We still have a week left and as it’s been a tradition I will announce my own winners at the very end. Fantasia has announced its winners by jury voting. Audience awards will follow. Here are the top wins. My commentary and disagreements are my own of course.
CHEVAL NOIR BEST FILM: DANS LA BRUME (director: Daniel Roby)
I might agree that this film was somewhat compelling. I don’t think it actually excels at pulling this off. It doesn’t really bring a lot of original things to the table nor was it better or stronger at pulling me in. As a matter of fact, the leading cast mostly lack emotion in their delivery. You can read my review here.
This would not be the best film in my opinion. It’s still a lightly recommended watch, but hardly the best in show. I was more transfixed by films like Luz, Cam, The Dark, Microhabitat, Room Laundering, Lifechanger, The Man Who Killed Hitler and then The Bigfoot… Holy crap I could go on and on. Even if I consider it a decent film to watch, it ranks in the bottom of the list of films watched this year. Above passable? Yes. Top of the list? Definitely no, where there are a ton of better films this year.
CHEVAL NOIR BEST DIRECTOR: Nosipho Dumisa (NUMBER 37)
I haven’t seen Number 37, so I’ll leave it unchallenged for now. My picks so far would be Dominique Rocher for La Nuit à dévoré le monde, Aaron Schimberg for Chained For Life or Justin P. Lang for The Dark.
CHEVAL NOIR BEST SCREENPLAY: Isa Mazzei (CAM)
NEW FLESH BEST FIRST FEATURE: CAM (director: Daniel Goldhaber)
This one I can completely side with. Director Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei’s script for Cam might have had the advantage of bringing a morally challenging subject like cam girls to already make the audience squirm, but it also succeeded in addressing subjects like online privacy, law enforcement in the online world, morality and hypocrisy in social networking and harassment in the digital age. You can read my review here.
As an screenplay alternative, so far I could go for Jeremie Guez, Guillaume Lemans and Dominique Rocher for La Nuit à dévoré le monde or Jeon Go-woon for Microhabitat but it’s hard to debate Isa Mazzei’s win. Best First Feature runner up for me would be Buffalo Boys.
CHEVAL NOIR BEST ACTOR: Joshua Burge (RELAXER)
Unfortunately, Relaxer wasn’t in my list so I can’t debate this one. My picks so far would be Anders Danielsen Lie for La Nuit à dévoré le monde or Sam Elliott for The Man Who Killed Hitler and then The Bigfoot. or even Aidan Turner for the same film.
CHEVAL NOIR BEST ACTRESS: Kim Da-mi (THE WITCH PART 1: THE SUBVERSION)
Yes, it’s definite Kim Da-mi for The Witch: Part 1 – The Subversion although I will have a bit of an issue describing why without spoiling the film. You’ll need to see it for yourself, albeit I will say this will be a very violent action film before you commit to it. The less that is said the better. Read my review here.
There’s a ton of great female performances in my opinion that can challenge the spot. Specifically I would name Luana Veliz for Luz, Lee Som for Microhabitat and Madeline Brewer for Cam. Honorable mentions would be Eula Valdes for Neomanila and Lora Burke for Lifechanger.
CAMERA LUCIDA WINNING FILM: MICROHABITAT (director: Jeon Go-Woon)
I could do the entire review for Microhabitat three times and find a completely different angle to love every time. The comedy in typical South Korean fashion is very subtle and based completely in modern life idiosyncrasies clashing with the free spirited soul of its lead character Miso as portrayed by Lee Som. Read my review here.
This one is so worth the watch that it could eclipse a lot of other films but I will mention Luz, Cam and The Dark as contenders if we include the entire roster. Honourable mentions would go to Room Laundering.
You can read the full list of jury award winners here.
Amazingly enough, we still have a week to go in Fantasia, so check out the schedule and bon cinema! You’ll get my own award winners next week.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 