Portugal's leading film festival, Fantasporto, is already revving engines for its 24th edition in 2004 (Feb 20-28), to be followed immediately by a year-long celebration of the event's 25th anniversary.

The fantasy-focused event has announced retrospectives of three classic British actors of the genre: Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing and Chistopher Lee. The festival will also program a 3D digital animation cinema retrospective.

A special sidebar on Spanish Fantasy Cinema is being organised following the Fantasporto success in recent years of Spanish titles such as Intact (best film, 2003) and Fausto 5.0 (best film, 2002).

The festival has also announced that it will co-host a special film screenings in Galicia, Spain next February where specialist genre producer-distributor Filmax will world-premiere two of its new titles: Paco Plaza's Roma Santa and Brian Yuzna's Beyond Re-Animator.

Despite its veteran status, Fantasporto suffered a 35% budget cut last year from recession-hit private sponsors. Another of Portugal's best known film festivals, the Lisbon Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, also suffered a 25% cut-back from city sponsors prior to its 6th annual edition last September, and its organisers say they are unsure about future funding for the event.

In a statement signed by Celso Junior, the Lisbon festival director, the event says it has heard nothing from the city since last December when the Culture Councillor asked it to change its name to the Festival of Diversity. The festival, which declined the name change, says it is 'in a difficult position,' and that without the funding, "we will not be able to continue.'