Sinistro Fest (4)

Festival start: 21 October 2025      Festival end: 26 October 2025

Welcome to Sinistro Fest, the festival that celebrates fantasy, horror, science fiction, suspense, and experimental cinema.

For six days, Fortaleza will be the stage for a selection of films, ranging from features to short films, some with world, international, Latin American, and Brazilian premieres.

SINISTRO will also be a meeting point for filmmakers, producers, actors, technicians, and distributors, creating a space for the exchange of ideas and experiences.

With its unique energy, Fortaleza is the perfect place to foster dialogue and collaboration between cinema professionals and film enthusiasts.

Each section will have its awards accompanied by their respective trophy.

Best International Feature Film.
Best International Short Film.
Best Brazilian Feature Film.
Best Brazilian Short Film.
Best Screenplay
Best Direction
Best Ceará Sinistro

1) The festival is structured in the following categories:

- Short Films Competition (less than 30 minutes)

- Feature Films Competition (more than 60 minutes / more than 50 minutes for documentaries)

- Ceará Sinistro (Brazilian film made in Ceará or with a director from Ceará)

2) Eligible films must be related to the following film genres or themes: horror, thriller, science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, weird, grotesque, dark comedy, noir, experimental.

3) Each author is responsible for the contents of its own work.

4) If the dialogues of the film are not in Portuguese, the film must be completed by Portuguese or english subtitles. If you don't have Portuguese subtitles, it's mandatory - in case of selection - to send us the SRT file of the english subtitles and a low-res file of the film, in order to let us create the Portuguese subtitles.

(IMPORTANT: the low-res version of the film for subtitling purposes must be identical to the screening copy).

If, once selected, you can't provide a SRT file of the english or the Portuguese subtitles, the movie might be dismissed from the selection.

5) Movies received without the requested documentation or after the deadline could be excluded from the selection.

6) You will find the screenings program of the selected works on the official website www.sinistrofest.com before the beginning of the Festival itself. Juries will examine each work and award one for each category.

7) In case of selection, we'll reach out privately to ask for all the required materials, both for marketing and subtitling purposes.

The screening copy of the films must be sent to the festival 3 weeks (at least) before the beginning of the event, via digital download.

- Short and feature films format: DCP or high quality H264 or ProRes.

The screening copy must be free of any subtitles (or with Portuguese subtitles burned in).

8) Once selected, a film can't be withdrawn from the competition.

9) The jury will assign the following awards:

Best International Feature Film.
Best International Short Film.
Best Brazilian Feature Film.
Best Brazilian Short Film.
Best Screenplay
Best Direction
Best Ceará Sinistro

10) The festival will not take charge of trophy and awards shipping in case winners can't attend the day of the proclamation.

11) The festival will not pay any screening fee to authors/distributors of the selected films.

12) If selected, the film may be showcased at parallel or traveling screenings of the festival on subsequent occasions without the need for further authorization.

13) The demand for participation in the SINISTRO FILM FESTIVAL constitutes full and unconditional acceptance of this regulation.