FFFriends of creativeness: Lund’s Fantastic Film Festival, October 28-November 4

"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."

Pablo Picasso’s hearty remark regarding artistic visions sits quite well in the realm of “fantastic film”, that more or less holy alliance between horror, science fiction, fantasy, animation and other more or less related genres that’s on the main menu of the Lund Fantastic Film Festival, FFF, playing out its 32nd edition October 28-November 4.

As per the festival manifesto, said genres are served “not as escapism, but as a vital artistic language for understanding the contemporary world”. Fitting words for an event taking place in this eminent university and episcopal municipality of assorted archbishops and brilliant minds through twelve centuries.

Founded in 1995 by a young cartoonist and film critic, Pidde Andersson, and a budding film producer, Magnus Paulsson, the festival offers a competition, specially themed and curated sections, talks, panels, networking and festive events, and an industry platform. Since 2002, the festival is part of the Méliès International Festivals Federation, MIFF, aiming to promote European fantastic cinema throughout the world.

Directing the festival since 2024, Lund native Sara Löfgren König has been an FFF affiliate for close to two decades, heeding the call already as a film studies student.

“One of our lecturers told us about this local festival that he thought we’d like to check out. I went, and immediately felt like being part of this in a regular way. I wasn’t a ‘genre film’ fan as such, but I was very attracted to the openness and disregard of any prestige that surrounded the event. First, I became a volunteer, later I joined the board, and here we are, almost 20 years later. I never left.”

Through the years, the festival has hosted many distinguished guests, including Terry Gilliam, Shinya Tsukamoto, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Béla Tarr, Peter Greenaway and George A. Romero. Nordic luminaries include Roy Andersson, Christina Lindberg, Per Åhlin and Ole Søltoft. Past jury members include both the Danish enfant terrible wonder Nicolas Winding Refn, veteran Swedish exploitation director Torgny Wickman, Army of Lovers song diva Camilla Henemark, and Charlotta Denward, at the time Film Commissioner for Children and Youth, these days Head of Film Funding at the Swedish Film Institute, SFI.

Originally taking place mid-September, the festival has moved its dates forward to an especially appropriate time of year. “These days, we’re right in the midst of Halloween,” says Löfgren König. “It fits well into other arrangements by the city around this time, and is of course great for scary films!”

FFF is supported by Lund Municipality, Film i Skåne, Region Skåne and SFI. The Kino cinema, launched in 1936 as Reflex and today administered by Folkets Bio, is constant scene of the crime. Attendance numbers, usually counting a couple of thousands, has both benefits and challenges in regard to the city’s distinct demography.

“We’ve got lots of students here, which is great, but on the other hand, people leave after they’ve finished their studies. So we get this constant shift in generations who come and go. Younger generations don’t immediately consume culture at festivals, we’ve noticed, so we kind of have to reinvent the wheel at times. The slightly older generations are better at returning, which is very nice. But we’re fine-tuning the programme as we go along; increasingly, it’s gotten quite broad, at least not as niche as in the early years. These days, there’s something for if not everyone, so for most.”

At the time of writing, at least five fully designated “fantastic” film festivals operate in the Nordic region: Ramaskrik in Oppdal, Norway; Bloody Weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark; Frostbiter in Akranes, Iceland; Night Visions in Helsinki, Finland; and finally – first and oldest – FFF n Lund, Sweden. All of them take place in the October-November autumn season.

“Some, like Ramaskrik, are also part of the Méliès network, and we meet and confer on the latest from our respective countries. MIFF is a nice activity, and steadily growing, with Sitges in Spain being the grand venue, where the Golden Méliès is usually being awarded.”

The Méliès d’Or/the Golden Méliès, nominated via all the member festivals and given out since 1996, shows a strong Nordic track record. Through the years, this most prominent award in its field has gone to Possessed (Besat, 1999), The Green Butchers (De grønne slagtere, 2003), Adam's Apples (Adams æbler, 2005), Princess (2006), all from Denmark, Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in, 2008) from Sweden, and Thelma (2017) and Handling the Undead (Håndtering av udøde, 2024), both from Norway.

Sara Löfgren König has recently been fond of several Finnish gems while also noting a certain lack of activity on the Swedish side of things.

“Finland makes some cool ones right now, like Nightborn (Yön lapsi, 2026) and After Us, The Flood (Jälkeemme vedenpaisumus, 2024), an interesting sci-fi. There’s also Lamb (Dýrið, 2021) from Iceland, with Noomi Rapace. Norway seems a little stronger then Sweden at the moment; over here, it goes a bit up and down, there’s been a little wave a few years, but right now it’s a little slow. Border (Gräns, 2018) was a really good entry in a distinct Swedish tradition of storytelling. I’m still very fond of Sound of Noise (2010) and just about anything that Johannes Stjärne Nilsson makes, almost bordering on art film. And, of course, Let the Right One In, if we go back in time. And if we go way back, Witchcraft Through the Ages (Häxan, 1921), which we screened with live musical accompaniment. I also like the Swedish Selma Lagerlöf adaptations, like The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen, 1921), which would fit us well, as long as the audience is open to silent films.”

The 2026 FFF edition does offer a healthy selection of recent Swedish shorts as well as a reprise screening of Emelie Lindblom’s teen ghost story Room 213 (Rum 213, 2017), whereas the main programme focuses on more faraway corners of the world, including Brazil, Japan, Australia, the Dominican Republic, and Thailand. Sara Löfgren König promises to dwell deep into “bodies in transformation”, “queer fantastic” and “minority languages and cultural heritage through genre”, to name just a few of the themes. And some, if not all, will surely be up for the “good taste” vs. “creativeness” challenge. For after all, a bad film is always better than a boring one, right?

“Exactly my point. Any reaction is better than no reaction. If you see a film and go “ho-hum…” it’s a failure. But if you go ‘This is the best!’ or perhaps even ‘This is the worst!’, it’s much more interesting.”

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