Festival européen du film fantastique de Strasbourg (16)

Festival start: 22 September 2023      Festival end: 01 October 2023

The Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival is organised by Les Films du Spectre, a non-profit making association dedicated to genre cinema, which includes fantasy, horror, science-fiction and thrillers.

In addition to the Festival’s international prizes, as a member of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation, it also awards the Silver Méliès for the best European fantastic film.

Feature films:

• The Silver Méliès
• The Golden Octopus for the best fantastic film
• The Audience Award
• Best Crossover feature film
• The Golden Stork for the best animated film
• Special Jury Prize (optional)

Short films:

• The Silver Méliès
• Golden Octopus for the best international fantastic short film
• Special Jury Prize (optional)
• Audience Award
• Student Jury Prize
• Best Animated Short Film Prize
• Best French Short Film Prize

1.The Festival


The Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival is organised by Les Films du Spectre, a non-profit making association dedicated to genre cinema, which includes fantasy, horror, science-fiction and thrillers. In addition to the Festival’s international prizes, as a member of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation, it also awards the Silver Méliès for the best European fantastic film.


2. Selection committee


The Festival is open to films worldwide. If your film is invited to screen at the Festival, the selection committee will designate the category that best suits the film.


3. Sections


The Festival includes the following feature film sections and competitions:

– the international competition for fantastic films

– the international Crossovers competition

– the International animated film competition

– the Silver Méliès competition for European fantastic films

– Midnight Movies

– Special Screenings


4. Submission criteria


Feature films submitted to the Festival must:

– have been completed within 24 months prior to the start of the Festival;

– be submitted before 15 June of the current year;

– be at least 60 minutes long;

– be in the original language version, subtitled in either French or English;

– be unreleased in France.


5. International competition for fantastic films


Films selected for this competition are eligible for the following awards:

– the Golden Octopus for the best fantastic film

– Special Jury Prize (optional)

– the Audience Award

This competition screens widely-defined fantastic films: fantasy; sci-fi, horror, and films with elements of surrealism, magic realism, etc.


6. International Crossovers competition


Films selected for this competition are eligible for the following awards:

– Best Crossover feature

– Special Jury Prize (optional)

The Crossovers section presents non-fantastic genre films, such as thrillers, black comedies, film noir, and so forth.


7. International animated film competition


Films selected for this competition are eligible for the following awards:

– The Golden Stork for the best animated film

– Special Jury Prize (optional)


8. The Silver Méliès competition for the best European fantastic film


The Silver Méliès competition is organised by the European Federation of Fantastic Film Festivals, represented in France by the Strasbourg Festival. The Strasbourg winner of the Silver Méliès will automatically compete in the Golden Méliès competition at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, held each October in Sitges, Spain.

The Méliès competition is open to European films only, defined as follows:

– If the director is not a European national, the financing must be entirely European. Any non-European financing is eliminatory. The languages and the settings of the films are not taken into account.

– If the director is a European national, part of the funding must be European. The languages and settings of the films will not be taken into account.

Europe as a geographical entity, refers to the following countries, as defined by the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom.


9. Midnight Movies


The Midnight Movies section presents explosive cocktails of gore, fun bad taste and over-the-top films, plus more. This is a non-competition section, however, please note that films selected for the above-mentioned Silver Méliès competition may also be part of this section.


10. Special screenings


Special screenings include the opening and closing night films, but also documentaries relevant to genre cinema. This section is non-competitive, but films selected for the Méliès competition, may also be part of this section.


11. Submissions


Submitted films should be uploaded on the platform Festhome.

The entry fee is €20 (twenty euros).

The selection committee will watch only films for which the submission form has been correctly filled in.

The submission deadline is midnight 14 June of the current year. Late submissions will be handled on a case by case basis, with no guarantee of acceptance.


12. Materials


Once you have been notified that your film has been selected, it may not be withdrawn. The rights-holders of the selected films must provide the following:

– a selection of HD stills, preferably in landscape: (300dpi: pdf, jpg, tiff);

– the film’s poster in HD, preferably portrait;

– a press file

– a trailer, with French or english subtitles if available

– a dialogue list and a DVD or downloadable file for the translator

– an HD photo of the director


13. Transport


The Festival covers round-trip transport of the film. However, If the film is to be sent to another Festival, we cover only inbound transport. Outbound will be assumed by the other Festival.


14. Rights holders


The rights-holders of the film authorise the screening of the film at the Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival and once agreed may not revoke the agreement.

The Festival reserves the right to modify the submission rules if need be for organisational purposes.