Last night was the Fantastic Fest Awards Ceremony and as a member of the jury, I was on-hand to partake in the festivities. Heck, I even won an award! But more on that later…
I was on hand to present the Best Fantastic Short, which went to “Decapoda Shock” as well as the runner-up (“All Men Are Called Robert”) and a Special Jury Prize to Robert Picardo for his performance in “The Candidate.” Normally when someone wins an award at Fantastic Fest, they come up on stage and drink beer out of their trophy – a giant beer stein. The only problem was that none of the people who won the awards I was presenting were able to be in attendance, which meant only one thing: I had to chug their beers. All three of them. At once.
I somehow survived chugging 36 ounces of beer in about 30 seconds and was able to enjoy the rest of the proceedings which saw A BOY AND HIS SAMURAI, a delightful family film, win the coveted Audience Award. Wait, a family film won the Audience Award at a genre film festival? Surprising but it’s absolutely well-deserved (my review is forthcoming).
The other big winner of the night was YOU’RE NEXT, which made a clean sweep of the horror categories, taking home Best Picture, Best Director (Adam Wingard), Best Screenplay (Simon Barrett) and Best Actress (Sharni Vinson). Now Vinson is straight-edge and doesn’t drink and Wingard was off shooting his next movie, leaving Barrett the only one in attendance to drink for his movie. I’d almost feel bad for him that he had to chug four beers, but then I made a triumphant return to the stage…
Each year, Fantastic Fest requires attendees to shoot their official badge photo using the “Shakeyface” technique, wherein you whip your head back and forth and take a photo. And each year, they give a prize to the person who looks the most retarded in their photo. This year, that person was me. Here is the Shakeyface in question. Despite tough competition from fellow finalist, John Gholson, I chugged yet another beer (my fourth in about 15 minutes) and walked home with my own Fantastic Fest mug and a the promise that my Shakeyface will be immortalized on a blanket that will be mailed to me.
We’ll have much more from Fantastic Fest, including a ton more reviews, but for now check out the full list of winners from last night’s event.
AUDIENCE AWARD (Presented by Maxwell Locke & Ritter)
A Boy And His Samurai (Yoshihiro Nakamura)
Runners Up: You’re Next, Juan Of The Dead
AMD & DELL “NEXT WAVE” SPOTLIGHT COMPETITION
Best Picture – Bullhead
Best Director – Michael R. Roskam (Bullhead)
Best Screenplay – Josh MacDonald (The Corridor)
Best Actor – Matthias Schoenaerts (Bullhead)
Best Actress – Jessica Cole (Aardvark)
Special Jury Award for Boldness Of Vision: Beyond The Black Rainbow
HORROR FEATURES
Best Picture – You’re Next
Best Director – Adam Wingard (You’re Next)
Best Screenplay – Simon Barrett (You’re Next)
Best Actor – Sean Harris (A Lonely Place To Die)
Best Actress – Sharni Vinson (You’re Next)
FANTASTIC FEATURES
Best Picture – Milocrorze: A Love Story
Best Director – Noboru Iguchi (Karate Robo Zaborgar)
Best Screenplay – Olafur Egilsson, Grimur Haonarson (Summerland)
Best Actor – Julián Villagrán (Extraterrestrial)
Best Actress – Sawa Masaki (Underwater Love)
GUTBUSTER COMEDY FEATURES
Best Picture – Clown
Best Director – Steffen Haars, Flip Van Der Kuil (New Kids Turbo)
Best Screenplay – Casper Christensen, Frank Hvam (Clown)
SHORT FUSE: HORROR SHORTS
Winner: How To Rid Your Lover Of A Negative Emotion Caused By You (Nadia Litz)
Runner-up: The Unliving (Hugo Lilj)
Special Jury Award for Outstanding Achievement in Special Effects and General Badassery: Brutal Relax (David Muñoz, Rafa Dengrá, Adrián Cardona)
FANTASTIC SHORTS
Best Fantastic Short: Decapoda Shock (Javier Chillón)
Runner-up: All Men Are Called Robert (Marc-Henri Boulier)
Special Jury Mention for Acting: Robert Picardo (The Candidate)
DRAWN AND QUARTERED: ANIMATED SHORTS
Best Animated Short: Last Norwegian Troll (Pjotr Sapegin)
Runner-up: Lazarov (NIETOV)