Molins de Rei Horror Film Festival 2023

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The Catalan village of Molins de Rei doesn't seem like the most terrifying place, but that all changes every November with the annual Horror Film Festival.

This year the festival joins forces with the Donostia / San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival to present a series of combined activities focused on the world of witches, the protagonists of this year's festival. Witches of all sorts continue to fascinate and terrify horror movie audiences. However, their meaning has been given new significance in recent years, becoming a symbol of women’s empowerment and resistance to patriarchal and religious oppression: The Lords of Salem (2012), The Love Witch (2016) and Akelarre (2020).

While witches have served as a source of inspiration for horror movies since the outset, they have taken on particular importance in the context of the Basque Country and Catalunya, where cinema and literature have explored history, culture and identity precisely from that angle. Basque witches are known as sorgin or sorguiña, which could translate into “maker of luck” or “creator.” In Catalan the term bruixa comes from the Latin bruxa or brutia (“biter” or “sucker”). Both have left profound marks on traditional culture in the shape of legends, places and celebrations. The Basque Country is home to the Zugarramurdi Cave or Sorginen Leizea, the setting of witches’ covens. In Catalunya we find the Montsoriu Castle, Sant Feliu de Sasserra, and the Plaça de les Bruixes in Molins de Rei, where witches are once said to have lived or gathered.

Every year, the festival showcases a carefully-curated collection of national and international horror films with three main objectives: to be a platform for new filmmakers, to become a meeting point for the country’s audiovisual industry and to serve as a space for new audiences with many sessions aimed at young people. With 10 days of screenings and a very clear international vocation, it is a point of reference in southern Europe in terms of horror genre films.

For more events check our online events calendar.