Montreal, Wednesday, July 28, 2010 — As the 14th edition of the Fantasia Film Festival draws to a close the festival team is already seeing the positive fallout from this year's programming! Audience enthusiasm and curiosity is evidenced by a record number of sold-out screenings and ever-growing attendance numbers. The numbers are still being tallied, but we can already confirm that this year we surpassed 100, 000 audience members! Thanks to an intensely diversified selection of the best international films, the festival was able to attract a huge audience this year, with 44% of the screenings completely sold out. More than 100 local and international guests were in town to witness first-hand the overwhelming passion of Fantasia audiences.
Among the noteworthy events at this year's festival, we must mention the opening film, THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE presented by the star himself, Jay Baruchel; the honourary awards presented to Ken Russell, Don Bluth & Gary Goldman; and our tribute to Serbian cinema: Subversive Serbia. As well, let's not forget our special events such as the presentation of Stuart Gordon's acclaimed stage play NEVERMORE: AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE, the special screening of Cocteau's LE SANG DU POÈTE live-scored by Steven Severin, the Fantastic Weekend of Quebec Shorts and of course our gala event: a sold-out presentation of THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS in a 3000-seat hall with an entirely new orchestral score performed live, composed specially for the occasion by Gabriel Thibaudeau. Also worth mentioning are our conferences and round table discussions, which proved to be a big hit and food for thought for the artists and creators in attendance.
Among the Canadian, North American and International premieres of our lineup, Fantasia is proud to have screened SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD, CENTURION, LITTLE BIG SOLDIER, BLACK DEATH, HIGH SCHOOL, IP MAN 2, DREAM HOME, LEMMY, RED, WHITE & BLUE, THE PERFECT HOST and THE LAST EXORCISM. We should also point out that three titles which had their World premieres at Cannes, had their North American premieres at this year’s edition of the festival: namely, Franck Richard's LA MEUTE, Quentin Dupieux's RUBBER and Jorge Michel Grau's WE ARE WHAT WE ARE. Nearly ten percent of the feature films screened in our lineup were world premieres, including PHASMA EX MACHINA, NEVERLOST, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and THE SHRINE.
The festival closed with the Canadian premiere of the Sundance hit TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL.
Numerous juries deliberated this year's programming and we are happy to announce the winners in the various categories:
FEATURE FILM JURY
The feature film jury was presided over by Jean-Claude Lord and composed of Ian Lauzon, Don Lobel, Pawa Up First and Éric Tessier.
BEST FEATURE FILM: Yuya Ishii's SAWAKO DECIDES (Japan)
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE: Lee Hae-jun's CASTAWAY ON THE MOON (South Korea)
“Castaway on the moon earned the special jury prize due to its fresh quality, raw emotion and originality.” Jean-Claude Lord
BEST ACTOR: Noah Taylor – RED, WHITE & BLUE (United States)
BEST ACTRICE – UNANIMOUSLY : Hikari Mitsushima – SAWAKO DECIDES (Japan)
BEST DIRECTOR : Lee Jun-ik – BLADES OF BLOOD (South Korea)
BEST SCREENPLAY: Mladen Djordjevic – LIFE AND DEATH OF A PORNO GANG (Serbia)
JURY PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST FEATURE
The first feature jury was presided over by Steven Severin and composed of Susan Curran, Brad Miska, Tom Quinn and Basil Tsiokos.
BEST FIRST FEATURE: Eli Craig’s TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL
"It ultimately came down to TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL and A SERBIAN FILM as the front runners for the jury, but the final decision found TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL on top - Eli Craig has achieved what I thought impossible: a laugh out loud, original & sharp horror spoof." Steven Severin
SPECIAL MENTION : Srdjan Spasojevic’s A SERBIAN FILM
"Undoubtedly, A SERBIAN FILM is an important film and there is much to admire about the craft and audacious tunnel vision of the makers but there is nothing to 'like' about it - since viewing it, it has upset me more than I thought possible. For it to have such an effect, it deserves a special mention." Steven Severin
JURY PRIZE FOR BEST ANIMATION (short and feature length)
The short and feature length animation film jury was presided over by Pierre Hébert and composed of Élène Dallaire, Marco de Blois and Claude Robinson.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: Sunao Katabuchi’s MAI MAI MIRACLE (Japan)
SPECIAL MENTION: Shinsuke Sato’s OBLIVION ISLAND (Japan)
BEST ANIMATED SHORT: Bastien Dubois’ MADAGASCAR
SPECIAL MENTION: Don Hertzfeldt’s WISDOM TEETH
JURY PRIZE FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORTS
The international short film jury was presided over by Maurice G. Dantec and composed of Jean-François Caissy, Kurt Halfyard, Carolina Lucchesi Lavoie and Jean-François Rauger.
