The 23rd Fantasia Festival is about wrapped and finished until next summer. I still have one film to work on though I do have a bit of a window before its release, so I think I’m good.
Tackling this festival was a little more dexterous, although thankfully I managed to get in some viewing time. One title I’d caught up with long prior was The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil which is taking home top honors for Best Action! Feature.
Other Audience Award recipients were announced as well, chosen from 138 feature films and over 200 shorts. I didn’t get to check out Promare which won Best Animated Feature but GKids is rolling that one out next month so hopefully I’ll get lucky.
I definitely wanted to check out the Best Asian Feature winners, including Shinobu Yaguchi’s Dance With Me which also screened at Japan Cuts last month. Kiril Sokolov’s Why Don’t You Just Die sounds intriguing too.
At any rate, let’s defer to the list of winners and hope well get some more circulation and buzz going. Congratulations from Film Combat Syndicate to all the winners below!
August 6, 2019 – The Fantasia International Film Festival wrapped its 23rd edition on August 1st last week, having showcased 138 features and over 200 shorts. In addition to the previously announced jury prizes, the esteemed Montreal genre festival is now pleased to reveal the winners of this year’s Audience Awards.
Best Asian Feature
Gold: FLY ME TO THE SAITAMA (Japan) – Dir: Hideki Takeuchi
Silver: DANCE WITH ME (Japan) – Dir: Shinobu Yaguchi
Bronze: BRAVE FATHER ONLINE: OUR STORY OF FINAL FANTASY XIV (Japan) – Dirs: Teruo Noguchi, Kiyoshi Yamamoto
Best International Feature
Gold: LAKE MICHIGAN MONSTER (USA) – Dir: Ryland Tews
Silver: L’INTERVENTION (France) – Dir: Fred Grivois
Bronze WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE! (Russia) – Dir: Kirill Sokolov
Best Action! Feature
THE GANGSTER, THE COP, THE DEVIL (South Korea) – Dir: Lee Won-tae
Best Animated Feature
PROMARE (Japan) – Dir: Hiroyuki Imaishi
Best Camera Lucida Feature
JESUS SHOWS YOU THE WAY TO THE HIGHWAY (Spain-Estonia-Ethiopia-Latvia-Romania) – Dir: Miguel Llansó
Best Canadian Feature
DEAD DICKS (Canada / Qc) – Dirs: Chris Bavota, Lee Paula Springer
Best Documentary Feature
PHANTOM OF WINNIPEG (Canada) – Dirs: Malcom Ingram, Sean Stanley
Best International Short
Gold: BAD HAIR (Estonia) – Dir: Oskar Lehemaa
Silver: PIG (USA) – Dir: Evan Powers
Bronze: LILI (Netherlands) – Dir: Yfke Van Berckelaer
Best Animated Short
Gold: GIRL IN THE HALLWAY (Canada) – Dir: Valerie Barnhart
Silver: MY LITTLE GOAT (Japan) – Dir: Tomoki Misato
Bronze: THE FIRST CLASS (South Korea) – Dir: Kim Myung-eun
Best Quebec Short
Gold: RED WINE – Dir: Santiago Menghini
Silver: SHOWER PARTY – Dir: Pierre-Luc Gosselin
Bronze: MOMENT – Dir: Geoffrey Uloth
Best VR Work
Gold: MUSEUM OF SYMMETRY (Canada) – Dir: Paloma Dawkins
Silver: THE CARETAKER (USA) – Dirs: Jacob Wasserman, Nicolas Pesce, Adam Donald
Bronze: HEART OF THE SATHU (Canada) – Dir: Leela Gilday
Mon Premier Fantasia Shorts (comprised of votes from a representational jury between the ages of 8 and 13 years old)
Gold: ATHLETICUS – ANNEAUX DE GYMASTIQUE ARTISTIQUE (France) – Dir: Nicolas Deveaux
Silver – ICE DREAMS (France) – Dir: Julie Fournier
Bronze: HORS-PISTE (France_ – Dir : Camille Jalabert, Oscar Malet, Loris Cavalier & Leo Brunel