Fantasia Winners Announced

Fantasia 2006 has come to a close and this year's award winners have been announced ... here are the big categories:

Jury Awards:
Best film:
STRANGE CIRCUS - Sion Sono (Japan)

Best director:
Nicolas Winding Refn - PUSHER 3 (Denmark)

Best script:
David Mamet - EDMOND (United States)

Best photography:
Ji-yong Kim - A BITTERSWEET LIFE (South Korea)

Best Actor:
Zlatko Buric - PUSHER 3 (Denmark)

Best Actress:
Masumi Miyazaki - STANGE CIRCUS (Japan)

Public Awards

Best Asian Film
Golden Prize: GREAT YOKAI WAR – Takashi Miike (Japan)
Silver Prize: A BITTERSWEET LIFE - Kim Jee-woon (South Korea)
Bronze Prize: CITIZEN DOG - Wisit Sasanatieng (Thailand)

Best European / North - South American Film
Golden Prize: BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON - Scott Glosserman (United States)
Silver Prize: WILDERNESS - Michael J. Bassett (England)
Bronze Prize: THE DESCENT – Neil Marshall (England)

Best Animated / Stop Motion film
Golden Prize: FULL METAL ALCHEMIST - Seiji Mizushima (Japan)
Silver Prize: BLOOD TEA AND RED STRINGS - Christiane Cegavske (United States)
Bronze Prize: WORLDS OF WOUNDED CLAY – Robertt Morgan (England)

Most Groundbreaking Film
Golden Prize: FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT - Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine & Shinichiro Miki (Japan)
Silver Prize: CITIZEN DOG - Wisit Sasanatieng (Thailand)
Bronze Prize: WILD BLUE YONDER – Werner Herzog (Germany)

Read on for the full press announcement.

Press release
For immediate release

Ubisoft presents Fantasia 2006 : A tenth edition crowned with successes

Montreal, July, 24th, 2006. The Fantasia International Film Festival is extremely proud to have offered a film event of international breadth to more than 77, 000 attendees. Impressive and varied programming, as well as the unshakeable enthusiasm of an ever-growing adult audience, contributed to elevating Fantasia to both a critical and popular success. This tenth edition was notably marked by the participation of a record number of prestigious guests, originating from the four corners of the globe (notably Russia, Japan, England, Denmark, the United States and Canada). Directors, producers, actors, representatives of various studios, distributors, program planners of international film festivals and foreign journalists participated in these 18 days of cinematic celebration.

The Quebec and Canadian movies were notably honoured this year with the presentation of nine Canadian feature films such as the long-awaited advance screening of GOOD COP BAD COP (Érik Canuel) and the world premiere of THE DESCENDANT (Philippe Spurrell), as well as a record number of short films (some 70 Canadian or Quebec shorts) presented within several thematic programs (14 different short-film blocs this year) or opening for specific feature films.

Our tribute to the New Wave of British Horror Cinema, our sampling of genre trends in modern Russian cinema and our tribute to Contemporary Stop-Motion Auteur Cinema all saw lively successes, while the quality and the variety of our overall programming were able, again this year, to raise the enthusiasm of the film buffs to stellar proportions. The premiere presentations of the works of international filmmakers such as Michael J. Basset, Stuart Gordon, Werner Herzog, Tsui Hark, Toru Matsuura, Lucky McKee, Neil Marshall, Takashi Miike, Mitsuru Meike, David Moreau, Robert Morgan, Billy O’Brien, Xavier Palud, the Pang Brothers, Nicolas Winding Refn, Wisit Sasanatieng, Gary Sherman, Sion Sono, Chris Sivertson, Jan Svankmajer and Kim Jee-woon re-affirm the strong artistic dynamic that has made Fantasia a celebrated and unique event on the North American festival landscape.

The organizers of the festival also are very proud of the success of their outdoor projections in Parc de la Paix during the Fantasia Under the Stars screenings. This project is the result of the partnership between the City of Montreal, the SAT, Belle Gueule and Concept Audio Visuel. The organizers of the festival are understandably eager to renew this experience for their 11th edition.

Official Jury prizes of the 10th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival
Feature film competition

The official jury of the Fantasia Festival was presided over by director Alain Desrochers and composed of Marc-André Grondin (actor), Jean-François Leblanc (artistic director for the BleuBlancRouge ad agency), Nicole Robert (producer, Go Films), and Paul Toutant (journalist and comic-book writer), and have presented their list of laureates to the public.

Best film:
STRANGE CIRCUS - Sion Sono (Japan)

Best director:
Nicolas Winding Refn - PUSHER 3 (Denmark)

Best script:
David Mamet - EDMOND (United States)

Best photography:
Ji-yong Kim - A BITTERSWEET LIFE (South Korea)

Best Actor:
Zlatko Buric - PUSHER 3 (Denmark)

Best Actress:
Masumi Miyazaki - STANGE CIRCUS (Japan)

Official Jury prizes of the 10th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival
Short film competition

Presided over by actress Catherine Trudeau and composed of Isabelle Blais (actress), Simon-Olivier Fecteau (director and actor), Jarrett Mann (film festival and event organizer, filmmaker), and André Paradis (creative editor, Bos ad agency), the short feature jury also presented their list of laureates to the public.

