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Let' s hear this fantastic story from the words of its very own founder our friend Mario Dorminsky pictured here with Bruno Chatelin and Beatriz Pacheco Pereira

"The festival was born in 1980 at a table of a small coffee shop in the center of Oporto, heritage world town by UNESCO, in a conversation between the three founders, film critics Mário Dorminsky and Beatriz Pacheco Pereira and the painter José Manuel Pereira. It immediately presented in the first edition (1981) the structure of a festival although still non-competitive, which has happened in the following edition.

The name Fantasporto had its origin in the reference used in the first letters- Fantas, because the festival started with a fantasy competition, and Porto, the name of the city.

From the start, and due to the quality of its programming, the festival had access to the best productions from all over the world. In 1981, in its first edition, the festival screened the first Chinese animation feature, for example, and later on it discovered for Europe New Zealand and South Korean films.

It started with fantasy films, a hit in the eighties, when names such as Spielberg, George Lucas or Ridley Scott were new to the film business. Fantasy films have been a must all through the history of the cinema.

From Méliès to our own Manoel de Oliveira, from Murnau to Spielberg, all great classics of the imaginary have been screened in Fantasporto.

The festival grew to become a general film event with the introduction of the Directors Week in 1991 and the Orient Express (for Asian Films).

Fantasporto has been the beacon for many film festivals in the world and has received the acknowledgement of such publications as Variety and the International Film Guide.

Fantasporto was the first festival to cross the arts and sciences with the film world since its first edition in 1981.Concerts, art exhibitions, workshops, book presentations, theatre plays and street performances, all have been welcomed in festival. The Special Programme, existing as a parallel event within the film festival since 2009, has established this sector as a must for festival goers, with Architecture, Robotics, Holograms or the Fine Arts, science fiction and Literature as the highlights of the latest editions.

This Special Programme of crossing Cinema with sidebar Arts And Sciences  is still unique in the context of film festivals in the world as it brings professionals from the arts and sciences into a film event.

Fantasporto is a regular visit of the Cannes Film Markets with a stand in the premises, enlarging thus the international influence of the event, as it can clearly be seen in the use of the name and logo of Fantasporto in the official poster and site of the selected films. The coverage by the media is unprecedented in Portugal with numerous international references.

Fantasporto has a unique media coverage in Portugal, due to the presence of the many professionals, most of them repeating the visit. News agencies, newspapers and tv channels cover the festival on a daily basis, with many live reports. A professional meeting place for all.

The festival has screened first-hand the first films of the greatest film creators of all times, one of the top merits of the event. David Cronenberg, André Tarkovsky, Brian de Palma, John Carpenter, Alain Resnais, David Lynch, Andrezj Zulawski, Bigas Luna, Ridley Scott, Luc Besson, Peter Greenaway, Jean-Jacques Beinex, James Cameron, Neil Jordan, Joel and Ethan Coen ou Lars von Trier showed their first films in the first 5 years of Fantasporto. Also Pedro Almodóvar, Sam Raimi, Leos Carax, Vincent Ward, Peter Jackson, Hal Hartley, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, Anthony Minghella, Peter Weir, Quentin T

Reinas- (Queens) Switzerland's International Oscar Entry.
Posted By Robin Menken
Swiss-Peruvian director Klaudia Reynicke’s quiet family drama is set in 1992, during the economic collapse in Peru, a national curfew and the constant attacks of the far-left terrorist group Sendero Luminoso (The Shining Path).
   An opening archival television news report features Peru’s minister of the economy announcing that in the next 24 hours, the price of milk will jump from 120,000 Peruvian intis to 330,000, the cost of sugar, now 150,000 intis, will double and the price of a baguette, 9,000 Peruvian inti, increases to 25,000 Peruvian inti overnight)
   Easy going Carlos (Gonzalo Molina), known as "el loco" works as a taxi driver and night watchman, and barters black market sugar and whatever comes to hand to get by.
   Estranged from his upper-middle class wife Elena (Jimena Lindo) and his growing girls- frisky teenager Aurora (Luana Vega) and younger sister Lucía (Abril Gjurinovic), Carlos shows up after along break and tries to spend time with his Reinas ("Queens.") Hurt by his long disappearance the girls are suspicious and wary, especially Aurora.
   Elena (Jimena Lindo), has landed a job in Minnesota and has seized the chance to escape Peru's downward spiral. Before she can leave with her girls she needs Carlos official signature to authorize their daughters leaving the country.
   It's the last few weeks before their trip and Carlos keeps postponing signing. Needing his signature and wanting his daughters to have time with him before the move to the safer U.S. Elena encourages him to spend time with the girls, and the wily teller of tall tales slowly wins them over.
   Carlos will say anything to deflect responsibility for his actions: he wrestled crocodiles in the jungle, and has the scar to prove it; he's a secret police agent (and has the papers to prove it), he's a Quechua speaking archeologist. Lucía is easier to convince.
   In a wry opening scene driver Carlos chats to his passenger. Claiming he's an actor, he lists off his roles in Hollywood productions, dropping the names of
Boris Karloff and Roger Corman, names which mean nothing to his good natured client.
   Gonzalo Molina's laidback charm, especially in two lovely trips to the beach, creates a sort of mystery about Carlos, which Reynicke maintains. He moved to his own internal beat, satisfied with his dysfunctional Peter Pan life.
    Carlos drives his old Lada across the dunes in a wonderful father daughter joyride which solidifies their new bond.
    Carlo's sadness emerges as he begins to bond with his 'Reinas'. Even his use of the nickname takes on a new  gravitas as he reluctantly starts to grow up. He struggles to avoid his habitual lying. The script suggests many reasons for his estrangement, including is possible political stance, but wisely lets it simmer undisclosed.
    Conflicted Lucia wants to stay with her mother. Aurora has serious unfinished business in Lima and decides to try and stay with Carlos.
    Clever shots and production values suggest the period in a contained way. Muted colors stylize he memory aspects of the period piece. There's an elegance to the home of wealthy Tita (played by Spain's Susi Sánchez), Carlos world is his beat up car and his uncle's warehouse.
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