Culture/Catalonia/Sitges, Barcelona province
Sitges opens its 59th fantastic film festival with Carlota Pereda's Found Alive
Eleven days, 442 films and a 50th-anniversary tribute to Carrie: the seaside town south of Barcelona becomes Europe's horror capital again.
LFLucía Ferrer, culture editor
· 2 min
- What
- Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, 59th edition
- When
- 8–18 October 2026
- Where
- Auditori Hotel Meliá and five other screens in Sitges
- Opening film
- Found Alive, by Carlota Pereda
- Region
- Catalonia
Sources appear in the margin next to the paragraph they support.
The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia opens on Thursday evening with Found Alive, a thriller by the Spanish director Carlota Pereda. The 59th edition runs until Sunday, 18 October, and brings more than 440 films to the town.12
This year's poster and much of the programme look back at Carrie, Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film, which turns 50. The festival is paying tribute to the director with a strand of screenings around the anniversary.2
Awards and closing night
The American filmmaker Robert Eggers will receive the festival's Time Machine Award, which recognises a career that has helped renew fantastic and horror cinema. The Spanish actress Bárbara Rey will be given the Nosferatu Award.2
The closing gala on Saturday, 17 October, will screen Wicker, starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård. Sunday is kept for repeat screenings and marathons.1
Screenings take place at the Auditori of the Hotel Meliá, the Tramuntana and Llevant rooms, Cinema Prado, Cinema Escorxador and the Mercat Vell.1
Also consulted:
Checked by Lucía Ferrer against 3 sources. Something wrong? Tell the desk · Corrections
Lucía Ferrer is a culture editor based in Barcelona. Lucía has covered film festivals and the Catalan music scene for twelve years, first for local radio and later as a freelance critic.