The can’t-miss North American genre flick event Fantasia International Film Festival has wrapped up its 2018 edition, announcing that for the sixth year in a row it welcomed nearly 100,000 attendees over three weeks of films, events and parties. The long-running Montreal fest held a record-breaking 80+ sold-out screenings — the most in its 22-year history!
The festival closed with the sold-out Canadian Premiere of Mandy by Panos Cosmatos and the exciting news that Paramount Pictures will be a producer on Dear Jimmy — a Frontières pitch contest Official Selection from the Netherlands. Fellow Frontières participants Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen will co-write the feature script with Tim Koomen; David-Jan Bronsgeest will direct. Platinum Dunes (A Quiet Place) and The Picture Company will co-produce.
There were also more award winners announced, including audience picks. (Juried Award winners here. Notably…
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Best Animated Feature:
Gold – Penguin Highway (Japan; dir. Hiroyasu Ishida)
Silver – Crisis Jung (France; dir. Baptiste Gaubert, Jérémie Hoarau)
Bronze – Violence Voyager (Japan; dir. Ujicha)
Guru Prize – Best Action Feature:
Gold – Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires (UK; dir. Mike Mort)
Silver – The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion (South Korea; dir. Park Hoon-jung)
Bronze – Believer (South Korea; dir. Lee Hae-young)
Best Short Film
Gold – Fire in Cardboard City (New Zealand; dir. Phil Brough)
Silver – Eau de Jésus (Canada; dir. Mat Rich)
Bronze – Entropia (USA; dir. Marinah Janello)
ACTION! JURY AWARD
Winner: Believer (South Korea; dir. Lee Hae-young)
Special Mention: Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires (UK; dir. Mike Mort)
“Technically flawless, Chuck Steel has the merit of totally owning its DNA: a raw and explosive animated film that never wimps out. A motorcycle ride at 200 km/hour, on a gravel road. Thanks, Chuck Steel!”
L’ÉCRAN FANTASTIQUE AWARD
The Prix rewards a fantasy, horror, or sci-fi feature film produced in 2017 or 2018, unreleased in France and presented as part of Fantasia. The prize consists of a two- to four-page report confirmed for publication in an upcoming edition (with mention of the honorary title awarded as part of Fantasia), and a full page of free publicity during the release of the film in theatres in France.
Winner: Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (Japan; dir. Mari Okada)
This distinction is conferred on the film for the high quality of its animation, its exceptional sense of staging, at once epic and intimate, and the universal depth of its script, questioning notions surrounding parent-child relationships, and this, in a context both fantastic in the universe it depicts, and sharply realist in its humanist discourse.
MY FIRST FANTASIA AWARD
Gold – Wishing Box (USA; dir. Lizzie Zhang)
Silver – Made in France (France; dir. Various)
Bronze: Drôle de poisson (France/Switzerland; dir. Krishna Chandran A. Nair)
The 23rd edition will take place July 11-August 1, 2019. Learn more about Fantasia and the complete program at fantasiafestival.com.
