Uzumasa Limglight takes home the Cheval Noir Award for Best Film. Time travel flick The Infinite Man takes home the coveted New Flesh Award for Best First Feature Film and an honorable mention went to ScreenAnarchy fave I Am A Knife With Legs by Bennett Jones. Giovanni's Island by Mizuho Nishikubo takes home the award for Best Animated Feature. And potentially awesome Irish horror comedy Extraordinary takes home the 2014 Frontières Project Award. My fingers are crossed that this project gets its funding and we can see it at the fest next year! Read on for all the winners!
Montreal, Friday August 8, 2014 - August 6th saw the close of the 18th Edition of Montreal's Fantasia International Film Festival, North America's longest-running genre film fest. Returning to its home at Concordia University after the location's massive 2013 renovations, the acclaimed festival benefited from having three theaters to screen their record 160+ films in.
Among the numerous highlights that took place during the three-week festival were the crowd-pleasing, revelatory world premieres of Leo Gabriadze's CYBERNATURAL, Sarah Adina Smith's THE MIDNIGHT SWIM, and Bennett Jones' I AM A KNIFE WITH LEGS. Also of note were massively successful screenings of Richard Linklater's BOYHOOD, James Gunn's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Lee Su-jin's HAN GONG-JU, Keishi Otomo's RUROUNI KENSHIN - KYOTO INFERNO, and Lenny Abrahamson's FRANK.Animation legend Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL) and horror director Tobe Hooper (THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE) both received Lifetime Achievement Awards, while fans flocked to LIFE AFTER BETH stars Matthew Gray Gubler and Aubrey Plaza. Abel Ferrara presented the North American premiere of his controversial new film WELCOME TO NEW YORK.In total, more than 129,000 festivalgoers attended Fantasia 2014's various screenings and events. 90,000 fans attended the festival's 216 theatrical film presentations, which represents more than 70% of the theaters' full capacities. 19,000 spectators attended Fantasia's two massive outdoor screenings, presented in collaboration with the Just for Laughs festival.The third edition of the festival's international co-production market, Frontières, also logged record attendance, with a boost of over 30% over their 2013 edition - and over 350 industry attendees from over twenty countries. The new Works-in-Progress session, in which films currently in post-production were able to screen glimpses of their projects to audiences, proved ones of the market's most popular events.The 19th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival will take place from July 16 through August 4, 2015.Fantasia Announces Winners:Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to announce the winners of its eighteenth edition. These awards were presented by the juries of each competition, and by the festival audience.The award winners in Fantasia's various categories are as follows:Cheval Noir Competition - Feature FilmsThe Cheval Noir jury, comprised of jury president Mark Adams (critic, Screen International), Anne-Marie Gélinas (producer), Noah Segan (actor/producer), Jasper Sharp (critic/author/filmmaker), and Bret Wood (author/filmmaker), awarded the following prizes:Cheval Noir Award for Best FilmUZUMASA LIMELIGHT by Ken Ochiai (Unanimous)Best DirectorDavid Zellner for KUMIKO THE TREASURE HUNTERBest ScreenplayBilly Senese for CLOSER TO GODBest ActorSeizo Fukumoto for UZUMASA LIMELIGHTBest ActressMiyuki Oshima for FUKU-CHAN OF FUKU-FUKU FLATSSpecial Mention of the JuryCYBERNATURAL by Leo Gabriadze, for technical and conceptual achievementNew Flesh Award CompetitionThe New Flesh jury, comprised of jury president James Shapiro (COO, Drafthouse Films), Jeff Barnaby (filmmaker/author/musician), and Charlie Reff (Sundance programmer), awarded the following prizes:New Flesh Award for Best First Feature FilmTHE INFINITE MAN by Hugh SullivanSpecial Mention of the JuryI AM A KNIFE WITH LEGS by Bennett Jones, for the audacity of its vision and a talent well worth discovering.International Short Film AwardsThe Short Film jury, comprised of jury president Aaron Hillis (critic/filmmakers/programmer), Elodie Dupont (festival coordinator), and Donato Totaro (critic/film professor), awarded the following prizes:Best Short FilmJIMINY by Arthur MolardSpecial Mention of the JuryHOW TO MAKE A MONSTER by Noah Aust , for its cinematic and psychological vision.Satoshi Kon Prize for Excellence in AnimationThe Animation jury, comprised of jury president Pierre Grenier (head of animation at Cégep du Vieux-Montréal), Janet Perlman (filmmaker), and Obom (filmmaker and cartoonist), awarded the following prizes:Best Animated FeatureGIOVANNI'S ISLAND by Mizuho NishikuboBest Animated ShortTHE PORTRAIT STUDIO and SUPERVENUS (tie)Special Mention of the JuryTHE SATELLITE GIRL AND MILK COW by Chang Hyung-yun, for its inventiveness and original story, and THE LOOKING PLANET (short).Audience Award WinnersBest Asian FilmGold: MISS GRANNY by Hwang Dong-hyukSilver: HAN GONG-JU by Lee Su-jinBronze: RUROUNI KENSHIN - KYOTO INFERNO by Keishi OtomoBest International FilmGold: IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE by Hans Petter MolandSilver: DEAD SNOW: RED VS. DEAD by Tommy WirkolaBronze: THE HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED by Felix Herngren and BOYHOOD by Richard Linklater (tie)Best Canadian FilmDYS- by Maude MichaudBest Animated FilmGIOVANNI'S ISLAND by Mizuho Nishikubo and CHEATIN' by Bill Plympton (tie)Best DocumentaryTO BE TAKEI by Jennifer M. Kroot and Bill WeberGuru PrizeONCE UPON A TIME IN SHANGHAI by Wong Ching-PoMost Innovative Film PrizeCYBERNATURAL by Leo GabriadzeBest Short FilmGold: THE CHAPERONE by Fraser Munden et Neil RathboneSilver: MÉMORABLE MOI by Jean-François AsselinBronze: RAGING BALLS OF STEEL JUSTICE by Mike Mort and SEA DEVIL by Brett Potter and D.C. Marcial (tie)Frontières International Co-Production Market2014 Frontières Project AwardPresented by the Producers Network of the Cannes Marché du FilmEXTRAORDINARY (Ailish Bracken and Katie Holly, Producers - Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, Co-Writers/Directors)