Fantastic Fest Report: Audience and Jury Awards Announced

Still finishing a few full reviews to be posted in the next day or so -- and suffering from the usual post-festival hangover -- but here are the awards for the recently-completed Fantastic Fest.

As noted in the festival's press release: "Films without distribution at the time of their acceptance to Fantastic Fest were eligible for awards."

AUDIENCE AWARDS
1st Place - HATCHET
2nd Place - ISOLATION
3rd Place - FIREFLY

SHORT FILM AWARDS
Best of Show - THE LISTENING DEAD
Best Short Form - THE COST OF LIVING
Best Long Form - ROGAIRI (VILLAINS)
Best Animated - IF I HAD A HAMMER
Best Comedy - THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT

HORROR JURY AWARDS
Best Picture - ISOLATION

FANTASTIC FEST JURY AWARDS
Best Film - THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

The complete list of Jury Awards follows the jump, along with a few 'Tales of Jury Duty'

HORROR JURY AWARDS
Best Picture - ISOLATION

Best Director - Billy O'Brien, ISOLATION
Best Script - Dylan Bank and Morgan Pehme, NIGHTMARE
Best Actor - Kane Hodder, HATCHET
Best Actress - Nicole Roderick, NIGHTMARE
Best Supporting Actor - Lance Henriksen, ABOMINABLE
Best Supporting Actress - Kristen Bell, ROMAN
Best Art Direction - Alex Boynton, UNREST
Best Cinematography - Robbie Ryan, ISOLATION
Best Special Effects - HATCHET
Best Make-up - BROKEN

FANTASTIC FEST JURY AWARDS

Best Film - THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

Best Director - Simon Rumley, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Best Script - Larry Kent and Daniel Williams, HAMSTER CAGE
Best Actor - Leo Bill, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Best Actress - Jodie Jameson, VENUS DROWNING
Best Supporting Actor - Alan Scarfe, HAMSTER CAGE
Best Supporting Actress - Kate Fahy, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

Best Art Direction - STARFISH HOTEL
Best Cinematography - A QUIET LOVE
Best Special Effects - PUZZLEHEAD
Best Make-up - THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

Special Mention of the Jury, Blood Tea and Red String
"For its originality and stunning visual audacity! Blood Tea and Red String
is a dark psychological fairy tail, a work of creative passion by director
Christiane Cegavske. The films eccentric and unique vision will be with you
like a feverish dream for years to come."

2006 FANTASTIC FEST COMPETITION FILMS
THE BEACH PARTY AT THE THRESHOLD OF HELL
BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING
FIREFLY
GAMERZ
HAMSTER CAGE
INSIDE
PUZZLEHEAD
A QUIET LOVE
STARFISH HOTEL
VENUS DROWNING
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

2006 FANTASTIC FEST HORROR COMPETITION FILMS
ABOMINABLE
BLOOD TRAILS
HATCHET
SIMON SAYS
WILDERNESS
THE LAST SUPPER
BROKEN
ISOLATION
UNREST
ROMAN
NIGHTMARE

The shorts jury was comprised of Chris Cargill (Ain't It Cool News), Brian Satterwhite (Ain't It Cool News) and Jay Knowles (Ain't It Cool News).

The Horror Jury was comprised of Peter Martin (ScreenAnarchy), Jay Slater (UK Journalist, Hot Dog/Film Threat), Chris Cargill (Ain't It Cool News) and Ed Neal (star, Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

The Fantastic Fest jury was comprised of Christian Hallman (Lund International Fantastic Film Festival), Wiley Wiggins (star, Dazed and Confused), and Scott Weinberg (Rotten Tomatoes).

Audience Award films were chosen by ballot from all 22 of the Horror and Fantastic competition films.

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TALES OF JURY DUTY

That completes the official release; I'll just add that it was a honor to be asked to serve on one of the juries, and a pleasure to debate furiously, draw blood, and drink beer with the other members of my jury.

I've read the work of both Jay Slater and Chris Cargill (who writes as Massawrym) for years, and disagreed with them on many occasions in private (in my head, at least, swearing at them under my breath), so it was a rare opportunity to disagree in public. But it also a blast when we did find grounds for agreement, and they were both outspokenly eloquent about the films they loved and hated.

Ed Neal was not only the memorable "Hitchhiker" in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre but has been supplying voice dubbing for years (Gatchaman is a recent example). Happily, he also has a voice, a one-liner, or a behind the scenes film story for every occasion, and demonstrated unusual insight into his feelings about why certain films in competition worked, and others did not.

Serving on the jury also steered me toward films I might have otherwise missed, and helped give structure to a viewing schedule that was otherwise filled with tough choices. The Fantastic Fest programming team did a great job of featuring a wide variety of films and panels that basically stayed within the parameters of what "fantastic" means to many different people, while still testing the boundaries of how that label should be defined.

For more reporting on the awards ceremony, I direct you to Jette Kernion's entry at Cinematical (she proved to a true friend by not including any embarrassing shots she might have of me). Jette has also posted a number of reviews at Cinemetical on festival films, which you can find by clicking on "Fantastic Fest" right next to "Filed Under" in that entry.

More pictures, reviews, and general coverage are provided by Jette and her cohort in crime, Chris Holland, at the Austin-centric Slackerwood.

The ever-resilient Blake has been posting entries over the past week at his excellent site, Cinema Strikes Back. He also has the Mel Gibson podcast from the night of Apocalypto, the awards ceremony on video, and the usual insights and goodies.

I might add that the only redeeming feature of seeing myself on YouTube (gee, thanks Blake!) is that I managed to stay within the shadows as I made the announcement of the first few horror awards. Now if only I could learn how to talk properly, and stop shuffling my feet nervously...