Imagine: 26th Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival 14 to 24 April 2010 - Filmtheater Kriterion : 50 feature films and 25 shorts, Night of Terror, Fantastic Kids Festival, master classes and Q&A's.

Theme programmes: Eastern Europe and retro-magic.

Films with half an eye on reality.
Films that succumb to your wildest dreams.
And everything that lives between these two extremes.

Imagine, which takes place in Amsterdam for the 26th time this year, has always been synonymous with the fantasy, horror, thriller, science-fiction and anime genres. But these labels actually hide more than they reveal. Some films need more than one label, while on others nothing will stick.

Like every year, there are all kinds of imaginative treats in store. Besides about 50 features and 25 shorts, there are the Night of Terror, the Fantastic Kids Festival, master classes, theme programmes and Q&A's with various guests.

From that richly varied selection, two theme programmes have been compiled. In the first we turn the spotlight on Eastern Europe, where genre film production has been going strong for years. Strangely enough, very little of that trickles through to our half of the continent. Therefore it's time for a modest, yet clarifying, selection.

And then there are the films we brought together under the label retro-magic. A term we created to describe films of any genre that have one thing in common: their styles refer to those of the past decades.

This year's poster was designed by Iris van der Eijken.

The films are new, as is the location: Filmtheater Kriterion at Roetersstraat 170.

Kriterion has hosted the festival before: in 2000 and 2001. Ten years on, the movie house counts three screens instead of two and the pleasant and popular cafe has increased its capcity. Kriterion has grown, as has Imagine, so it's only natural the two have found each other again.

Further information and updates about films, guests and special events are available from our website: http://www.imaginefilmfestival.nl/

Imagine: 26th Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival 14 to 24 April 2010 - Filmtheater Kriterion