The festival was born in 1980 at a table of a small coffee shop in the center of Oporto, heritage world town by UNESCO, in a conversation between the three founders, film critics Mário Dorminsky and Beatriz Pacheco Pereira and the painter José Manuel Pereira.
It immediately presented in the first edition (1981) the structure of a festival although still non-competitive, which has happened in the following edition.
The name Fantasporto had its origin in the reference used in the first letters- Fantas, because the festival started with a fantasy competition, and Porto, the name of the city.
From the start, and due to the quality of its programming, the festival had access to the best productions from all over the world. In 1981, in its first edition, the festival screened the first Chinese animation feature, for example, and later on it discovered for Europe New Zealand and South Korean films.
It started with fantasy films, a hit in the eighties, when names such as Spielberg, George Lucas or Ridley Scott were new to the film business.
Fantasy films have been a must all through the history of the cinema. From Méliès to our own Manoel de Oliveira, from Murnau to Spielberg, all great classics of the imaginary have been screened in Fantasporto. The festival grew to become a general film event with the introduction of the Directors Week in 1991 and the Orient Express (for Asian Films). The festival was the first to introduce with their first films directors such as Almodovar or the cinema from South Korea, buildings its strategy around unreleased and never to be seen again films. Fantasporto has been the beacon for many film festivals in the world and has received the acknowledgement of such publications as Variety and the International Film Guide.
Fantasporto was the first festival to cross the arts and sciences with the film world since its first edition in 1981. Concerts, art exhibitions, workshops, book presentations, theatre plays and street performances, all have been welcomed in festival.
The Special Programme, existing as a parallel event within the film festival since 2009, has established this sector as a must for festival goers, with Architecture, Robotics or the Fine Arts as the highlights of the latest editions. In 2012, the theme is the Future, with lectures, films, theatre and performances, science demonstrations and a hologram exhibition. The Vampires Ball in the closing party of Fantasporto.
Fantasporto is a regular visit of the Cannes Film Markets with a stand in the premises, enlarging thus the international influence of the event, as it can clearly be seen in the use of the name and logo of Fantasporto in the official poster and site of the selected films. The coverage by the media is unprecedented in Portugal with numerous international references. In 2011, the festival had 63 newspapers, 44 TV channels, 23 radio stations and 88 sites covering the event. Fantasporto has a unique media coverage in Portugal, due to the presence of the many professionals, most of them repeating the visit. News agencies, newspapers and tv channels cover the festival on a daily basis, with many live reports.
A professional meeting place for all.
The festival has screened first hand the first films of the greatest film creators of all times, one of the top merits of the event. David Cronenberg, André Tarkovsky, Brian de Palma, John Carpenter, Alain Resnais, David Lynch, Andrezj Zulawski, Bigas Luna, Ridley Scott, Luc Besson, Peter Greenaway, Jean-Jacques Beinex, Neil Jordan, Joel and Ethan Coen ou Lars von Trier showed their first films in the first 5 years of Fantasporto. Also Pedro Almodóvar, Sam Raimi, Leos Carax, Vincent Ward, Peter Jackson, Hal Hartley, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, Anthony Minghella, Peter Weir, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Robbins, Guillermo del Toro, Roberto Rodriguez, Vincenzo Natali, Danny Boyle, Lee Tamahori, the Waschowski brothers, Nick Cassevetes, Scott Hicks, David Fincher screened their first films in Fantasporto, making it a special place for new talents. Fantasporto is a regular name in the sites of directors who had their films presented in the festival. Pedro Almodóvar, Paul Anderson, Luc Besson, Danny Boyle, James Cameron, Nick Cassavetes, Joel Coen, David Cronenberg, John Carpenter, Roland Emmerich, David Fincher, Terry Gilliam, Peter Greenaway, Michael Haneke, Peter Jackson, Neil Jordan, David Lynch, Takashi Miike, Danny Boyle, Anthony Minghella, Vincenzo Natali, Tim Robbins, Roberto Rodriguez, Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, Guillermo del Toro, Lars von Trier or Larry Wachowski refer the official selection of their films or the awards they have received in Fantasporto in their sites.
The festival is a place for the promotion of the most recent Portuguese cinema, with tributes to the most relevant personalities.
The retrospectives have enriched the festival along the years, reaching all kinds of filmmakers and countries, themes and film personalities. Jean Cocteau, Louis Feuillade, Seguei Paradjanov, Jorge Grau, Karel Zeman, Jacques Tourneur, Orson Welles, Vivente Aranda, Juan Luis Bunuel, Brian de Palma, Bigas Luna, Dario Argento, George Mélies, André Delvaux, Mario Bava, Terence Fisher, David Cronenberg, René Laloux, Tobe Hooper, Georges Franju, Luis Bunuel, Andrzej Zulawski, Paul Verhoeven, Harry Kumel, René Clair, Marcel Carné, John Waters, Andy Warhol, Leni Riefenstahl, Michele Soavi, David Lynch, Walt Disney, Alfred Hitchcock, Bill Plympton, Julio Bressane, Mojica Marins, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Jesus Franco, Alex Cox, Julien Temple, Oswaldo Caldeira, Hershell Gordon Lewis, Lucio Fulci, Christpher Lee, Takashi Miike, Sabu, Shynia Tsukamoto, Jean Renoir or Ed Wood.
Fantasporto as a brand with state and private sponsors, has been a partner of Unicer for the last twenty years and is the only film festival in the world with a model of a car named after it (Toyota Fantas Aygo) in 2007. Due to a highly specialized organizing team, the festival has brought the event to the front line of similar events – three decades under the leadership of the founders. An example of dedication and professionalism.
The festival was granted the recognition of the Portuguese Government and the Town Halls of Oporto and Gaia with the greatest honours, the Gold MedalsPorto and Gaia, and the Medal of Cultural Merit given by the Portuguese Government.