GRAND PRIZE: Firas Momani’s THE ADDER’S BITE
SPECIAL MENTION: Mian Adnan Ahmad’s HEAL
JURY PRIZE FOR BEST QUEBEC SHORT
The Quebec short film jury was presided over by Danielle Ouimet and composed of Martin Henri and Izabel Grondin.
BEST SHORT: Serge Marcotte’s THE GREENS
BEST DIRECTION : Cynthia Tremblay’s À VIF
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Pedro Pires’ DANSE MACABRE
BEST PERFORMANCE (tie) : Laurence Leboeuf in SANS TITRE (the young girl with the matress) and Brent Marrale in THE GREENS
BEST SCREENPLAY: Simon Olivier Fecteau’s LE TECHNICIEN
JURY’S PICK: Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais’ MARIUS BORODINE
JURY PRIZE FOR BEST DIY QUEBEC SHORT
The DIY Quebec short film jury was presided over by India Desjardins and composed of Martin Dubreuil, Simon Laganière and Jean-Pierre Normand.
BEST SHORT: Frédérick Tremblay’s LE TIROIR ET LE CORBEAU
BEST DIRECTION: Kris Happy Jack-McKenzie’s WINDIGO
BEST SCREENPLAY: Carnior’s HERO
BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS: Igor Simonnet’s ASTUKO’S LEGEND
JURY’S PICK: Louis Allard’s LES QUEBECERS CONTRE LES ZOMBIES 2
AQCC PRIZE
The AQCC jury was presided over by Mathieu Li-Goyette and composed of Martin Gignac and Patricia Bergeron.
For its rigorous presentation, complex characters and sober illustration of death and violence, the AQCC jury awards an honourable mention to Choi Jin-ho’s THE EXECUTIONER. Unanimously picked for its poetic portrayal of every day life, its soft realism, its social criticism and its masterful grasp of cinematography in this modern retelling of Pinocchio, the jury awards the best Asian film prize to Hirokazu Kore-eda’a AIR DOLL.
SÉQUENCES PRIZE
The Séquences jury was presided over by Pascal Grenier and composed of Julie Séguin and Mathieu Séguin-Tétreault.
The Séquences prize for best international feature film is awarded ex-aequo to Jorge Michel Grau's SOMOS LO QUE HAY (WE ARE WHAT WE ARE) and Simon Rumley’s RED, WHITE & BLUE.
ÉCRAN FANTASTIQUE PRIZE
The Écran Fantastique jury was presided over by Yves Rivard.
The Fantasia 2010 Écran Fantastique prize goes to the Serbian film TEARS FOR SALE from director Uros Stojanovic. There are many reasons for this choice, so we’ll only name the exceptional aesthetics which created such fantastic images that they were burned into your eyes long after leaving the theatre, its classical cinema direction (something that is becoming somewhat of a rarity) and its simultaneously poetic and subversive dialogue issuing from a still little-known area. The great performances of Sonja Kolacaric (Ognjenka) and Katarina Radivojevic (Mala Boginja) as the two sisters should also be mentioned.
Last but not least, the fans were also asked to share their favourites by voting for various public prizes. These are their choices:
AUDIENCE AWARDS
BEST ASIAN FILM
Gold – IP MAN 2 (Hong Kong)
Silver – SELL OUT! (Malaisia)
Bronze (ex-aequo) – CASTAWAY ON THE MOON (Corée du Sud), DREAM HOME (Hong Kong)
BEST EUROPEAN, NORTH AMERICAN OR SOUTH AMERICAN FILM
Gold – A SERBIAN FILM (Serbia)
Silver – AT WORLD’S END (Denmark)
Bronze – REC 2 (Spain)
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Gold – SUMMER WARS (Japan)
Silver – TECHNOTISE: EDIT AND I (Serbia)
Bronze (ex-aequo) – KING OF THORNS (Japan), SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO: RESURRECTION (Japan)
BEST CANADIAN OR QUEBECOIS FEATURE
Gold – THE SHRINE
Silver – SUCK
Bronze (tie) – FRANKENSTEIN UNLIMITED (Quebec) NEVERLOST (Canada)
GURU PRIZE FOR MOST ENERGENTIC FILM
Gold – IP MAN 2 (Hong Kong)
Silver – REC 2 (Spain)
Bronze – SYMBOL (Japan)
MOST INNOVATIVE FILM
Gold (tie) - SYMBOL (Japan), A SERBIAN FILM (Serbia)
Silver – SELL OUT! (Malaisia)
Bronze – RUBBER (France)
BEST DOCUMENTARY
MARWENCOL (United States)
BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORTS
Gold – CLEAN CAROUSEL (Denmark)
Silver (tie) - JACK (Canada), NINJAS (Brasil), TOUS LES HOMMES S’APPELLENT ROBERT (Quebec)
Bronze – LAMBS (United States)
BEST DIY QUEBEC SHORT
Francis Gélinas’ L’HISTOIRE DU MÉCHANT DRAGON
No comments:
Post a Comment