Fantasia 2013 Award Winners Include Big Bad Wolves, Curse of Chucky

This year's Fantasia International Film Festival has come to a close and we have a list of award winners, including Big Bad Wolves and Curse of Chucky:

Montreal – Thursday August 8^th, 2013 - After Tuesday night's sold-out screening of the Canadian premiere of THE WORLD'S END, presented by director Edgar Wright and actor Nick Frost, the Fantasia International Film Festival can confirm record attendance numbers this year, boasting more than 125,000 festival-goers for its 17th edition, surpassing last year's record of 109,000 (a 15% increase). Over the course of its three-week film marathon, it presented over 131 features from 31 countries and more than 220 shorts from across the globe.

Fantasia’s 2013 edition opened with the North American Premiere of Takashi Miike’s SHIELD OF STRAW and closed with the Canadian Premiere of Edgar Wright’s THE WORLD’S END. A lifetime achievement award was given to Polish filmmaker Andrzej Zulawski. World Premieres included Joe Swanberg’s 24 EXPOSURES, Nobuo Mizuta’s THE APOLOGY KING, Don Mancini’s CURSE OF CHUCKY, Richard Stanley’s L’AUTRE MONDE (The Otherworld), Richie Mehta’s I’LL FOLLOW YOU DOWN, Robert Morin’s LES 4 SOLDATS, Lloyd Kaufman’s RETURN TO NUKE ‘EM HIGH VOL. 1, K. King’s ZOMBIE HUNTER, Eddie Mulins’ DOOMSDAYS, Anthony DiBlassi’s MISSIONARY, Renaud Gauthier’s DISCOPATH, Cody Calahan’s ANTISOCIAL, Darren Paul Fisher’s OXV: THE MANUAL, and James Sizemore’s THE DEMON’S ROOK.

The 2^nd edition of the Fantasia Industry Rendez-Vous was a resounding success, with four jam-packed days of meetings, pitch sessions, conferences and networking cocktails that were all at full capacity. The Frontières International Co-Production Market presented 24 film projects from Canada, the United States, many European Countries, Mexico and New Zealand. Attendance at the Rendez-Vous was up significantly from last year, with 280 participants in 2013: 90 from the United States, 40 from Europe, 75 from Quebec, and 60 from the rest of Canada. The great variety of participants allowed for more than 600 hundred meetings to take place around the Frontières projects and other business interests. We have it on good authority that many new production partnerships, directly resulting from encounters at Frontières, will be announced in the near future.

Fantasia is also proud to announce this year’s prize-winners:

New Flesh Award for Best First Feature: CHEAP THRILLS  by E.L. Katz

Winner of this year’s SXSW’s Audience Award, the Fantasia jury calls CHEAP THRILLS, "Darkly humorous, smart and bloody in ways that will make many viewers squirm with glee. This abundantly confident first feature provides a thoroughly entertaining snapshot of modern blue collar desperation in a world addicted to easy money and childish amusement."

Special Mention: HALLEY by Sebastian Hofmann

The jury for the First Feature Competition consisted of Jury President Charles de Lauzirika (Filmmaker), Ramachandra Borcar (Musician), Manon Dumais (Film Critic, Voir), Jason Lapeyre (Filmmaker), and Stéphane du Mesnildot (Film Critic, Les cahiers du cinema).

Cheval Noir Award for Best Film: BIG BAD WOLVES by Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado

Statement: With elements of horror, crime thriller, revenge drama, and wicked black comedy, BIG BAD WOLVES takes genre-bending to bold new levels. This sense of originality, along with its subversive political subtext, assured visual style, and impeccable ensemble cast, is what separates the film from the rest of the pack.

Best Director: Hou Chi-Jan for WHEN A WOLF FALLS IN LOVE WITH A SHEEP

Best Screenplay: Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado for BIG BAD WOLVES

Best Actor: Cho Jae-hyun for THE WEIGHT by Jeon Kyu-hwan

Best Actress: Nathalie Boutefeu for LES GOUFFRES by Antoine Barraud

Special Mention: ACROSS THE RIVER by Lorenzo Bianchini and LES GOUFFRES by Antoine Barraud

The grand jury for the Cheval Noir Competition was comprised of Jury President Laura Kern (Managing Editor of Film Comment), Jean-Pierre Bergeron (Actor, Filmmaker), Samuel Jamier (Co-Director of the New York Asian Film Festival), Jarod Neece (Senior Programmer, South by Southwest Film Festival), and Travis Stevens (Producer, CEO of Snowfort Pictures).

Audience Awards:

Best Asian Feature:
Gold HK/FORBIDDEN SUPER HERO by Yuichi Fukuda
Silver LESSON OF THE EVIL by Takashi Miike
Bronze HOW TO USE GUYS WITH SECRET TIPS by Lee Wonsuk

Best International Feature:
Gold CURSE OF CHUCKY by Don Mancini
Silver OXV: THE MANUAL by Darren Paul Fisher
Bronze BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN by Felix Van Groeningen

Best Canadian or Quebec Feature:
LES 4 SOLDATS by Robert Morin

Best Animation Feature:
THE GARDEN OF WORDS by Makoto Shinkai

Guru Prize For Most Energetic Film:
Gold HK/FORBIDDEN SUPER HERO by Yuishi Fukuda

Most Innovative Film:
OXV: THE MANUAL by Darren Paul Fisher

Best Short Film:
Gold LE CHEVREUIL by Rémi St-Michel
Silver L'ÉTRANGER by Olaf Svenson
Bronze JACK ATTACK by Antonio Padovan and Bryan Norton

Best Documentary:
REWIND THIS! by Josh Johnson

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Update: We've been provided with images from the Curse of Chucky screening and Q&A: "CURSE OF CHUCKY made its North American debut at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, Quebec, at a sold out screening for over 800 fans on Friday, July 31, 2013, and just won the festival’s Audience Award for Best International Feature today.

The screening was followed by a Q&A with Chucky creator/director Don Mancini, along with the film’s stars Fiona Dourif, Danielle Bisutti andChantal Quesnelle. The panel was moderated by Fangoria’s Tony Timpone. The evening also included an autograph signing where dozens of fans brought their Chucky dolls, posters and even a Chucky jacket to be signed."