The Galician Freaky Film Festival (GFFF) does not work in isolation. Since its inception, the festival has established a robust network of relationships and collaborations with fantastic and genre cinema festivals from around the world, creating bridges that transcend geographical and cultural boundaries. GFFF is also a member of leading international federations and professional networks. Learn more about our memberships and accreditations.
A commitment to international collaboration
GFFF’s alliances are structured around two core axes: the exchange of cinematographic content and the establishment of spaces for dialogue and professional debate. This collaboration strategy enables us to offer the Galician public a privileged glimpse into the best contemporary fantastic cinema, while showcasing Galician audiovisual talent abroad.
Partner Festival: quality cinematographic exchange
The figure of the “Partner Festival” constitutes one of the cornerstones of our international alliances. Each edition, GFFF establishes a special collaboration with a prestigious international festival that shares our values and quality standards.
Notable collaborations
Throughout our editions, we have maintained alliances with the most relevant festivals in the global fantastic panorama:
- TOHorror Fantastic Film Fest (Italy): One of Italy’s most important festivals dedicated to genre cinema, founded in 1999 under the patronage of Dario Argento. This collaboration allows us to access alternative gems and formidable debuts from contemporary Italian fantastic cinema.
- NIFFF – Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (Switzerland): The only Swiss festival dedicated to the fantastic genre, member of the prestigious Méliès International Federation of Festivals. This alliance reinforces our commitment to excellence in European programming.
- FANTASPOA – Porto Alegre International Fantastic Cinema Festival (Brazil): The largest genre cinema festival in Latin America, which allows us to establish cultural bridges with Brazilian and Ibero-American fantastic cinema.
- MotelX – Lisbon International Horror Film Festival (Portugal): The only Portuguese festival member of the Méliès International Festivals Federation, which brings us the best of contemporary Lusophone horror.
- Cryptshow Festival (Catalunya): With fifteen editions under its belt, it is one of the most outstanding fantastic and horror cinema festivals in Catalonia. This consolidated collaboration allows us to exchange some of the most exceptional works from their programming.
These collaborations materialize in special sessions featuring select short films from these partner festivals, offering the Galician public access to exclusive and high-quality content.
Pequefreak: specialized collaborations
Our commitment to audience diversity is also reflected in the alliances established for Pequefreak programming. We collaborate with festivals that develop specialized children’s sections, creating content exchanges tailored to family audiences and consolidating ties with the international movement of fantastic children’s cinema.
Notable collaborations include Terror Molins and its TerrorKids section, which strengthens ties with the Terror Arreu de Catalunya (TAC) movement, and, particularly significantly, the alliance with Motel/X in Lisbon and its children’s section Lobo Mau.
Lobo Mau invites children and their families to explore the affinity between children’s tales and the horror universe on the big screen, subverting the maxim that “horror films are fairy tales for adults.”
Brotherhoods of the North: a network of peninsular festivals
The “Brotherhoods of the North” initiative is an ambitious collaboration among genre festivals from different Spanish regions. In partnership with Vigo Film Office, these sessions bring together representatives from festivals in Euskadi, Navarra, Catalunya, and Galicia to analyze the health of fantastic cinema in the Spanish State.
This initiative has its roots in the round table “Galician Freak and Fantastic Festivals” that GFFF organized in 2020, bringing together the four reference fantastic thematic festivals of the Galician community to debate the health status of these events, their international projection and the creation of a group that would bring together these events and consolidate their weight in the panorama of Galician and national festivals.
