FIRST LINE UP FOR FANTASPORTO’2005
25 YEARS OF FESTIVAL

Welcome to Oporto, Unesco World Heritage Town and to its 25th edition of Fantasporto!

The Oporto International Film Festival, or Fantasporto, as it is better known, is the biggest and most prestigious film event in Portugal and it is spreading its wings internationally.

To commemorate the 25th Anniversary next February 2005, the festival is going to bring to Oporto some of its winners, some well known faces of the cinema of today as well as their films. Already confirmed are the presences of Guilherme del Toro, the Mexican director who won Fantasporto in 1994 with “Cronos” and who has more recently directed films such as “Blade II” in 2002 and “Hellboy” in 2004; and Vincenzo Natali , the Canadian director who was behind “Cube”, Best Film Award in 1999 and aldo behind “Cypher” in 2002. Other invitations have already been made in an attempt to guarantee the presence of other winners of Fantasporto.
As part of a programme that celebrates the joy of the cinema, the 25th Fantasporto is closing deals and making agreements with major companies and official entities, namely with the Indian Film Commission in order to bring a big Indian- Bollywood Retrospective to the theatres of the festival. Also in the retrospective programme the New German Cinema, Fantasy Japonese Cinema and Portuguese producer Tino Navarro.
With the High Patronage of the Ministry of Culture and the Oporto City Hall, the 25th edition of Fantasporto (Oporto International Film Festival) will be held on the 21th February till March, 6th), with its main Competitive Sections beginning on the 25th February (Official Fantasy Film Selection, Orient Express and Directors Week). Retrospectives and Homages complete the programme, as usual. Showcasing, as usual, the best of European Cinema, the programme is also due to include in its Official Selection films coming from the United States, New Zealand, South Korea or Japan.

A programme preview

25th OPORTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Feature Films included in the several Official Section of the festival and never screend in Portugal

Ark - Kenny Hwang (EUA/USA)
Avatar – Jian Hong Kuo (Singapura)
Bunshinsaba: Ouija Board – Byeong-ki Ahn (South Korea)
CSA: Confederate States of America - Kevin Willmott (EUA/USA)
Firecracker - Steve Balderson (EUA/USA)
Fracture - Larry Parr (N. Zel)
Frankie & Johnny Are Married - Michael Pressman (EUA/USA)
Freeze Frame- - John Simpson (GB/Irl.)
My Mother the Mermaid - Heung-shih Park (South Korea)
Nothing - Vincenzo Natali (Canadá)
One Missed Call - Takashi Miike (Jap)
Parasite Dolls – Naoyuki Yoshinaga e Kazuto Nakazawa (Jap)
Primer – Shane Carruth (EUA/USA)
Rojo Sangre - Christian Molina (Esp)
Savage Island - Jeffrey Lando (EUA/USA)
Saw - James Wan (EUA/USA)
Spectres - Phil Leirness (EUA/USA)
Spooked - Geoff Murphy (N. Zel)
Sword in the Moon - Eui-Suk Kim (South Korea)
The Doll Master - Yong-Ki Jeong (South Korea)
The Grudge - Takashi Shimizu (EUA/USA)
Tokyo Noir - Masato Ishioka e Naoto Kumazawa (Jap)
Vital - Shinya Tsukamoto (Jap)
Whore (Yo, Puta) - Luna (Esp)
Wonderful Days- - Moon Saeng Kim (South Korea)
Woodenhead- Florian Habicht (N. Zel)
Xtracurricular – Tim T. Cunningham (EUA/USA)
Graveyard Alive – Elza Kephart (EUA/USA)
The Stink of the Flesh – Scott Phillips (GB)
Back to Gaya – Leonard Fritz Krawinkel & Holger Tappe (Alem/Esp/GB)
Vinzent – Ayassi (Alemanha)
Fighter in the Wind – Yang Yunho (South Korea)
Old Boy – Chan-wook Park (South Korea)
The River King – Nick Willing (GB/Can)
Manô – George Felner (Port)
The Ring Two – Hideo Nakata (EUA/USA)
Constantine – Francis Lawrence (EUA/USA)
Suspect Zero – Elias Merhige (EUA/USA)
Riding the Bullet – Mick Garris (EUA/USA)
Arahan – Seung-was Ryoo (South Korea)
Casshern – Kazuaki Kiriya (Jap)
Dark Water – Walter Salles/Hideo Nakata (USA/Jap)
Pinocchio 3000 – Daniel Robichaud (Can/Fra/Esp)
Fragil – Juanma Bajo Ulloa (Esp)
Words and Sins – Vassilis Mazomenos (Grécia)
Hypnos – David Carreras (Esp)
Deadly Cargo aka Camara Oscura – Paul Freixas (Esp)
Natural City – Byung-chun Min (South Korea)
El Lobo – Miguel Courtois (Esp)
Il Magico Natale do Rupert – Flavio Moretti (Itá)
Dreamship Surprise – Michael “Bully” Herbig (Alem)
Cursed – Wes Craven (EUA/USA)

Going now to its 25th edition, Fantasporto has brought to Portugal for the first time the films of such names as David Cronenberg, André Tarkovsky, Brian de Palma, John Carpenter, Alain Resnais, David Lynch, Pedro Almodovar, Andrzej Zulawski, Ridley Scott, Luc Besson, Peter Greenaway, Neil Jordan, Jean-Jacques Beneix, Joel and Ethan Cohen, Sam Raimi, Brian Yuzna, Peter Jackson, Hal Hartley, Anthony Minghella, Quentin Tarantino, Roberto Rodriguez, Danny Boyle, Paul Anderson, David Fincher, James Mangold, the Wachowski Brothers, Scott Hicks, Scott Reynolds and the Dutch director and Oscar winner Mike Van Diem, among many others.
The Oporto International Film Festival is held annually in February. The first edition of FANTASPORTO, as the festival is usually known, was held in 1981 and was non-competitive. All the following editions included a Competitive Section. The Oporto Festival was founded by the editors of the film magazine Cinema Novo and is sponsored by the Portuguese State and private sponsors. Yet it is not committed to any political influence or outside directions other than the wish of its organizing committee. It is therefore an independent film festival.
The awards granted yearly include feature and short films presented to the competitive Sections.
The Festival runs now in five screens (2.500 seats alltogether) and shows over 200 new films each year, in the Official Competitive Section (Fantasy films), Directors Week (non-fantasy films), Directors Week (non-fantasy films), Orient Express section and in the Retrospective Sections (general). The press coverage of the Festival is made by all the national and local newspapers, radio stations and television networks. This allows pressdossiers of nearly 5.000 clippings each year, which represents a unique media coverage in Portugal for similar cultural events.