Fantastic Fest 2023
Images courtesy of Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is about to recede into the shadows as the film festival’s week of events in Austin, TX comes to a close. Specialising in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and action, the genre festival has been home to World and U.S. premieres of films such as the Best Picture Winner Parasite, Smile, and The Black Phone. Held each year at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas, it’s also a home for world, national, and regional premieres of up-and-coming genre films. Fantastic Fest recently joined the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations) in March 2023 as a Competitive Specialized Feature Film Festival alongside Cannes, Berlin and Venice.
This year’s slate included Eileen, director William Oldroyd’s first feature since 2016’s stellar Lady Macbeth. Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counsellor (Anne Hathaway) at the prison where she works. Not to be confused with Ava DuVernay’s upcoming film Origin, The Origin by first time feature director Andrew Cumming tells the story of six people who arrive on foreign shores starving, desperate—and living 45,000 years ago. Troma Entertainment rolled out the waste barrel for its new iteration of The Toxic Avenger starring Peter Dinklage as Winston Gooze alongside a cast that includes Elijah Wood, Jacob Tremblay, and Kevin Bacon. Streamers screened upcoming screamers such as Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (Paramount+), V/H/S 85 (Shudder), and Totally Killer (Amazon Prime). Showman David Bertolino unveiled the documentary Spooktacular!, which chronicles the rise and fall of America's first horror theme park. Best Picture went to the Portuguese language film Property from Brazil, Robert Morgan picked up Best Director for Stopmotion, while bare-knuckle brawler I’ll Crush Y’all walked away with the Audience Award. Live events throughout the week included Maltin On Movies, Horror Queers, The Kingcast, The Diesel System, a Ghoulish Book Fair and more.
“We were graced with wonderful films from around the world this year,” said Annick Mahnert, the director of programming for Fantastic Fest. “Curating this diverse showcase of cinema for our esteemed jurors was a real privilege. With so many incredible perspectives represented, their job reviewing these fantastic movies was undeniably challenging. Their thoughtful and professional critiques of each work embody the cinematic excellence we love to champion at Fantastic Fest.”
Fantastic Fest 2023 Award Winners
MAIN COMPETITION FEATURES
Best Picture: Property, directed by Daniel Bandeire
Best Director: Robert Morgan, Stopmotion
Honourable Mention: Animalia, directed by Sofia Alaoui
NEXT WAVE FEATURES
Best Picture: Sri Asih, directed by Upi Avianto
Best Director: David Kapac and Andrija Mardešić, The Uncle
HORROR FEATURES
Best Picture: Infested, directed by Sébastien Vaniček
Best Director: Sébastien Vaniček, Infested
SHORTS WITH LEGS
Best Picture: Mop, directed by Joon Goh
Honourable Mention: VHS Tape Replaced, directed by Maha Al-Saati
SHORT FUSE
Best Picture: Reds, directed by Tom Espinoza
Honourable Mention: The Third Ear, directed by Nathan Ginter
FANTASTIC SHORTS
Best Picture: Sweet Juices, directed by Will Suen & Sejon Im
Honourable Mention: Fostering, directed by Andrei Kashpersky
DRAWN AND QUARTERED
Best Picture: Shackle, directed by Ainslie Henderson
Honourable Mention: He Ran Alongside His Comrade, directed by Genís Rigol Alzola
AUDIENCE AWARD
Best Picture: I’ll Crush Y’all, directed by Kike Narcea
For more information, visit: https://fantasticfest.com/