Notable participants
This network includes reference festivals such as:
Euskadi:
- International Short Films and Music Videos Festival Caostica
- FANT Bilbao – Bilbao Fantastic Cinema Festival
- San Sebastián Fantasy and Horror Film Week
Catalunya:
- Terror Molins and other members of Terror Arreu de Catalunya (TAC)
- Cryptshow Festival
- B-RETINA – B-Series Cinema Festival in Cornellà
- FANTBOI – Sant Boi de Llobregat Fantastic Cinema Festival
- FangoFest – International Festival of Fantastic Horror and Gore Cinema
Navarra:
Galicia:
- Curtas – Vilagarcía de Arousa Festival of the Imaginary
- PANIC – A Estrada Horror Film Festival
- FanCine de Lemos – Monforte de Lemos Fantastic Genres Festival
- Lóstrego – A Coruña Fantastic Cinema Festival
Impact and projection
These alliances are not merely symbolic. They translate into real exchanges of content, management experiences, programming strategies, and specialized knowledge. They allow us to:
- Access exclusive short films and premieres in Galicia
- Share cultural management and festival experiences
- Establish joint quality standards
- Project Galician talent in international circuits
- Create synergies between sector professionals
Indeed, the active participation of GFFF members as jurors at leading festivals consolidates the event’s position on the national and international fantasy film scene. Juan de Castro, director of the festival, participated as a jury member at the Cryptshow Fest in Badalona, the Curtas Festival do Imaxinario in Vilagarcía de Arousa, and MotelX in Lisbon, while Miriam P. Álvarez, deputy director, was part of the jury at Fantboi in Sant Boi de Llobregat.
International expansion and global presence
GFFF continues expanding its international footprint through an active strategy of presence at world-renowned festivals. The participation of programmer and producer Ignacio Lago at the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF&ASIA) in Tokyo, Asia’s largest short film festival, represented a historic milestone for the GFFF.
This international presence enables the discovery of unexplored markets for genre cinema and establishes strategic connections with filmmakers from Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, and other Asian countries. The alliances generated open the doors of northwestern Europe to Asian filmmakers, creating significant opportunities for international expansion.
Participation in the International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia – Sitges
The GFFF consolidates its presence at the International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia – Sitges, the most important fantastic film festival in the world and an absolute reference of the genre at an international level. This collaboration materializes through the participation of GFFF director, Juan de Castro García, in the round tables of Sitges Industry, the festival’s professional space dedicated to the film industry.
In 2024, the GFFF participated in the round table “Terror Arreu Catalunya (TAC): Opportunities and barriers for genre cinema in Catalan”, a meeting that addressed the opportunities and barriers of genre cinema in Catalan. This session, co-organized with the TAC Federation, analyzed the low production of genre short films in the Catalan language and explored the possibilities for promoting their production and distribution, as well as the creative, structural and cultural barriers that exist. The GFFF stands out in this panel for the festival’s experience as the only event in the world that subtitles all foreign short films in Galician, providing a valuable perspective on the promotion and normalization of regional languages in genre cinema.
In 2025, Juan de Castro participated in the round table “Noviembre Fantasma Talks: New Audiences for Horror Festivals”, alongside prominent figures such as Ángel Sala (Artistic Director of SITGES), Glòria Massana (TerrorMolins), Rocío Moreno (Fancine Málaga), and Ramón González (Isla Calavera). This session explored strategies to attract and retain new audiences and build strong communities at genre festivals, while adapting to changing consumption habits. Initiatives such as Sitges Family, Terror Kids, or Pequefreak were analyzed, highlighting their impact on territorial roots, the dynamism of the local economy, and the cultivation of new generations of audiences and talent. The GFFF’s participation in this debate positioned the festival as a benchmark in creating inclusive cinematic spaces and in audience development.
These international participations consolidate the GFFF as a valid interlocutor in the debate about the future of fantastic film festivals and demonstrate the international recognition of the work the Galician event has done in promoting genre cinema and creating new audiences.
Institutional support
Our alliances have the support of specialized institutions, such as the Vigo Film Office, which facilitates and supports these exchanges, thereby strengthening Galicia’s position on the international map of fantastic cinema festivals.
Future of collaborations
GFFF maintains a sustainable growth strategy for its alliances, always seeking to balance geographical and cultural diversity with the highest quality standards. Each new collaboration adds value to our project and enriches the experience of both the public and the fantastic film industry professionals who participate in the festival.
These alliances consolidate GFFF not only as a reference festival in Galicia but also as a relevant actor in the international network of fantastic cinema festivals, actively contributing to cultural exchange and genre development.