitgesfilmfestival.com