film

Starting with its inaugural edition in 1968, Sitges Film Festival has built a towering reputation on the world stage, and is considered one of the world's top three largest and most prestigious genre film festivals, alongside Fantasia, in Montreal, and Fantastic Fest, in Austin. Its 59th edition brings as stacked and impressive a line-up as ever, with cutting-edge horror and science fiction, animation, cult movies and rediscovered classics, and more than 400 screenings spread across Sitges’ various venues.

This year’s major theme is the 50th anniversary of Brian De Palma’s Carrie, and restored versions of David Cronenberg’s Scanners and Alejandro Amenábar’s Tesis are among the other retrospective highlights. There’s plenty of new work, too, with sections including Midnight X-Treme, Panorama, Noves Visions and Sitges Documenta, and the festival’s guest list includes Peter Jackson, Danny DeVito, Amy Irving, Kevin Bacon and Meiko Kaji. See the website for full programme and options for travel to and from Barcelona.