The International Toledo Action Films Festival & Expo wrapped its goings-on in Illescas last week. The second-annual festival launced on May 15, kicking off a weeklong spell of film fandom and martial arts fanfare with expos, panels and seminars host to topical discussions on industry and the craft, stunts and much more within the first three days.
The latter half of TACFEST II saw a plethora of events rolled into one at the Guillermo Plaza Pavilion in Yuncos in Toledo. Expos, training and exhibition segments, mini-cinema and merchandising were all on hand with over a dozen booths on display, including a photo booth where everyone could share their own Dragonz Magazine cover.
The weekend also saw more than twenty martial arts seminars held with Grandmasters of Martial Arts such as Sebas Deibe, Paulino Martín, César Alonso, José Torres II (Killer-Ex), and Musical Kata World Champion Jan Sykora from the Czech Republic. Screenfighting seminars (or Lucha Para Cine) were held by George Karja (upcoming Rough Dog), as well as by New Element Academy with Scenic Fencing, and Tactical Scenic Training taught by Chema García from Action Scenes. The festivities on the evening of May 18 bookended with a raft of competitive matches featuring local martial artists from different parts of Madrid, the Canary Islands and Zaragoza.
Of course, the festival entries were all the hubub, with film submissions from Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Mexico, the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada, and of course Spain. The Quixote Awards gala commenced on the evening of May 17 following the rousing premiere of Nacho Serapio’s second feature, El Duro, starring Alberto Hidalgo.
Kike Narcea’s I’ll Crush Y’all (or Os Reviento) won the night as did Robert Samuels with Mexi-kung fu shapes fantasy short, Shadow Fist 3, and even Mad Cats star and FCSyndicate favorite Ayane scored for her performance in Reiki Tsuno’s action shortfilm, Dark Child. And these are just some of the discernible highlights of the awards portion of the festival.
Below is a listing of all the prizes and nods handed to their respective projects, creators, and talent. As noted before, our own Mike Garcia served as a juror for this year’s sophomore edition, and this write up also comes courtesy of a press release he sent to me via translation, which I’ve tinkered and edited accordingly for this piece.
Read on for the winners below, and here’s hoping we get to stay on board all things happening in action on film over in Spain.
Best Action Reel: José Luis Torres II
Best International Feature Film:
“Kigurumi Blade” by Shingo Soejima
*Honorable Mention: “Killer-Ex” by José Luis Torres II
Best National Short Film: “Dragón Blanco”, by Rodrigo Marini and David Santamaría (also recipient of the RC SERVICE award for Best Photography and €750 in rental material for their next project)
*Honorable Mention: Límites by Ángel Pan and Manuel Muñoz
Best International Short Film: “Shadow Fist 3” by Robert Samuels
Best Action Choreography: “Shadow Fist 3”
Best Action Director: Robert Samuels for “Shadow Fist 3”
*Honorable Mention: “Flaming Assassin” by Nathan Geering (UK)
Best New Director: Ismael Vázquez for “Joni Pata de Conejo”
Best Action Actor: Mario Mayo, “Os Reviento”
Best Director: Kike Narcea for “Os Reviento”
Best Teaser/Trailer: “Os Reviento”
Best National Feature Film: “Os Reviento”
Best Cinematography: “Os Reviento”
(Narcea also received an RC SERVICE prize awarding €1500 in rental material for his next project.)
Best Action Actress: Marta Landesa in “Goldilocks”.
Best Action Coordinator: Jon Paul for “Dojo” by Armin Alic
Best Action Screenplay: “Las Nubes” by Eduardo Pinto
Best Teamwork: “Picnic Afternoon” by Elías Chica
*Honorable Mention: “Police Stories” by Chema García
Best Sound Effects: “El Cristo de la Calavera” by Chus Lara
Best Special Effects: “Night Shift” by Juanjo Avi
Best Female Action Specialist: Ayane for Reiki Tsuno’s “Dark Child.”
Best Action Specialist: Paul Hawk for Fran Berenguer’s “One Minute”
