STRIKE AT BATALHA CINEMA FANTASPORTO “INTERRUPTED” on opening day

The participation in the strike on Saturday, February 28th, by the workers at Batalha, forced the cancellation of the screenings scheduled for that day. This has seriously affected the international image of the 46th edition of the Porto International Film Festival | Fantasporto 2026.
Fantasporto, despite considering the right to strike as a right guaranteed by democracy, found itself in great difficulty in explaining, especially to the many foreigners already in Porto, the reason for this during the festival period.

Fantasporto, in order to fulfill its international obligations, decided, despite all the inconveniences caused, such as the reimbursement of the amounts paid by the public for tickets purchased for that day, to redistribute the 9 films not shown during the Festival in evening sessions.

Because this situation is rare, foreign guests present in Porto, depending on their dates of stay, may not be able to see their films screened in the cinema, as was the case with the Japanese director Kenichi Ugana, who, coming directly from Japan, will have his film THE CURSE screened the following night, having had to change his trip to attend the session.

IMPORTANT NOTE
It was only now possible to give this information due to the current law which requires, in our case, among other situations, waiting until 1 hour before the first scheduled session to find out if there would be a strike or not, with the doors of the Batalha cinema closed until then. With this strike, the doors will only open the following day, Sunday, so all contacts, including with the Fantasporto secretariat, will not be possible.