The festival's origins lie in the International Week of Fantasy and Horror Movies, held in 1968.[1]
The main venue of the Sitges Film Festival is the Auditori (Auditorium), located in the Hotel Melià Sitges, which has a capacity of 1,380 seats. In the same building the Tramuntana Room provides space for journalists to gather each morning.
As of 2023, other venues are: Cine El Retiro, Cine Casino Prado, and various other venues in the "King Kong area" providing for exhibitions, gatherings, and other events.[4]
Since 1971 the festival has given awards to the best films, actors, and filmmakers.[8]
and a few others...
| Year | Best Film | Best Director | Best Actor | Best Actress |
|---|
| 1971[12] | | Janusz Majewski (Lokis) and Michael Skaife (Necrophagus) | Vincent Price (The Abominable Dr. Phibes) | Youn Yuh-jung (Woman of Fire) |
| 1972[13] | The Cremator | Robert Mulligan (The Other) | Rudolf Hrusinsky (The Cremator) | Geraldine Chaplin (Zero Population Growth) |
| 1973[14] | | Juan Luis Buñuel (Au rendez-vous de la mort joyeuse) | Eugene Levy (Cannibal Girls) | Andrea Martin (Cannibal Girls) |
| 1974[15] | | Robert Fuest (Dr. Phibes Rises Again) | Mark Burns (House of the Living Dead) | Cristina Galbó (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) |
| 1975[16] | | David Cronenberg (Shivers) | Paul Naschy (La Maldicion de la Bestia) | Lana Turner (Persecution) |
| 1976[17] | | Dario Argento (Profondo Rosso) | Peter Cushing (The Ghoul) | Brenda Vaccaro (Death Weekend) |
| 1977[18] | | Dan Curtis (Burnt Offerings) | Burgess Meredith (Burnt Offerings) | Karen Black (Burnt Offerings) |
| 1978[19] | Long Weekend | Richard Franklin (Patrick) | John Hargreaves (Long Weekend) | Camille Keaton (Day of the Woman) |
| 1979[20] | | Juraj Herz (Panna a netvor) | Gerhard Olschewski (Der Mörder) | Lisa Pelikan (Jennifer) |
| 1980[21] | | Veljko Bulajic (The Man to Destroy) | Nicholas Worth (Don't Answer the Phone) | Cyd Hayman (The Godsend) |
| 1981[22] | | Walerian Borowczyk (Docteur Jekyll et les femmes) | Mircea Bogdan (Povestea dragostei) | Linda Haynes (Human Experiments) |
| 1982[23] | | Tony Williams (Next of Kin) | Richard Chamberlain (The Last Wave) | Annie McEnroe (Warlords of the 21st Century) |
| 1983[24] | Le Dernier Combat | Luc Besson (Le Dernier Combat) | Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, John Carradine (House of the Long Shadows) | Elizabeth Ward (Alone in the Dark) |
| 1984[25] | The Company of Wolves | Carl Schenkel (Abwärts) | Joe Morton (The Brother from Another Planet) | Amy Madigan (Streets of Fire) |
| 1985[26] | Re-Animator | Shuji Terayama (Farewell to the Ark) | John Walcutt (Return) | Lori Cardille (Day of the Dead) |
| 1986[27] | Blue Velvet | Sergei Parajanov, Dodo Abashidze (The Legend of the Suram Fortress) | Juanjo Puigcorbé (Més enllà de la passió) | Caroline Williams (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2) |
| 1987[28] | A Hungarian Fairy Tale | Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop) | Michael Nouri (The Hidden) | Jill Schoelen (The Stepfather) |
| 1988[29] | | George A. Romero (Monkey Shines) | Grigory Gladiy (Otstupnik) | Kate McNeil (Monkey Shines) |
| 1989[30] | Heart of Midnight | Peter Greenaway (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover) | Michael Gambon (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover), Nicolas Cage (Vampire's Kiss) | Rosanna Arquette (Black Rainbow) |
| 1990[31] | | ex-aequo: Sam Raimi (Darkman),John McNaughton () | Jeff Goldblum (Mister Frost) | Lindsay Duncan (The Reflecting Skin) |
| 1991[32] | Europa | Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro (Delicatessen) | Dominique Pinon (Delicatessen) | Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply) |
| 1992[33] | Man Bites Dog | Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs) | Benoît Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dogs) | Joey Wang (A Chinese Ghost Story III) |
