We report femtosecond laser microfabrication in thin films of polymeric photoresists by (i) direct laser writing and (ii) holographic recording techniques. With (i) we have fabricated empty microchannels in polymethylmethacrylate; the channel width closely follows the intensity distribution in the focal spot of a high numerical aperture lens in accordance with scalar and vectorial Debye theory. With (ii) we have fabricated free-standing two-dimensional periodic structures in SU8 photoresist. The structures contain cylindrical pillars with noticeable ripple-like modulation of their diameter along their axes. This modulation results from the interference between the waves incident on the sample and back-reflected from the glass substrate or air, and is explained using an appropriate numerical modeling. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.