Barcelona is a city that is filled with culture and also loves a good celebration and party. Naturally there are many interesting ways to combine these two things but there’s no better one than to discover and explore the numerous film festivals that the city has to offer. From large to small and covering all genres of film there are many different festivals and competitions that are open for the public to enjoy all year round. So grab your bucket of popcorn, choose the festival you like best, and get ready to be impressed. Lights, camera, action!
Sitges Film Festival
The Sitges Film Festival is one of the most well-known movie festivals in all of Europe. Held in the beautiful seaside town of Sitges, the festival features film from the horror and fantasy genres in addition to sci-fi and thrillers. The 2016 festival will be held from October 7-16 with tickets going on sale September 18. Tickets aren’t cheap but there are several packages that you can choose from or single tickets available if you only want to see one movie. The main auditorium of the Sitges Film Festival has over 1,300 seats with additional seating across three other venues. This festival is always attended by big-name actors, directors, and other film executives so you never know which familiar faces you may end up seeing. Sitges itself is a wonderful place to explore so you can’t go wrong making a visit for this highly-popular festival.
Mecal
The Mecal International Short Film and Animation Festival is another important festival not just in Barcelona but for all of Spain. This year’s festival was the 18th celebration that was March 10th through April 3rd but during the rest of the year there are organized projects in which you can enjoy movies at any time. The festival is held in venues throughout Barcelona with showings at the MACBA art museum, Centro de Cultura Contemporánea, and even the Fàbrica Moritz just to name a few. Even though this film competition takes place in Barcelona filmmakers from all across the globe submit their works for a shot at the top prize in categories like documentary, animation, and foreign. Tickets can be bought at any time on Mecal’s official webpage and they are quite cheap, only setting you back €4.50 for a daily ticket. Even if you missed this year’s festival you can enjoy Mecal’s summer project of outdoor screenings at Poble Espanyol.
BCN Sports Film
The BCN Sports Film festival will take place this year from May 3rd through the 7th highlighting films featuring all kinds of sports. The venues are spread across 6 different venues throughout Barcelona including places like the Centre Cívic Sant Martí, Ateneu Barcelonès, and the Olympic and Sports Museum. This festival is more competitive than the others in that the main goal of the exhibition is for filmmakers to submit their works to demonstrate not only the film but also the different facets that are represented in sports. In addition to the festival itself, there will be a special exhibition at the Olympic and Sports Museum this year that explores this summer’s upcoming Olympics in Rio, Brazil. There is no cost to check out the exhibition so you can pass through when you see the films at this venue.
