The Massiva Research Group of the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche, the Art Department of the UMH and the Black Unicorn Association have organized the IX International Fantastic Film Festival of Elche-FANTAELX, which will be held from 25 to 27 November at the Auditorium of the Congress Center ‘Ciutat d’Elx’. Likewise, in parallel, the IV International Congress of Fantastic Genre, Audiovisuals and New Technologies will take place, whose main thematic line will be the retro-fantastic.

This year, the festival pays tribute to the retro culture of cinema, series, video games, etc., of the fantasy genre of the 80s and 90s. The illustrator Joan Martín Giménez has designed the poster with allusions to Donkey Kong or He-Man ( celebrating the 40th anniversary); Sonic; Street Fighter II or Terminator II, which are celebrating their 30th anniversary; or the video game Tetris, released for the first time 35 years ago. In commemoration of these events, the Festival will screen the documentary film Arcadeology (2021), directed by Mario-Paul Martínez, professor and director of the Massiva Research Group of the UMH. This documentary travels to the phenomenon of video games and arcade machines that roamed arcades several decades ago. Likewise, during the Festival, short films will be screened in which science-fiction, horror and fantasy works will be shown.

For its part, the Congress, framed within the Festival, will take place on November 25 and 26 in face-to-face and online format. In this sense, tomorrow’s presentations will take place online, through the Festival website; while those of November 26 will be held in person at the Auditorium of the Elche Congress Center. The objective of the Congress in FANTAELX 2021 is the dissemination of research studies within the different thematic lines of the Fantasy Genre and will cover all variants and platforms. For this, more than 40 international and national speakers will participate, from countries such as France, Portugal, China or the United States.

The Congress is directed by the professors of the Department of Art of the UMH Mario-Paul Martínez and Fran Mateu and has the collaboration of the University and the Vice-Rector’s Office for Culture of the UMH.

More information: https://www.festivalcinefantaelx.com