L'Etrange Festival in Paris wrapped up last night, and the big winners were Morten Tyldum's already much-lauded adaptation of Jo Nesbo's Headhunters and a short film about a lonely metal-head. Tyldum's dark, twisty-turny thriller walked away not only with the Prix Nouveau Genre awarded by Canal Plus, but also the audience award. So, if you haven't seen Headhunters yet, please get on top of that!
In the short film category, the grand prize awarded by Canal Plus went to Bastagon, a hilarious ode to outsiders about a face-painted, spike-clad metal head looking for love. But for a real taste of the film's tone and plot, just look to it's complete title, "Bastagon and the Rainbow Princess: A Heavy Metal Fairly Tale." The Audience awards went to Nick Peterson's Drained and Alanté Kavaite's How We Tried a New Combination of Light. The prize for the latter was especially noteworthy, and also indicative at the adventurous audience at L'Etrange Festival, as it is a forty minute experimental short.
I'll be wrapping up coverage over the next few days with more reviews, interviews and and a few video surprises, so stay tuned!