The Councillor’s Office for Economic Promotion is launching the campaign “Fantastic Commerce”, an initiative to add vitality to the network of local shops coinciding with the 58th Sitges - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.

Over the coming days the town’s main shopping streets will be decorated with pennants and two photocalls can be found: one at the entrance to the municipal market and another in Cap de Vila, conceived for local people and visitors to take away a fantastic memento of the festival.

One of the main events in the campaign is the children’s gymkhana “Find the Golden Cheque”, inspired by the Time Burton film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and now marking its twentieth anniversary. Forty establishments are registered to take part and will be hiding a reproduction of the famous Golden Cheque in their displays. Children will have to fill in a form with stamps from the establishments where they find them. Completed forms should be left in the boxes at the municipal market and at the Tourism Office in Plaça Eduard Maristany. The gymkhana starts on 9 October and ends on 17 with the draw and the prize-giving at the municipal market at 5.30 pm. The five winners will get a series of prizes, including two tickets for a screening in the Sitges Family section, a breakfast and a guided tour of the festival. The prize-giving will be accompanied by live music with students from the Gemma Casanovas school.

Music also plays an important part in the two musical processions filling shopping streets with rhythm and joy. The Apocadixie Cotton Pickers will be bringing their festive jazz on Tuesday, 14 October, at 5 pm, while on Saturday 18 it’s the turn of the Colla de Grallers Maricel de Sitges, also at 5 pm, giving a more traditional touch to the festival.

Film has its place over the coming days with the sixth edition of Open-air Shorts, to be held in Plaça Catalunya on two different days, 10 and 17 October, at 8.30 pm. On Friday 10 there are screenings of the short films The Merchant, by Gabriel Campoy and Guillem Lafoz; El Cristo y la Calavera, by Chus Lara; The Harvest, by David Barrera and Manuel Carballo; Atrapasueños, by Guillermo Patrikios Alum, and Dagon, by Paolo Gaudio. On 17 October it’s the turn of Imago, by Rafa Dengrá; Triangle, by Joseph Diaz; Céntrico, by Luso Martinez, and La Valla, by Sam Orti.

With “Fantastic Commerce”, Sitges strengthens its identity as a creative living city, capable of combining efforts between commerce, culture and tourism to enrich the festival experience and add vitality to local economic activity at the same time.

Full information is available at www.sitges.cat/comerc.