Best Quebec short feature (award includes a $1000 grant):
L’ÉTRANGER - Guillaume Fortin

Best international short feature :
BEFORE DAWN - Balint Kenyeres (Hungary)

Best animated short feature :
ZÉRO DEGREE - Omid Khoshnazar (Iran)

Special Award - Visual Accomplishment:
RABBIT - Run Wrake (England)

PUBLIC’S PRIZE

Again this year, Fantasia¹s audiences were asked to express their choices for the Fantasia 2006 Public's Prizes. Here are their choices:

Best Asian Film

Golden Prize:
GREAT YOKAI WAR – Takashi Miike (Japan)
Silver Prize:
A BITTERSWEET LIFE - Kim Jee-woon (South Korea)
Bronze Prize:
CITIZEN DOG - Wisit Sasanatieng (Thailand)

Best European / North - South American Film

Golden Prize:
BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON - Scott Glosserman (United States)
Silver Prize:
WILDERNESS - Michael J. Bassett (England)
Bronze Prize:
THE DESCENT – Neil Marshall (England)

Best Animated / Stop Motion film

Golden Prize:
FULL METAL ALCHEMIST - Seiji Mizushima (Japan)
Silver Prize:
BLOOD TEA AND RED STRINGS - Christiane Cegavske (United States)
Bronze Prize:
WORLDS OF WOUNDED CLAY – Robertt Morgan (England)

Most Groundbreaking Film

Golden Prize:
FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT - Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine & Shinichiro Miki (Japan)
Silver Prize:
CITIZEN DOG - Wisit Sasanatieng (Thailand)
Bronze Prize:
WILD BLUE YONDER – Werner Herzog (Germany)

Best Short Film

Golden Prize:
TERREUR AU 3918 - Mathieu Fontaine (Quebec)
Silver Prize:
THE BIG EMPTY - Lisa Chang, Newton Thomas Sigel & Alison Smith (Unites States)
Bronze Prize:
BUGCRUSH - Carter Smith (United States)

Séquences Award

The noted French-Canadian magazine Séquences associated itself with Fantasia to present their Séquences Award for the best film among the European/South American/North American selection. Mr. Élie Castiel, editor-in-chief of Séquences, was the president of the jury for this prize. The journalists Dominique Bouchard, Luc Chaput and Ismaël Houdassine were the members of this jury.

Séquences Award:
BEHIND THE MASK : THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON - Scott Glosserman (United States)

Armed with a certain maturity and a deep understanding of genre film mythologies, the young director and scriptwriter Scott Glosserman offered an intelligent and effective deconstruction of modern American horror films. Honest and without pretension, this winning film also proved to be highly entertaining. The film director quotes without imitating and dexterously varies the narrative levels.

L’Écran Fantastique Award - Fantasia 2006

The L’Écran Fantastique Award is awarded to the American film BEHIND THE MASK : THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON from writer/director Scott Glosserman. Thanks to his brilliant direction that allies mockumentary techniques, bent conventions of traditional slasher films and irony, BEHIND THE MASK reveals itself a gem aimed at both horror-film aficionados and a wide mainstream public. This award also underlines the excellent performances of the actors Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals and Robert Englund, all brilliant and delicious in their respective roles.

The L'Écran Fantastique Award acknowledges fantasy, horror or science-fiction feature films produced in 2004 or 2005 and presented during the Fantasia Festival. The prize is comprised of a 5- to 6-colour-page article in a near-future edition of the magazine, along with a free full-page advertisment when the film is released in theatres or on video in France. L'Écran Fantastique, which has existed for more than 36 years, has a monthly print run of 98,000 copies and is distributed in the following territories: France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Canada (Quebec), Morocco and Germany. Its head office is in Paris, the editor-in-chief is Alain Schlockoff and its Canada correspondant is Yves Rivard. L'Écran Fantastique differentiates itself with its high standards in editing and its high-quality visual presentation.

DIY Quebec 2006

Once again this year, Fantasia has offered a brand new foray into the growing pool of local filmmakers who ignore budgetary restraints to offer us pure gems of imagination and talent. The public present at these screenings was invited to vote for their favourite film presented.

DIY francophone:
EASY LIVING - Berge Kasparian, Martin Tremblay

DIY anglophone:
A DATE WITH THE DEAD - Chris Smith

ANIMA O6
VIDEO GAME TRAILER CONTEST

The Society for Arts and Technology [SAT] hosted, in collaboration with Fantasia, a video-game trailer contest aimed at promoting creativity in the expert fields of game development, digital filmmaking, and electronic music. The contest was held under the banner of Anima, a division initiated by the SAT for creative and promotional projects related to video game development. The winning game trailers were selected by a jury composed from Dany Kwintner (SAT), Mathieu Lamarche (Ubisoft), Marc Lamothe (Fantasia) and Emru Townsend (FPS Magazine)

First prize: ThisisNotDesign (TIND) - FEAR MACHINA

Second prize: Olivier Denis & David Béliveau - X-STATION

Third prize: Francis St-Denis - PROMETHEUS CELL

The popular success of this year’s edition was made possible thanks to the notable, close collaboration of Ubisoft (presenting sponsor), Vision Globale (founder and owner of the event), Paradox Entertainment, many sponsors and partners (the Admission network, Archambault, Belle Gueule, the British Council, Brutopia, Burger King, Canoë, CBS Affichage, CJLO, Concept Audio-Visuel, Drive In Classics, Entreprises Vidéo Service, Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office (Canada), Kodak Film Cinématographique, Locations Michel Trudel, Magra Multi Média, MusiquePlus, Nintendo, Pepsi Canada, Society for Arts and Technology, Space Channel, SuperClub Vidéotron, Zip.ca et Z télé). The Fantasia festival was also the beneficiary of a $35,000 grant from Ministère des Affaires municipales et des Régions via the Fonds de développement de la métropole program, and of a $10 000 grant from the City of Montreal.

The Fantasia Festival would like to thank all its public and private partners, its advertisers, the various local and international distributors and producers and its various collaborators, as well as its army of volunteers, who believed again this year in the commercial, artistic and touristic potential of the event.

The Fantasia Festival will be back again next summer to celebrate his 11th edition, from July 5th to July 23rd, 2007.