Fantafestival, the longest-running Italian event dedicated to horror, fantasy, and science fiction cinema and culture, unveils the poster for its 45th edition.
The historic Roman festival, under the artistic direction of Marcello Rossi and Luca Ruocco, will take place from Friday, November 21st to Sunday, November 30th at Spazio Scena (Spazio Cinema Eventi e Nuove Arti della Regione Lazio), at Via degli Orti d’Alibert 1/c. Admission is free. The new poster celebrates the 40th anniversary of Demons, the cult film by Lamberto Bava, produced by Dario Argento in 1985.
The artwork for the new poster is once again the result of a valuable collaboration with Bugs Comics, a publishing house that turns 10 this year and celebrates a decade of stories, passion, and creativity in the world of Italian comics. A truly significant achievement for an independent publishing house that, over the years, has attracted and united countless readers with a rich catalog of original titles, diverse genres, and talented authors, many of whom saw their experience at Bugs as a springboard for brilliant careers.
«Making this anniversary even more special is the renewed collaboration with Fantafestival, the renowned fantasy film festival, with which Bugs shares a love of imagination, horror (especially horror), science fiction, and everything that vibrates on the edge of reality,» said Gianmarco Fumasoli, editorial director of Bugs Comics. «For the third year, Bugs, first with Antonio Mlinaric and then Federico Perrone, has created the official poster for Fantafestival, a marriage of illustration and cinema that each time becomes a visual tribute to the fantasy world we all love, and beyond. I always see this wonderful collaboration as an opportunity to blend different yet complementary languages, giving rise to a creative synergy that grows year after year and that I’m sure will continue. Celebrating 10 years with Fantafestival is a source of great pride for me and is proof that the worlds we portray – on paper or on screen – speak the same language and continue to captivate diverse audiences.»
The poster artwork for the 2025 edition of the Roman festival is by Federico Perrone, the artist who created last year’s poster and who returns to lend his art to the International Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Festival to create a successful homage to Lamberto Bava’s meta-cinematic horror. Perrone reworks the Bavian demons that emerge from the screen to attack the audience, presenting them in a new and personal version. This adds an extraterrestrial touch to the signs of the infernal infection that characterize the creatures created by Sergio Stivaletti for the film, demonstrating once again the happy coexistence of two souls (one horror and one sci-fi) within the Fantafestival.
Perrone created the drawings for Bugs for the series “Racconti dal Derryleng”, “Galdor” and “Samuel Stern – Il Canto di Natale”, but he also published two unpublished stories for “Heavy Bone & Zartana” and “Morte a 666 giri” by Enzo Rizzi and, for Ottocervo, the drawings for the graphic novel written by Maurizio Cotrona “La fame”.
In addition to the poster, Fantafestival 45 will celebrate the important anniversary of Demons with a special screening in theaters, attended by director Lamberto Bava and some of his most important collaborators. This is just one of the highlights of the program, which, even more than previous editions, promises masterclasses, screenings of films and short films in competition, book presentations, rediscoveries, and an exclusive exhibition.
To stay up-to-date on the 45th edition of Fantafestival, produced by Velvet Movie srl in collaboration with Sfera sas and InGenereCinema.com, simply stay tuned to www.fanta-festival.it and the Instagram and Facebook pages @fantafestival.
Fantafestival 45, promoted by Roma Capitale, has won the public tender for the creation of initiatives of interest to the Capitoline Administration on the occasion of the 2025 Jubilee in collaboration with Zètema Progetto Cultura.
