Fantasia 2014 Award Winners Include Cybernatural and Closer to God; 2015 Dates Announced
Steve Barton
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This past Wednesday, August 6th, saw the close of the 18th edition of Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival; and now that the dust has settled, we have the full list of this year’s award winners plus the Fest’s dates for 2015.
From the Press Release:
Returning to its home at Concordia University after the location’s massive 2017 renovations, the acclaimed Fantasia International Film Festival, North America’s longest-running genre film fest, benefited from having three theaters in which to screen its record 160+ films.
Among the numerous highlights that took place during the three-week festival were the crowd-pleasing, revelatory world premieres of Leo Gabriadze’s CYBERNATURAL (review here), Sarah Adina Smith’s THE MIDNIGHT SWIM, and Bennett Jones’ I AM A KNIFE WITH LEGS. Also of note were massively successful screenings of Richard Linklater’s BOYHOOD, James Gunn’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Lee Su-jin’s HAN GONG-JU, Keishi Otomo’s RUROUNI KENSHIN – KYOTO INFERNO, and Lenny Abrahamson’s FRANK.
Animation legend Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL) and horror director Tobe Hooper (THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE) both received Lifetime Achievement Awards, while fans flocked to LIFE AFTER BETH stars Matthew Gray Gubler and Aubrey Plaza. Abel Ferrara presented the North American premiere of his controversial new film WELCOME TO NEW YORK.
In total, more than 129,000 festivalgoers attended Fantasia 2014’s various screenings and events. 90,000 fans attended the festival’s 216 theatrical film presentations, which represents more than 70% of the theaters’ full capacities. 19,000 Spectators attended Fantasia’s two massive outdoor screenings, presented in collaboration with the Just for Laughs festival.
The third edition of the festival’s international co-production market, Frontières, also logged record attendance, with a boost of over 70% over their 2017 edition – and over 750 industry attendees from over twenty countries. The new Works-in-Progress session, in which films currently in post-production were able to screen glimpses of their projects to audiences, proved ones of the market’s most popular events.
The 19th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival will take place from July 16 through August 4, 2015.
Fantasia Announces Winners:
Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to announce the winners of its eighteenth edition. These awards were presented by the juries of each competition and by the festival audience. The award winners in Fantasia’s various categories are as follows:
Cheval Noir Competition – Feature Films
The Cheval Noir jury, comprised of jury president Mark Adams (critic, Screen International), Anne-Marie Gélinas (producer), Noah Segan (actor/producer), Jasper Sharp (critic/author/filmmaker), and Bret Wood (author/filmmaker), awarded the following prizes:
Cheval Noir Award for Best Film
UZUMASA LIMELIGHT by Ken Ochiai (Unanimous)
Best Director
David Zellner for KUMIKO THE TREASURE HUNTER
Best Screenplay
Billy Senese for CLOSER TO GOD
Best Actor
Seizo Fukumoto for UZUMASA LIMELIGHT
Best Actress
Miyuki Oshima for FUKU-CHAN OF FUKU-FUKU FLATS
Special Mention of the Jury
CYBERNATURAL by Leo Gabriadze, for technical and conceptual achievement
New Flesh Award Competition
The New Flesh jury, comprised of jury president James Shapiro (COO, Drafthouse Films), Jeff Barnaby (filmmaker/author/musician), and Charlie Reff (Sundance programmer), awarded the following prizes:
New Flesh Award for Best First Feature Film
THE INFINITE MAN by Hugh Sullivan
Special Mention of the Jury
I AM A KNIFE WITH LEGS by Bennett Jones, for the audacity of its vision and a talent well worth discovering.
International Short Film Awards
The Short Film jury, comprised of jury president Aaron Hillis (critic/filmmakers/programmer), Elodie Dupont (festival coordinator), and Donato Totaro (critic/film professor), awarded the following prizes:
Best Short Film
JIMINY by Arthur Molard
Special Mention of the Jury
HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER by Noah Aust, for its cinematic and psychological vision.
Satoshi Kon Prize for Excellence in Animation
The Animation jury, comprised of jury president Pierre Grenier (head of animation at Cégep du Vieux-Montréal), Janet Perlman (filmmaker), and Obom (filmmaker and cartoonist), awarded the following prizes:
Best Animated Feature
GIOVANNI’S ISLAND by Mizuho Nishikubo
Best Animated Short
THE PORTRAIT STUDIO and SUPERVENUS (tie)
Special Mention of the Jury
THE SATELLITE GIRL AND MILK COW by Chang Hyung-yun, for its inventiveness and original story, and THE LOOKING PLANET (short).
Audience Award Winners
Best Asian Film
Gold: MISS GRANNY by Hwang Dong-hyuk
Silver: HAN GONG-JU by Lee Su-jin
Bronze: RUROUNI KENSHIN – KYOTO INFERNO by Keishi Otomo
Best International Film
Gold: IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE by Hans Petter Moland
Silver: DEAD SNOW: RED VS. DEAD by Tommy Wirkola
Bronze: THE HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED by Felix Herngren and BOYHOOD by Richard Linklater (tie)
Best Canadian Film
DYS- by Maude Michaud
Best Animated Film
GIOVANNI’S ISLAND by Mizuho Nishikubo and CHEATIN’ by Bill Plympton (tie)
Best Documentary
TO BE TAKEI by Jennifer M. Kroot and Bill Weber
Guru Prize
ONCE UPON A TIME IN SHANGHAI by Wong Ching-Po
Most Innovative Film Prize
CYBERNATURAL by Leo Gabriadze
Best Short Film
Gold: THE CHAPERONE by Fraser Munden et Neil Rathbone
Silver: MÉMORABLE MOI by Jean-François Asselin
Bronze: RAGING BALLS OF STEEL JUSTICE by Mike Mort and SEA DEVIL by Brett Potter and D.C. Marcial (tie)
Frontières International Co-Production Market
2014 Frontières Project Award
Presented by the Producers Network of the Cannes Marché du Film
EXTRAORDINARY (Ailish Bracken and Katie Holly, Producers – Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, Co-Writers/Directors)
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