| 1993[34] | Orlando | Dave Borthwick (The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb) | Federico Luppi (Cronos) | Jennifer Ward-Lealand (Desperate Remedies) |
| 1994[35] [36] | 71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls & Justino, un asesino de la tercera edad | Scott McGehee, David Siegel (Suture) | Santiago Segura (Justino) | Jane Horrocks (Deadly Advice) |
| 1995[37] | Citizen X | Chris Gerolmo (Citizen X), Michael Almereyda (Nadja (film)) | Stephen Rea (Citizen X) | Bridget Fonda (Rough Magic) |
| 1996[38] | The Pillow Book | Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Gabbeh) | James Woods () | Melinda Clarke (Killer Tongue) |
| 1997[39] | Gattaca | Scott Reynolds (The Ugly) | Sam Rockwell (Lawn Dogs) | Reese Witherspoon (Freeway) |
| 1998[40] | Cube | Michael Di Jiacomo (Animals with the Tollkeeper) | Jared Harris (Trance) | Évelyne Dandry (Sitcom) |
| 1999[41] | Ringu | Ben Hopkins (Simon Magus) | Noah Taylor (Simon Magus) | Emma Vilarasau (The Nameless) |
| 2000[42] | In the Light of the Moon | Geoffrey Wright (Cherry Falls) | Steve Railsback (In the Light of the Moon) | |
| 2001[43] | Vidocq | Brad Anderson (Session 9) | Eduard Fernández (Fausto 5.0) | Yūki Amami (Inugami) |
| 2002[44] | | David Cronenberg (Spider) | Jeremy Northam (Cypher) | Angela Bettis (May) |
| 2003[45] | Zatōichi | Alexandre Aja (High Tension) | Robert Downey Jr. (The Singing Detective) | Cécile de France (High Tension) |
| 2004[46] | Oldboy | Johnnie To (Breaking News) | Christian Bale (The Machinist) | Mónica López (El Habitante Incierto) |
| 2005[47] | Hard Candy | Johnnie To (Election) | Lee Kang-sheng (The Wayward Cloud) | Lee Young-ae (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) |
| 2006[48] | Requiem | Martin Weisz (Grimm Love) | Thomas Kretschmann, Thomas Huber (Grimm Love) | Sandra Hüller (Requiem) |
| 2007[49] | The Fall | Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza (REC) | Sam Rockwell (Joshua) | Manuela Velasco (REC) |
| 2008[50] | Surveillance | Kim Jee-woon (The Good, the Bad, the Weird) | Brian Cox (Red) | Semra Turan (Fighter) |
| 2009[51] | Moon | Brillante Mendoza (Kinatay) | Sam Rockwell (Moon) | Elena Anaya (Hierro), Kim Ok-vin (Thirst) |
| 2010[52] | | Jalmari Helander () | Patrick Fabian (The Last Exorcism) | Josie Ho (Dream Home) |
| 2011[53] | Red State | Julia Leigh (Sleeping Beauty) | Michael Parks (Red State) | Brit Marling (Another Earth) |
| 2012[54] | Holy Motors | Léos Carax (Holy Motors) | Vincent D'Onofrio (Chained) | Alice Lowe (Sightseers) |
| 2013[55] | Borgman | Navot Papushado, Aharon Keshales (Big Bad Wolves) | Andy Lau (Blind Detective) | Juno Temple (Magic Magic) |
| 2014[56] | I Origins | Jonas Govaerts (Cub) | Nathan Phillips (These Final Hours), Kōji Yakusho (The World of Kanako) | Essie Davis (The Babadook), Julianne Moore (Maps to the Stars) |
| 2015[57] | The Invitation | S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk) | Joel Edgerton (The Gift) | Pili Groyne (The Brand New Testament) |
| 2016[58] | Swiss Army Man | Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan) | Daniel Radcliffe (Swiss Army Man) | Sennia Nanua (The Girl with All the Gifts) |
| 2017[59] | Jupiter’s Moon | Coralie Fargeat (Revenge) | Rafe Spall (The Ritual) | Marsha Timothy (Marlina The Murderer In Four Acts) |
| 2018[60] | Climax | Panos Cosmatos (Mandy) | Hasan Majuni (Pig) | Andrea Riseborough (Nancy) |
| 2019[61] | The Platform | Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles (Bacurau) | Miles Robbins (Daniel Isn't Real) | Imogen Poots (Vivarium) |
| 2020[62] | Possessor | Brandon Cronenberg (Possessor) | Grégoire Ludig, David Marsais (Mandibules) | Suliane Brahim (The Swarm) |
| 2021[63] | Lamb | Justin Kurzel (Nitram) | Franz Rogowski (Luzifer), Caleb Landry Jones (Nitram) | Susanne Jensen (Luzifer), Noomi Rapace (Lamb) |
| 2022[64] | Sisu | Ti West (Pearl) | Jorma Tommila (""Sisu) | Mia Goth (Pearl) |
| 2023[65] | When Evil Lurks | Baloji (Omen) | Karim Leklou (Vincent Must Die) | Kate Lyn Sheil (The Seeding) | |
