Several Genre Films Garner Awards at Fantasporto Film Festival

Steve Barton   |  

Mar 9, 2010

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Fantasporto 2010, Portugal’s leading film festival, just concluded on March 6th, and not only did the UK’s Heartless (review here) receive the Best Film Award, but several other horror films garnered awards as well, including Audience Favorite Solomon Kane.

In addition to being named Best Film, Heartless‘s Philip Ridley received the Best Direction Award, and its star Jim Sturgess was recognized as the Best Actor.

Heartless is a dark psychological thriller about a young man with a large heart-shaped birthmark on his face who finds himself confronting demons on the streets of East London. Heartless will be in UK cinemas on Friday, 21 May, and on DVD, Blu-ray, and all other formats on Monday, 24 May. No word yet on a Stateside release.

Along with Solomon Kane being honored with the Audience Award, the film’s producer Samuel Hadida received the Career Award for his contribution to cinema. This award was Hadida’s second of the last six months; he was also the recipient of the Maria Honorifica Honourary Award at the Sitges International Film Festival in October, 2009.

As Solomon Kane opens, Captain Kane (James Purefoy), a brutally efficient 16th Century killing machine, and his band of pillagers are carving a bloody path through hordes of defenders in an exotic city in northern Africa. But when Kane decides to attack a mysterious nearby castle to plunder its rumored riches, his mission takes a fateful turn. One by one, Kane’s men are picked off by demonic creatures until he alone is left to face the Devil’s own Reaper — dispatched from the depths of Hell to lay claim to his hopelessly corrupt soul. Though Kane at last manages to escape, he knows that he now must redeem himself by renouncing violence and devoting himself wholly to a life of peace and purity.

The festival’s Jury’s Special Award went to Ole Bornedal’s Fri os fra det onde (Deliver Us from Evil), a thriller about a father who returns to his old hometown with his young family; and the Best Film Orient Express Award went to Chan-wook Park’s Thirst. (Do we need to repeat the Thirst synopsis? Didn’t think so.) Best Actress winner was Neve McIntosh from Salvage (review here), and La Horde (The Horde) from France won two awards: Best Screenplay and Best Special Effects or Cinematography.

Fantasporto 2010 closed with a tribute to the master of zombies, George A. Romero, and a screening of Breck Eisner’s version of The Crazies.

Congratulations to all the winners! For the full rundown of the event, visit the official Fantasporto 2010 website.

– Uncle Creepy

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