The 15th annual Fantasia International Film Festival took place from July 14 to August 7 in Montreal, Canada. Chris Bumbray has given us numerous awesome reviews from the festival including BURKE & HARE, ATTACK THE BLOCK, SUPER, DETENTION and RED STATE. Our main man Arrow AKA John Fallon served on the jury for the International Short Film section as well!
The Festival have just announced early attendance numbers and the prize winners via press release. I have all the details for you below, so check them out!
The 15th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival has drawn to a close and our team is delighted by the great success of this year’s edition. As a stand-out event on the genre festival circuit since 1996, Fantasia is pleased to see its fan base continue to grow ever-more enthusiastic and keen to discover extraordinary films. The final audience numbers are yet to be confirmed, but we can already announce that Fantasia has welcomed more than 100,000 audience members! We would like to extend warm thanks to the 150 international directors, actors and producers who came to present their films at the fest and to the 50 industry members who contributed to this year’s edition. Fantasia’s overwhelming success is due in large part to the valuable contribution and hard work of more than 160 media representatives in attendance, with at least 40 of them hailing from countries as diverse as the USA, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Australia, Morocco, and Denmark.
The juries have finished deliberating on this year’s competitions and are pleased to announce the following winners:
Feature Film Jury
President: Alexandre Franchi, with Gilles Esposito, Lee Joon-ik, George Mihalka, Steven Schneider and Tom Vick
Cheval Noir Award for Best Film: CLOWN by Mikkel Nørgaard “This charmingly subversive take on fatherhood features excellent ensemble acting with deft and seamless direction. So wrong and shameless in so many ways that it was a real blast to watch.”
Best Director: Yoshimasa Ishibashi, MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY
Best Screenplay: Park Hoon-jung, THE UNJUST
Best Actors: Hwang Jeong-min and Ryoo Seung-beom, THE UNJUST
Best Actress: Norie Yasui, LOVE & LOATHING & LULU & AYANO
Special Mention to VAMPIRE, “for its original and contemplative take on suicide and our society’s fascination with the vampire myth.”
Special Mention to the short film I LOVE YOU in THE THEATRE BIZARRE, “for crafting a realistic yet macabre drama with the density of a feature film.”
First Feature Jury
President: Jason Eisener, with Jephté Bastien, Alexandre Fontaine-Rousseau and Greg Newman
New Flesh Award for Best First Feature: BULLHEAD by Michaël R. Roskam “A compelling, dark story of personal tragedy with one of the best performances of the year by Matthias Schoenaerts. This is a film that has balls!”
Special Mention to LOVE, “for the resourcefulness and unwavering determination by a Director to realize his unique vision”.
Animation Jury
President: Marcel Jean, with Jean-François Lévesque and Heidi Taillefer
Best Animated Feature Film: SURVIVING LIFE “A singular piece of work, both funny and profound, that shows a great spirit of invention for a filmmaker with a 40-years career.”
Best Animated Short Film: BOBBY YEAH “For its dense and coherent universe, full of surprises, that confronts our fears in a captivating way, and for its exceptional technical command.”
Special Mention to CRÉPUSCULE, “For its bold address of sexuality in animation.”
International Short Film Jury
President: Buddy Giovinazzo, with John Fallon, Sylvain Houde and Charlotte Selb
Best International Short: THE SUICIDE TAPES “A minimalistic, powerful, dread filled film with an unsettling performance by Jeremy Childs.”
Special Mention to THE UNLIVING, “A visually stunning and visceral film that was so well rounded that it should be a feature.”
Quebecois Short Film Jury
Catherine Beauchamp, Dino Tavarone, Caroline Morin
Best Director: Alexandre Richard, BONNE JOURNÉE
Best Film: Carolyne Rhéaume, LA BARRICADE
Best Actress: Charlotte Laurier, COUP SAUVAGE
Best Actor: Mathieu Dufresne, BONNE JOURNÉE
Best Screenplay: Caroline Renaud, MATERNEL
Jury’s Choice: Kim St-Pierre, VODKA CANNEBERGE
Best Photo: Eric Morin, OPASATIKA
Quebecois DIY Short Film Jury
Julie Brisson, Karl Filion, Géraldine Charbonneau
Best Film: FUCK THAT, Lawrence Côté-Collins
Best Screenplay: CORTE, Radnath Gagnon
Best Director: Emanuel St-Pierre Beaulieu, UN FILM AVEC BRIGITTE BARDOT
Best Actor (Male & Female): Maxime Desjardins, GUEULE DE BOIS
Jury’s Choice: VIVRE A 35 MILLES A L’HEURE, Jean Marc E. Roy, Philippe David Gagné, Dominic Leclerc
AQCC Prize – International Section
Martin Gignac, Claudia Hébert, Nicolas Krief AQCC
Prize: (TIE) SUPER and SUPERHEROES “For two films that perfectly capture the Zeitgeist of our age and that present elaborate reflections on one of the biggest Americans trends, the AQCC Jury has awarded its best international film prize, in a tie, to the fiction film SUPER by James Gunn and to the documentary SUPERHEROES by Michael Burnett, two strong and complementary works.”
Séquences Prize – Asian Section
President: Pascal Grenier, with Pierre-Alexandre Fradet and Christina Stojanova
Séquences Prize: HEAVEN’S STORY “For the density of the universal themes it explores, for its singular approach to the motif of vengeance and for its structured mise-en-scène and its carefully captured images, the Séquence Prize for Best Asian Film goes to Takahisa Zeze’s flowing film, HEAVEN’S STORY.
L’Écran Fantastique Prize
Yves Rivard
L’Écran Fantastique Prize: DETENTION “For its contagious energy, its capacity to generate gags and comic situations based on concepts stemming from horror movies (slasher films) and science fiction.”
Audience Awards
Best Asian Feature: (GOLD, TIE) 13 ASSASSINS and COLD FISH – (SILVER) MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY – (BRONZE) DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART
Best European or American Feature: (GOLD) ATTACK THE BLOCK – (SILVER, TIE) BURKE AND HARE and BELLFLOWER – (BRONZE) INNKEEPERS
Best Canadian or Quebecois Feature: (GOLD) THE CORRIDOR – (SILVER) VAMPIRE – (BRONZE, TIE) MONSTER BRAWL and THE DIVIDE
Best Animation Feature: (GOLD) REDLINE – (SILVER) LEGEND OF THE MILLENIUM DRAGON – (BRONZE) EL SOL
Best Documentary: (GOLD) ART/CRIME – (SILVER) SUPERHEROES – (BRONZE) LAST DAYS HERE
Most Innovative Feature: (GOLD) MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY – (SILVER) THE WOMAN – (BRONZE)
LOVE Guru Prize for the Most Energetic Feature: (OR) BANGKOK KNOCKOUT – (SILVER, TIE) MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY and DETENTION – (BRONZE)
THE FP Best Short Film: (GOLD) LEGEND OF THE BEAVER DAM – (SILVER) NIGHT FISHING – (BRONZE) BOBBY YEAH
Melissa George, star of festival film A LONELY PLACE TO DIE
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