Since 1994, Gérardmer has hosted the International Fantasy Film Festival. Every year during the last week in January, this festival offers 50 films with a hundred or so screenings, including forty or so new films and previews, as well as retrospectives devoted to directors or following a particular theme. The 4 cinema screens welcome over 35,000 spectators. The films are screened in their original language, with subtitles.The programme is intended to be representative of international film production. It is oriented towards European and Asian countries that make films to rival Anglo-Saxon fantasy films. It is also open to more original works by less well-known directors, who can take the opportunity of the festival to make contacts with the distributors and producers who attend.
The International Fantasy Film Festival is special in that it combines film with the other fantasy arts, which makes it particularly popular. It is a chance for meetings, abundant creativity and new discoveries, and hosts visual art exhibitions, a literary salon, a young people’s area, theatre performances, street performances, make-up stands, a video games area and window display competitions.
