Grimmfest wrapped up its festivities the previous weekend. After much lost sleep was caught up on, the hangovers long subsided, it was time to announce this year's award winners. This year proved if you could bring the horror and the laughs you were in good standing with the Grimmfest audience.
Kirill Sokolov`s dark comedy horror Why Don`t You Just Die! was the big winner, taking home both the Best Feature and Best Director awards. Sokolov`s film also took home the Best SFX award.
So it is a big win for Sokolov and the other big winner, the Audience Award, went to the terrific horror comedy Extra Ordinary. It`s star Maeve Higgins took home the Best Actress award for her role in the film.
All of the winners are below in the festival press release.
GRIMMFEST ANNOUNCES 2019 AWARD WINNERS PLUS £100,000+ WORTH OF PRIZESThis October, GRIMMFEST, Manchester's International Festival of Fantastic Film, celebrated its eleventh anniversary with its biggest line-up of film premieres ever, along with audiences to match.Now the Festival Jury's votes are all in, and the audience ballots all tallied up, Grimmfest is proud to reveal this year’s award-winners:Best Feature (Sponsored by M2 MediaPost)WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE!With Special Mention for EXTRA ORDINARYBest Director (Sponsored by M2 MediaPost)KIRILL SOKOLOV, WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE!With Special Mention for ROB GRANT (HARPOON)Best Screenplay (Sponsored by Final Draft and InkTip)HARPOONWith Special Mention for A SERIAL KILLER’S GUIDE TO LIFEBest Cinematography (Sponsored by One Bright Dot)4x4With Special Mention for WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE!Best Score (Sponsored by Grimmfest Films)ARTIKWith Special Mention for TONE-DEAFBest ActorPETER LANZANI, 4x4With Special Mention for MUNRO CHAMBERS (HARPOON)Best ActressMAEVE HIGGINS, EXTRA ORDINARYWith Special Mention for POPPY ROE (A SERIAL KILLER’S GUIDE TO LIFE)Best SFX (Sponsored by Fangoria Magazine)WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE!With Special Mentions for BLOOD VESSEL and THE WRETCHEDBest Kill (Sponsored by Dread Central)SATANIC PANICWith Special Mention for HARPOONBest Scare (Sponsored by Rue Morgue magazine)THE WRETCHEDWith Special Mention for BLOOD VESSELBest Short (Sponsored by Shudder)LIMBOWith Special Mention for HOW TO BE ALONE and LOOMFinally, as voted for by Grimmfest 2019 attendees:The Audience Award (Sponsored by Shudder)EXTRA ORDINARYWith Special Mentions for LITTLE MONSTERS and WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE!The Festival Jury Panel consisted of 6 carefully selected figures from the world of genre cinema:Actress, producer and Grimmfest 2018 Lifetime Achievement award-winner Barbara CramptonUK film critic Anton BitelUK producer Jennifer HandorfUK film critic Nikki BaughanUS producer Amanda Presmyk at FangoriaCanadian sales agent James Fler at Raven BannerGrimmfest is even more delighted to announce that the creators of WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE!, who won both the BEST FEATURE and BEST DIRECTOR awards, will be awarded £80,000 worth of post-production services courtesy of Festival Award Sponsor, M2 MediaPost, which can be used as finance against a future film production.WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE! is a blackly comic and brutal Russian crime drama that was one of the big talking points at Grimmfest 2019. With favourable comparisons to Tarantino and the Coen Brothers at their most noirish, it marks a truly dazzling feature film debut for writer-director KIRILL SOKOLOV. The film will be released by Arrow Films, under the Arrow Video label, in the UK, US and Canada in March 2020.Kirill Sokolov said, "I'm absolutely happy! It is so important for a young filmmaker to get rewards for your work. The best inspiration for the next steps. Huge thanks to GRIMMFEST! I'll do my best!"This year, Grimmfest also launched their very first BEST WORK-IN-PROGRESS award, which was judged by the festival team. This year’s winner is KARLI by directors Paul Gerrard and Mike Clarke, who will receive £20,000 worth of post-production funding courtesy of M2 MediaPost, plus an offer of international sales representation from Film Seekers and a year’s subscription to Screen International magazine.Michael Laundon of M2 MediaPost said, “M2 MediaPost is honoured to sponsor both BEST FEATURE and BEST DIRECTOR for this year’s Grimmfest and it's great to see KIRILL SOKOLOV's amazing kinetic and stylish Russian thriller picking up both awards. We are looking forward to working with him on a future project and excited to also sponsor the new WORK IN PROGRESS award of which Paul and Mike’s new project, KARLI, is a worthy recipient.”Grimmfest 2020 will take place in early October in Manchester UK. Film submissions will open December 2019 via FilmFreeway. More information about the festival can be found at www.grimmfest.com