Elche International Fantastic Film Festival - FANTAELX

2026 prizes: Best Feature Film — €600; Best Feature Film Project — €300; Best International Short Film — €300 and direct access to Skyline Benidorm Film Festival (Spain); Best National Short Film — €300 and direct access to Festival de Cortometrajes de Terror y Fantástico 1000 Gritos de Buenos Aires (Argentina); Best Short Film from Alicante — €200 and direct access to Madeira Fantastic FilmFest (Portugal); Special “Social and Fantastic” Award — €200 and direct access to Sant Joan d’Alacant Film Festival (Spain); Audience Award — €200; Best Fake Trailer — €100 and direct access to Fantastic and Horror Trailer Festival TEASERFRENIA (Spain). The feature award covers national and international competing features. The project award covers fantastic feature projects in pre-production. Alicante, national and international competing shorts are eligible for the Social and Fantastic distinction. The audience award covers national and international shorts and fake trailers screened in the designated sessions. Provincial, national and international competing fake trailers qualify for their category. Cash awards are subject to statutory withholding and bank transaction costs.

2026 entry requirements: Works must be produced after 1 January 2025 and must not have been submitted to an earlier FANTAELX edition. Filmmakers of legal age from any country may submit any number of works. Films must be in Spanish or Valencian, or subtitled in either language. Fiction, documentary and experimental works, in live action, animation or other techniques, are eligible when their themes fall within the fantastic genre. Any use of artificial intelligence must be identified in the technical description. Running times, including credits: feature films 60–100 minutes; short films no more than 20 minutes; fake trailers no more than 5 minutes. Competing features must have no commercial theatrical release in Spain outside festivals before the event. Selected works must supply the required screening materials within the specified period; features primarily screen in DCP. Competition entries are accepted only through FilmFreeway with the required non-refundable fee. The 2026 submission period is 7 June–7 September inclusive, with selection notification by 5 October. An international jury selects the programme and its decisions are final. Participation grants screening rights to the festival and to partner festivals presenting winning works out of competition. Screenings are free to attend, and producers and distributors grant exhibition rights without charge. Participants authorise promotional extracts of up to one minute and retain legal responsibility for their works and content. The festival may select venues and public sessions within its programme. If adverse circumstances prevent a screening, selection remains valid and the jury may still confer awards. Selected works competing for Best National Short Film or Best Feature Film receive €75, subject to applicable withholding, provided a person directly involved in the film attends and participates in its screening and an invoice is supplied beforehand. Cash prizes are subject to statutory withholding and bank transfer costs. Award-winning filmmakers attending the closing ceremony also receive a gift. Best Feature Film Project accepts fantastic projects in pre-production with development materials such as dossiers, designs, storyboards or teasers. Alicante short-film entrants must demonstrate birth in the province or residence there during filming.