Imagine Film Festival
The Imagine Film Festival, formerly Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, also known as Imagine Fantastic Film Festival or simply Imagine, is an annual film festival in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The festival was created in 1991 with a focus mainly on fantasy and horror films.
History
Imagine started out as the "Weekend of Terror". After several years, this weekend turned into a full-blown festival in 1991, titled the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival. It showed a wide array of international genre films, not just horror but also science fiction, fantasy, martial arts and anime.In 2004, the festival hosted the Golden Méliès Gala, awarding the best fantastic European films, in both, features and shorts categories.
In 2009, the festival got a new name: Imagine Film Festival. With the name change, the organization wanted to emphasize that the festival had become more focused on films that cannot be strictly defined as fantasy, horror or science fiction over the years.
In 2013, after many years based at the Kriterion, the festival chose the Eye Film Institute as its home base. During the years at Eye, the festival started adding VR experiences as well as games, under the flag of "Imagine Expanded", and extended its science programme.
In 2022, both the timing and the venues were changed: to the end of October instead of mid-April, and at two new base venues.
Overview
Imagine takes place at the end of October, at LAB111 and De FilmHallen.The festival aims to acquaint both film lovers and the general public with a selection of new and classic films from genres such as fantasy, horror and science fiction. A large part of the program consists of genre films, exploitation films, cult films and obscure films, though the offerings have become increasingly diverse over the years.
The event is organized by the non-profit Foundation AFFF, with support from the Film Fund and the City of Amsterdam.
Awards
The Imagine Time Capsule was awarded between 2010 and 2015. Other former awards include the Black Tulip Award and the VR Award., the prizes awarded at the festival are:
- [|Sea Devil Award], for best fantastic feature film
- [|Silver Méliès], for best fantastic European film; one for features and one for shorts
- [|Silver Scream Award], voted by the audience, all feature films eligible
Sea Devil Award
Formerly Black Tulip Award. In 2006, the jury prize was awarded in three categories but afterwards only in the category of best feature:Méliès Awards
The Méliès Awards are an initiative of the Méliès International Festivals Federation, of which Imagine has been a member since 1996. Affiliated festivals each year grant two Silver Méliès Award during their festival, one for best fantastic feature, and one for best fantastic short. The winners then join the Méliès d'Or Award ceremony.Amsterdam Silver Méliès winners:
| Year | Film title | Director |
| 2025 | The Last Viking | Anders Thomas Jensen |
| 2024 | Mr. K | Tallulah H. Schwab |
| 2023 | Infested | Sébastien Vanícek |
| 2022 | Attachment | Gabriel Bier Gislason |
| 2021 | Censor | Prano Bailey-Bond |
| 2020 | Dogs Don’t Wear Pants | Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää |
| 2019 | O Beautiful Night | Xaver Xylophon |
| 2018 | The Place | Paolo Genovese |
| 2017 | Skins | Eduardo Casanova |
| 2016 | The Survivalist | Stephen Fingleton |
| 2015 | Liza, the Fox-Fairy | Károly Ujj Mészáros |
| 2014 | ||
| 2013 | The End | Jorge Torregrossa |
| 2012 | Sleep Tight | Jaume Balagueró |
| 2011 | Suiker | Jeroen Annokkeé |
| 2010 | Transmission | Roland Vranik |
| 2009 | Before the Fall | F. Javier Gutiérrez |
| 2008 | The King of the Mountain | Gonzalo López-Gallego |
| 2007 | Them | David Moreau & Xavier Palud |
| 2006 | Storm | Måns Mårlind & Björn Stein |
| 2005 | Calvaire | Fabrice du Welz |
| 2004 | The Green Butchers | Anders Thomas Jensen |
| 2003 | My Little Eye | Marc Evans |
| 2002 | The Devil's Backbone | Guillermo del Toro |
| 2001 | Heart of the Warrior | Daniel Monzón |
Silver Scream Award
The Silver Scream Award is voted by the audience of the festival.VR Award
In 2018, the inaugural VR Award was awarded to an eight-channel video Australian work called The Summation of Force, by filmmaker Matthew Bate and photographers Narelle Autio and Trent Parke.Lifetime / Career Achievement Award
The Lifetime / Career Achievement Award has been awarded to the following people:- 2025 - Ben Wheatley
- 2024 - Phil Tippett
- 2019 - William Lustig
- 2014 - Alejandro Jodorowsky
- 2013 - Neil Jordan
- 2012 - Stan Lee
- 2011 - Rutger Hauer
- 2010 - Dick Maas
- 2008 - Tim Burton
- 2007 - Terry Gilliam
- 2006 - Roger Corman
- 2005 - Ray Harryhausen
- 2005 - Paul Naschy
- 2004 - not awarded
- 2003 - Lloyd Kaufman
- 2002 - Paul Verhoeven
- 2001 - Dario Argento
- 2000 - Wes Craven
Imagine Time Capsule
This prize was awarded for online entries between 2010 and 2015:| Year | Film title | Director |
| 2015 | We Love Robots | Bram Roza & Jurriaan Verdoold |
| 2014 | Looking for Laika | Thijs Molenaar & Laurens Roorda |
| 2013 | Monsterpop | Boriz Baatsen |
| 2012 | Mayan Prophecy | Geoffrey Cramm |
| 2011 | Under the Dress | Sasha Meijer |
| 2010 | The Vegan Vampire | Suzi Terror |