GRIMMFEST Announces 2019 Award Winners Plus £100,000+ Worth of Prizes
This October, GRIMMFEST, Manchester’s International Festival of Fantastic Film, celebrated its eleventh anniversary with its biggest line-up of film premieres ever, along with audiences to match. Now the Festival Jury’s votes are all in, and the audience ballots all tallied up, Grimmfest is proud to reveal this year’s award-winners:
Horror Channel Achievement in Horror Award
JEN AND SYLVIA SOSKA (AMERICAN MARY, DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK, RABID)
Best Feature (Sponsored by M2 MediaPost)
WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE!
With Special Mention for EXTRA ORDINARY
Best Director (Sponsored by M2 MediaPost)
KIRILL SOKOLOV, WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE!
With Special Mention for ROB GRANT (HARPOON)
Best Screenplay (Sponsored by Final Draft and InkTip)
HARPOON
With Special Mention for A SERIAL KILLER’S GUIDE TO LIFE
Best Cinematography (Sponsored by One Bright Dot)
4×4
With Special Mention for WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE!
Best Score (Sponsored by Grimmfest Films)
ARTIK
With Special Mention for TONE-DEAF
Best Actor
PETER LANZANI, 4×4
With Special Mention for MUNRO CHAMBERS (HARPOON)
Best Actress
MAEVE HIGGINS, EXTRA ORDINARY
With Special Mention for POPPY ROE (A SERIAL KILLER’S GUIDE TO LIFE)
Best SFX (Sponsored by Fangoria Magazine)
WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE!
With Special Mentions for BLOOD VESSEL and THE WRETCHED
Best Kill (Sponsored by Dread Central)
SATANIC PANIC
With Special Mention for HARPOON
Best Scare (Sponsored by Rue Morgue magazine)
THE WRETCHED
With Special Mention for BLOOD VESSEL
Best Short (Sponsored by Shudder)
LIMBO
With Special Mention for HOW TO BE ALONE and LOOM
Finally, as voted for by Grimmfest 2019 attendees:
The Audience Award (Sponsored by Shudder)
EXTRA ORDINARY
With Special Mentions for LITTLE MONSTERS and WHY DON’T YOU JUST
DIE!
The Festival Jury Panel consisted of 6 carefully selected figures from the world of
genre cinema:
● Actress, producer and Grimmfest 2018 Lifetime Achievement award-winner Barbara Crampton
● UK film critic Anton Bitel
● UK producer Jennifer Handorf
● UK film critic Nikki Baughan
● US producer Amanda Presmyk at Fangoria Films
● Canadian sales agent James Fler at Raven Banner
Grimmfest is even more delighted to announce that the creators of WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE!, who won both the BEST FEATURE and BEST DIRECTOR awards, will be awarded £80,000 worth of post-production services courtesy of Festival Award Sponsor, M2 MediaPost, which can be used as finance against a future film production.
WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE! is a blackly comic and brutal Russian crime drama that was one of the big talking points at Grimmfest 2019. With favorable comparisons to Tarantino and the Coen Brothers at their most noirish, it marks a truly dazzling feature film debut for writer-director KIRILL SOKOLOV.
Kirill Sokolov said, “I’m absolutely happy! It is so important for a young filmmaker to get rewards for your work. The best inspiration for the next steps. Huge thanks to GRIMMFEST! I’ll do my best!”
This year, Grimmfest also launched their very first BEST WORK-IN-PROGRESS award, which was judged by the festival team. This year’s winner is KARLI by directors Paul Gerrard and Mike Clarke, who will receive £20,000 worth of post-production funding courtesy of M2 MediaPost, plus an offer of international sales representation from Film Seekers and a year’s subscription to Screen International magazine.
Michael Laundon of M2 MediaPost said, “M2 MediaPost is honored to sponsor both BEST FEATURE and BEST DIRECTOR for this year’s Grimmfest and it’s great to see KIRILL SOKOLOV’s amazing kinetic and stylish Russian thriller picking up both awards. We are looking forward to working with him on a future project and excited to also sponsor the new WORK IN PROGRESS award of which Paul and Mike’s new project, KARLI, is a worthy recipient.”
Grimmfest 2020 will take place in early October in Manchester UK. Film submissions will open December 2019 via FilmFreeway. More information about the festival can be found at www.grimmfest.com.
Congratulations to all of the Grimmfest 2019 winners!
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