The wildest fantasy cinema triumphs in a new edition of Fantastic Film Festival of the Canary Islands City of La Laguna Island of Calaverawhose Jury of the Official Feature Films Section in Competition in which 13 films participated awarded the majority of the prizes to French productions MadSby French director and screenwriter David Moreau. The award for best short film instead went to La valla, written and directed by the Valencian filmmaker Sam Orti.
MadS won the awards for best film, best director, best screenplay and best actress, “for the ability to alternate a wide spectrum of registers, avoiding falling into ridicule despite the limitation of a character who experiences a hallucinating journey and hallucinogenic in which he loses control of his emotions.
Vanesa Bocanegra (deputy director of the Isla Calavera Festival), Manuel Díaz Noda (head of programming) and Andrés Koppel (president of the Feature Film Jury), at the presentation of the Isla Calavera Festival awards.
The Jury of the Official Feature Film Section, made up of the screenwriter and director Andrés Koppel (president), the researcher and professor of the University of La Laguna Váleri Codesido; the director of the Week of Fantastic and Horror Cinema Josemi Beltrán, and David Pérez, director of the Valladolid International Festival of Fantastic and Horror Film (PUFA – Pucela Fantástica), considered this proposal “an engaging and nightmarish journey, where all the elements of the cinematographic scene, the narrative blends masterfully with an absolutely engaging style where there is no shortage of bloody scenes, black humor and a lot of adrenaline that leads to a dramatic “increasing” of madness”.
Skull Island “Jack Taylor” Award for Best Actor
On the other hand, Ramón BareaHe was awarded the “Jack Taylor” Skull Island Award for Best Actor for A whale“for creating a character that anchors a very ethereal story, connecting an atmospheric and risky film with the earth, putting the heart into a man who in these stories is usually dehumanized.”
“Colin Arthur” Skull Island Award for Best Special Effects
The “Colin Arthur” Skull Island Award for Best Special Effects goes to AzraelFrom EL Katzfor “captivating special effects and make-up, well crafted and suited to the narrative, which give credibility to the violence and integrate perfectly into a Folk Horror story that combines with survival elements to finally offer us a horror experience” from a suffocating film set in lands wild and post-apocalyptic.
Skull Island “Deborah Nadoolman” Award for Best Costume Design
As for the Skull Island “Deborah Nadoolman” award for best costume design, it went to Charlotte Willems Of Mr K.From Tallulah H. Schwab“through the use of a large and varied costume design that creates a well-integrated historical setting within the sumptuous artistic direction worthy of this Kafkaesque delirium.”
Official short films section
Within the Official Short Films Section, in which 16 titles competed, Sam Orti won the Best Short Film Award with the animation production La valla, which also won the Audience Award for Best Short Film. Furthermore, a special mention was awarded to the German short film Momdirected by Julia Patey“for having shown the invasion of thunderous masculinity in front of women, with a solvent technical workmanship and artistic quality”. The jury of this edition’s short films was made up of Goya-winning actress Laura Galán (president), director Manuel Velasco, Canarian director Patrick Bencomo and Canarian actress and producer Iris Díaz.