Red Rooms, Stay Online among Fantasia Film Festival Awards winners

The Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal is more than halfway through its 27th edition, which is running from July 20th through August 9th – and over the weekend they unveiled their list of Fantasia Film Festival Awards winners, with major honors going to the likes of Red Rooms and Stay Online.

Our own reviewer Tyler Nichols gave Red Rooms a 9/10 “amazing” review (you can read it HERE), so it makes sense to hear that the film racked up multiple awards, including Best Feature, Best Screenplay for Pascal Plante, Best Score for Dominique Plante, and Outstanding Performance for Juliette Gariépy. We haven’t had the chance to see Stay Online yet, but that movie did earn the Best First Feature award for director Yeva Strelnikova.

Red Rooms is about what happens when the case of a serial killer who streamed his murders in the “red rooms” of the Dark Web goes to trial, and Kelly-Anne (Gariépy) becomes obsessed. She goes down a dark path to obtain the final piece of the case’s puzzle.

Stay Online is a Screenlife film that begins when a young woman volunteering in Kyiv is given one of the thousands of laptops donated by ordinary Ukrainians to support the war effort. She’s asked to install a sensitive military application and deliver the laptop to her brother serving on the frontline. But the woman receives a mysterious video call from a young boy searching for his father, the laptop’s previous owner, who went missing during the Russian army’s brutal massacre of innocent civilians in Bucha. Reluctantly, she agrees to help find his missing parents — a decision that will ultimately force her to risk the lives of her own loved ones.

The Best Director award went to Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, whose film Femme centers on drag artist Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), who sees his closeted assailant (George Mackay) at a gay sauna and begins dating him, hatching a plan for revenge. Stewart-Jarrett also won the Outstanding Performance award.

Here’s the full list of Fantasia Film Festival Awards winners, courtesy of Deadline:

Cheval Noir Competition – Feature Films
Best Feature
RED ROOMS (Québec, d. Pascal Plante)

Best Director
Sam H. Freeman & Ng Choon Ping (FEMME, United Kingdom)

Best Screenplay
Pascal Plante (RED ROOMS, Québec, d. Pascal Plante)

Best Score (The Sandro Forte Award)
Dominique Plante (RED ROOMS, Québec, d. Pascal Plante)

Best Cinematography
Zelda Adams & John Adams (WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS, United States, d. Zelda Adams, John Adams and Toby Poser)

Outstanding Performance Award
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (FEMME, United Kingdom, d. Sam H. Freeman & Ng Choon Ping)
Juliette Gariépy (RED ROOMS, Québec, d. Pascal Plante)

Special Mention
Vincent Doit Mourir (France, d. Stéphan Castang)

New Flesh Competition for Best First Feature – Debut Films
Best First Feature
STAY ONLINE (Ukraine, d. Yeva Strelnikova)

Special Jury Mention
TIGER STRIPES (Malaysia,Taiwan, France, Germany, d. Amanda Nell Eu)
THE ABANDONED (Taiwan, d. Tseng Ying-Ting)

International Short Film Competition
Best Short Film
BOLD EAGLE (Philippines, dir. Whammy Alcazaren)

Best Director
Jacob Chase (MR. BLUR, USA)

Best Screenplay
David Winstone (THE NOLBELTO METHOD, UK, dir. David Winstone)

Outstanding Performance
Silvana Mihai (THE TASTER, Germany, dir. Sophia Bierend)
Lim Hyojin (SHOULDER, South Korea, dir. Kim Jaehyung)

Special Mention
SWEET JUICES (Australia, dir. Im Sejon, Will Suen)

Best Score
Matthias Dewilde (POPPY’S SATURN, Belgium, dir. Nicole Tegelaar)

Best Cinematography
Julien Ramirez Hernan (TRANSLYVANIE, France, dir. Rodrigue Huart)

Axis: Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation
Best Feature Film
THE FIRST SLAM DUNK (Japan, d. Takehiko Inoue)

Special Jury Mention
SAND LAND (Japan, d. Toshihisa Yokoshima)

Best Short Film – Gold
A KIND OF TESTAMENT (France, d. Stephen Vuillemin)

Best Short Film – Silver
ARCHITECT A (South Korea, d. Lee Jonghoon)

Best Short Film – Bronze
RECORD. PLAY. STOP. (India, d. Neeraj Bhattacharjee)

AQCC-CAMERA LUCIDA
IRLANDE CAHIER BLEU (Québec, dir. Olivier Godin)

Special Jury Mention
HOME INVASION (United Kingdom, dir. Graeme Arnfield)

The Fantasia Film Festival Awards jury provided the following statement: “The ultimate effect a film can achieve is to implant a significant and lasting emotional memory. The jury was unanimously convinced that [Red Rooms] masterfully accomplished that goal.“

What do you think of the list of Fantasia Film Festival Awards winners? Are you interested in the films that won awards? Let us know by leaving a comment below.