Fabrice du Welz`s thriller Alleluia takes home the grand prize! Welz`s film recently took home Best Director, Best Film, Best Actor and Actress awards at Fantastic Fest last month. It just walked away with the Lund d'Argent Award at Lund International Fantastic Film Festival in Sweden. This was the award that got it into the competition at Sitges, so it is on a bit of a roll!
Our own Shelagh Rowen-Legg caught the film at London FrightFest and had this to say in here review, which you can find a link for below,
Taking on the infamous tale of the Honeymoon Killers (an American couple who conned and murdered several older women in the mid-20th century), with stellar performances by Laurent Lucas and especially Lola Dueñas, Alleluia is a fire-charged thriller than spins a disturbing and all-too-believable web of such madness, jealousy, sex and murder.
Seven films were in competition for the coveted award. All had won the Méliès d'Argent Award at respected genre film festivals around Europe in the past year. There were more than 50 feature films in competition at these festivals. The cycle began at Sitges in 2013. So this year`s Méliès d'Argent Award winner will be the first to compete for next year`s award. These were the seven feature films vying for the coveted prize.
Let Us Prey (Brian O'Malley, United Kingdom) Méliès d'Argent winner at Brussels Intl. Fantastic Film Festival (Belgium)The Strange Color Of Your Body`s Tears (Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani, France/Belgium) Méliès d'Argent winner at Trieste - Scienceplusfiction (Italy)Cannibal (Manuel Martin Cuenca, Spain/Romania) Méliès d'Argent winner at Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival (France)Blind (Eskil Vogt, Norway) Méliès d'Argent winner at Neuchâtel Intl. Fantastic Film Festival (Switzerland)Der Samurai (Till Kleinert, Germany) Méliès d'Argent winner at Imagine: Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival (The Netherlands)Enemy (Denis Villeneuve, Spain) Méliès d'Argent winner at Sitges Intl. Film Festival of Catalonia (Spain)Alleluia (Fabrice du Welz, Belgium/France) Méliès d'Argent winner at Lund Intl. Fantastic Film Festival (Sweden)
The jury was comprised of Pablo Guisa Koestinger (Festival Director - Morbido), Maria Reinup (Festival Director - Haapsalu Horror Film Festival) and Carlee Baker (Wicked Lake and The Woman)
There was also a short film competition and The Body by Paul Davis out of the United Kingdom won that award.