“Clown” and “Bullhead” Top Award Winners at Montreal’s 2011 Fantasia Fest
At the end of its marathon three and a half week run, the Fantasia Film Festival announced its equally long list of juried and audience awards. The feature film jury awarded Mikkel Nørgaard’s divisive crude Danish comedy about two morally suspect men who take a young boy on a canoe trip to attract lady friends. Michaël R. Roskam’s won the fest’s best first feature award and the Japanese films “13 Assassins” (from Takashi Miike) and “Cold Fish” (from Shion Sono) tied for most popular with audiences.
Below is a complete list of winners:
Feature Film Jury
President: Alexandre Franchi, with Gilles Esposito, Lee Joon-ik, George Mihalka, Steven Schneider and Tom Vick
Cheval Noir Award for Best Film: “Clown” by Mikkel Nørgaard
“This charmingly subversive take on fatherhood features excellent ensemble acting with deft and seamless direction. So wrong and shameless in so many ways that it was a real blast to watch.”
Best Director: Yoshimasa Ishibashi, “Milocrorze: A Love Story”
Best Screenplay: Park Hoon-jung, “The Unjust”
Best Actors: Hwang Jeong-min and Ryoo Seung-beom, “The Unjust”
Best Actress: Norie Yasui, “Love & Loathing & Lulu & Ayano”
Special Mention to Shunji Iwai’s “Vampire,” “for its original and contemplative take on suicide and our society’s fascination with the vampire myth.”
Special Mention to the short film “I Love You” in “The Theatre Bizarre,” “for crafting a realistic yet macabre drama with the density of a feature film.”
First Feature Jury
President: Jason Eisener, with Jephté Bastien, Alexandre Fontaine-Rousseau and Greg Newman
New Flesh Award for Best First Feature: “Bullhead” by Michaël R. Roskam
“A compelling, dark story of personal tragedy with one of the best performances of the year by Matthias Schoenaerts. This is a film that has balls!”
Special Mention to “Love,” “for the resourcefulness and unwavering determination by a Director to realize his unique vision”.
Animation Jury
President: Marcel Jean, with Jean-François Lévesque and Heidi Taillefer
Best Animated Feature Film: “Surviving Life”
“A singular piece of work, both funny and profound, that shows a great spirit of invention for a filmmaker with a 40-years career.”
Best Animated Short Film: “Bobby Yeah”
“For its dense and coherent universe, full of surprises, that confronts our fears in a captivating way, and for its exceptional technical command.”
Special Mention to Éric Falardeau’s “Crepuscule,” “For its bold address of sexuality in animation.”
International Short Film Jury
President: Buddy Giovinazzo, with John Fallon, Sylvain Houde and Charlotte Selb
Best International Short: “The Suicide Tapes”
“A minimalistic, powerful, dread filled film with an unsettling performance by Jeremy Childs.”
Special Mention to “The Unliving,” “A visually stunning and visceral film that was so well rounded that it should be a feature.”
Quebecois Short Film Jury
Catherine Beauchamp, Dino Tavarone, Caroline Morin
Best Director: Alexandre Richard, “Bonne Journee”
Best Film: Carolyne Rhéaume, “La Barricade”
Best Actress: Charlotte Laurier, “Coup Sauvage”
Best Actor: Mathieu Dufresne, “Bonne Journee”
Best Screenplay: Caroline Renaud, “Maternel”
Jury’s Choice: Kim St-Pierre, “Vodka Canneberge”
Best Photo: Eric Morin, “Opasatika”
Quebecois DIY Short Film Jury
Julie Brisson, Karl Filion, Géraldine Charbonneau
Best Film: “Fuck That,” Lawrence Côté-Collins
Best Screenplay: “Corte,” Radnath Gagnon
Best Director: Emanuel St-Pierre Beaulieu, “Un Film avec Brigitte Bardot”
Best Actor (Male & Female): Maxime Desjardins, “Gueule de Bois”
Jury’s Choice: “Vivre a 35 Milles a L’heure,” Jean Marc E. Roy, Philippe David Gagné, Dominic Leclerc
AQCC Prize – International Section
Martin Gignac, Claudia Hébert, Nicolas Krief
AQCC Prize: (TIE) “Super” and “Superheroes”
“For two films that perfectly capture the Zeitgeist of our age and that present elaborate reflections on one of the biggest Americans trends, the AQCC Jury has awarded its best international film prize, in a tie, to the fiction film ‘Super’ by James Gunn and to the documentary ‘Superheroes’ by Michael Burnett, two strong and complementary works.”
Séquences Prize – Asian Section
President: Pascal Grenier, with Pierre-Alexandre Fradet and Christina Stojanova
Séquences Prize: “Heaven’s Story”
“For the density of the universal themes it explores, for its singular approach to the motif of vengeance and for its structured mise-en-scène and its carefully captured images, the Séquence Prize for Best Asian Film goes to Takahisa Zeze’s flowing film, ‘Heaven’s Story’.”
L’Écran Fantastique Prize
Yves Rivard
L’Écran Fantastique Prize: “Detention”
“For its contagious energy, its capacity to generate gags and comic situations based on concepts stemming from horror movies (slasher films) and science fiction.”
Audience Awards
Best Asian Feature: (GOLD, TIE) “13 Assassins” and “Cold Fish” – (SILVER) “Milocrorze: A Love Story” – (BRONZE) “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
Best European or American Feature: (GOLD) “Attack the Block” – (SILVER, TIE) “Burke and Hare” and “Bellflower” – (BRONZE) “Innkeepers”
Best Canadian or Quebecois Feature: (GOLD) “The Corridor” – (SILVER) “Vampire” – (BRONZE, TIE) “Monster Brawl” and “The Divide”
Best Animation Feature: (GOLD) “Redline” – (SILVER) “Legend of the Millennium Dragon” – (BRONZE) “El Sol”
Best Documentary: (GOLD) “Art/Crime” – (SILVER) “Superheroes” – (BRONZE) “Last Days Here”
Most Innovative Feature: (GOLD) “Milocrorze: A Love Story” – (SILVER) “The Woman” – (BRONZE) “Love”
Guru Prize for the Most Energetic Feature: (GOLD) “Bangkok Knockout” – (SILVER, TIE) “Milocrorze: A Love Story” and “Detention” – (BRONZE) “The FP”
Best Short Film: (GOLD) “Legend of the Beaver Dam” – (SILVER) “Night Fishing” – (BRONZE) “Bobby Yeah”
