BLOOD AND MEMORIES: 2013 A NIGHT OF HORROR / FANTASTIC PLANET FILM FESTIVAL WRAP-UP.

The unique two-tiered structure that is the A Night of Horror/Fantastic Planet Film Festival allowed for many of the programmed works to feel the joy of victory at the event’s Closing Night awards ceremony. Two separate juries worked on arguing through the feature choices (a third selected the best of the shorts programming) in what many patrons considered to be the best year ever for Festival Director and Programmer, Dr Dean Bertram, and his short film offsiders, brother Grant Bertram and Shane Kavanagh.

A NIGHT OF HORROR:

Scott Schirmer’s grotesquely compelling coming-of-age film, Found (pictured, above), divided audiences and judges alike yet emerged as the agreed-upon best of the A Night of Horror programming strand; the film’s young teen lead actor, Gavin Brown, was honoured with the Best Actor nod for his fearless portrayal of a good kid caught in a horrifying suburban predicament. Trista Robinson deaf good-girl-gone-bad from Paul Hough’s The Human Race took out Best Actress honours, while the Director award was split between the team of Justin Benson and Alan Moorehead, whose taut and terrifying buddy-monster movie Resolution played to a very enthusiastic audience on the festival’s final day.

Best Film: FOUND
Best Director: Justin Benson, Alan Moorehead (RESOLUTION)
Best Male Performance: Gavin Brown (FOUND)
Best Female Performance: Trista Robinson (THE HUMAN RACE)
Best Special Effects: THANATAMORPHOSE
Audience Choice Award: Best Australian short: P.O.V: POINT OF VIEW
Best Lovecraft: REFUGIO 115
Best Short Film: THE CAPTURED BIRD
Best Online Film: 2 HOURS
Independent Spirit Award: THE LONE WOLF
Music Video: TARNISHED GLUTTONY (Band: Job for a Cowboy)
Best Animation: BUTTERFLIES
A Night of Horror
Independent Spirit Award: THE TAKING
A Night of Horror Director's Choice: BUCK WILD

FANTASTIC PLANET:

The bloody, brilliant crowd-pleaser Mon Ami just pipped The Mansion and The History of Future Folk for Best Film honours in the Fantastic Planet field. The pros and cons of the front-runners were hotly debated (full disclosure – SCREEN-SPACE was one of the panel of three), with all titles in the schedule given due and detailed consideration. Andrew Robertson scored Best Director honours for his slow-burn apocalyptic thriller, The Mansion; the film’s lead actress, Amy Rutberg, came a close second to Australian actress Emma Lung, who took the Best Actress award for Crave. Mon Ami’s Mike Kovac (pictured, above) edged out Josh Lawson (Crave) and Jay Klaitz (The History of Future Folk) in the Best Actor category. So close was the judging in several categories that is was deemed only fair that John Mitchell and Jeremy Kipp Walker’s The History of Future Folk be given a Special Mention nod.

Best Film: MON AMI
Best Director: Andrew Robertson - THE MANSION
Best Male Performance: Mike Kovac (MON AMI)
Best Female Performance: Emma Lung (CRAVE)
Best Special Effects: MOTIVATIONAL GROWTH
Audience Choice Award: Best Australian short (Fantastic Planet): WOLF AT THE DOOR
Best Short Film: LICHTJAHRE
Independent Spirit Award (Fantastic Planet): VENGEANCE DE LOS MUERTOS
Best Music Video: ELECTRIC LIGHT (Band: Muscle Hawk)
Best Animation: NIGHT ISLAND
Judges Special Mention:
THE HISTORY OF FUTURE FOLK
Fantastic Planet 
Independent Spirit Award: #WETANDRECKLESS
Fantastic Planet 
Director's Choice: A DARK MATTER

Australian director Danny McShane’s short FRIEND REQUEST was awarded the Short Judges Special Mention Award (watch a Making Of... featurette on the young director's slasher film homage here).

Visit here for all of SCREEN-SPACE's coverage of the 2013 event.

Comments

[Steve Goodwinn]

Awesome films all-around! I noticed that one of the actor's name is misspelled. Mike "Novacs" should be MIke Kovac. See below. I'll be at next year's for sure!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3165300/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

[Simon Foster]

Adjusted; thanks for the heads-up, Steve.