HISTORY

Elche International Fantastic Film Festival – FANTAELX was born in 2013 with the aim of creating a meeting point where audiences and creators can share experiences around the fantasy genre. Its first edition was called Elche Fantastic Film Showing – FANTAELX, and after the great reception, its second edition became a competitive event, receiving short films from all over the world. From then on, the festival began to pay tribute to emblematic works of the fantastic genre and added new activities, such as presentations, colloquiums or feature film screenings.

As an added value, from its sixth edition onwards, the International Congress of Fantastic Genre, Audiovisuals and New Technologies was incorporated, framed within the festival, with the support of the Miguel Hernández University, with the collaboration of the Arts Research Centre (CIA), the Massiva UMH Research Group, the Miguel Hernández University of Elche and the Vice-rectorate of Culture, to achieve a more professional academic dissemination and thus highlight the fantastic genre at an educational level.

Over the years, and now in its tenth year, the festival has consolidated a network of synergies between different organisations. On the one hand, through entities of a more institutional nature, such as the Department of Culture of Elche City Council or Visit Elche; but there are also other organisations, of different kinds, that participate with the festival, such as the Centro Comercial l’Aljub, the Museo Paleontológico de Elche (MUPE), the cinema merchandising shop Cinema Paradiso or the bookshop Ali i Truc.

Likewise, the festival has also created synergies with other national and international film festivals, such as the 1000 Gritos Festival from Buenos Aires (Argentina), Sant Joan d’Alacant Film Festival or Skyline Benidorm Film Festival, the latter two being qualifying festivals for the Goya Awards. Since 2023, in addition to developing specific actions in other places such as Sant Joan d’Alacant or Benidorm, the festival will also expand its activities in the town of Catral (Alicante), in collaboration with the Catral Cineclub Association, whose usual facilities will also serve as the venue for the event