Imagine Fantastic Film Festival

‍Look beyond the madness‍

In 2025, Imagine will feel the Elder Gods' tentacles squirming! The main theme of the 2025 Imagine Festival is inspired by the work and influence of H.P. Lovecraft. Where Lovecraft (1890 - 1937) saw madness in the gaze of a creature that was beyond the human imagination, Imagine goes a little further: maybe there is a new universe behind it. ‍

While the world is increasingly ruled by fear and binary ideas (black or white, male or female, good or bad), this program is looking for nuance. The movies in A Tentacular Touchprograms put Lovecraft's infamous racism and anti-Semitism behind*, offer a new perspective and teach you to understand and overcome your own fear of the unknown. The program takes a deep dive into our subconscious concerns and desires, whether it's classic Lovecraftian themes such as crazy scientists who don't take the laws of nature very closely, or scary sects that bring interdimensional beings to life, or more contemporary cosmic fantasies about psychedelia and eroticism.

The famous Dutch author W.F. Hermans once wrote about Lovecraft that the fears in his horror stories stem from our greatest uncertainty: what if everything we believe in isn't what it seems? That is exactly what makes Lovecraft so attractive to today's audiences, who have learned to question everything through the pandemic, climate crises and political chaos.

The classic and new movies in A Tentacular Touch take a clear look at a complex world full of layered experiences, where we all sometimes doubt our minds. Is the monster your friend or your worst nightmare? Is insanity perhaps wisdom? Ben you maybe the monster? Surrender to the tentacles and find out!