Buried wins the Méliès d’Or or “best film” award at Sitges!

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Rodrigo Cortes’ BURIED seems to have made a nice splash at Sitges. Apparently the flick won a juicy award that has some sort of significance among movie lovers over there. What’s the award? Why, it’s only the Méliès d’Or for best film! What an achievement eh?

Buried, the new film from Spanish director Rodrigo Cortés, picked up the Méliès d’Or for best film. Cortés will be coming to Sitges in person tonight to accept the award presented by the European Fantastic Film Festival Federation (EFFFF). Nine Fantastic Film festivals from around all of Europe award the Méliès d’Argent to the best film screened at each competition (Buried won it at the Strasbourg Festival) and only one of them wins the Méliès d’Or for best motion picture of the year.

There were other nominees of course that just didn’t make it. These included THE DOOR by Anno Saul, HEARTLESS by Philip Ridley, TRANSMISSION by Roland Vranik, STRIGOI by Faye Jackson, THE ECLIPSE by Conor McPherson, AMER by Héléne Cattet & Bruno Forzani, THE CHILDREN by Tom Shankland, and RED, WHITE & BLUE by Simon Rumley. While these films didn’t quite make it, I’m sure they got something anyway. Free beer? A cool button?

The Méliès d’Or for best short film went to EL ATAQUE DE LOS ROBOTS DE NEBULOSA -5, directed by Chema García Ibarra. This short had won the Méliès d’Argent in Espoo. So who makes the calls at the jury? Philipp Engel, Annick Mahnert and Carlos Pumares. Neat award for a neat flick. This is definitely going to give the film a shoulder to learn on if it ever needed one. What did you think of BURIED? Do you think the film needed another trophy to add to its shelf?

Reynold’s squeeze.