Sitges Film Festival’s Best Movie Award goes to ‘Holy Motors’ by the French Director Leos Carax

Sitges (ACN).- The 45^th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia came to its end and recognised ‘Holy Motors’, by the French Director Leos Carax in its closing ceremony gala. Sitges Film Festival, which each year takes place in the Catalan coastal town of Sitges, is the world’s most important international film festival specialising in fantasy and horror films. ‘Holy Motors’ received the Best Movie Award and Carax the Best Director Prize. In addition, the film also won the Silver Meliès Award, for the best European movie. The French movie explains 24 chaotic hours in the life of a being with multiple faces, including a murderer, a family father, an executive manager and a homeless person. The Jury’s Special Prize was for ‘Chained’, directed by Jennifer Lynch, which also received the Best Actor Award, given to Vincent d’Onofrio. Alice Lowe received the Best Actress Award for her character in ‘Sightseers’, by the British director Ben Wheatley. This film was also awarded the Best Screenplay Prize. These awards were decided among the official in-competition motion pictures, included in the Fantàstic Selection, the festival’s main section. The section’s jury was formed of Judith Colell, Denise Crosby, Lamberto Bava, Nacho Cerdà and William Lustig. Sitges Film Festival’s 45^th event, which took place between the 4^th and 14^th October, has been a success in terms of audience figures, explained the event’s director Àngel Sala. This year, the festival received 3% more audience than in the last edition.

For 10 days, the Catalan coastal town of Sitges has been the world’s capital of fantasy and horror films, hosting the world’s most important film festival specialising in this genre. The 45^th edition of the Sitges Film Festival recognised many movies in a wide award list. Besides the three movies already mentioned, ‘The Viral Factor’, directed by Hong Kong’s Dante Lam (Lam Chiu-yin), received the Best Special Effects Award, given to Yee Kwok-leung, Garret Lam and Ho Kwan-yeung. ‘Headshot’, by the Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang was recognised with the Best Cinematography Prize, given to Chankit Chamnivikaipong. The El Periódico de Catalunya - Great Audience Appreciation Award, which was decided on by popular vote among the spectators, was for ‘Robot & Frank’, by the American director Jake Schreier.

The Festival’s Critics Jury, formed of Eulàlia Iglesias, Beatriz Martínez and Juan Manuel Freire, also decided to honour Brandon Cronenberg with the Citizen Kane Award to the best debut director for his film ‘Antiviral’. In addition, this jury also gave ‘Holy Motors’ the José Luis Guarner Award and ‘Berberian Sound Studio’, directed by Peter Strickland, the Critics’ Jury Special Mention.

The Noves Vision Section Jury, consisting of Jaume Ripoll, Carlos Vermut and Julian Richards, gave the Noves Visions Award to ‘Rebelle’, by Kim Nguyen. They also decided on honouring ‘Me @ the Zoo’, by Chris Moukarbel and Valerie Veatch, with the Non- Fiction Award and ‘Crazy & Thief’, by Cory McAbee, with the Small Format Award.

The Silver Méliès Jury, formed of Blai Morell, Shelagh Rowan-Legg and Garrick Dion, was to recognise the best European films participating at the festival. ‘Holy Motors’ received the Silver Méliès for the Best European Movie in-competition. ‘Eat’, by Moritz Krämer, got the Silver Méliès for the Best European Short Film in-competition. ‘Tower Black’, by James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson, received the Best Feature Film in the Official Fantàstic Panorama Selection Award. Finally, this jury also recognised ‘Elefante’, by Pablo Larcuen, as the Best Short Film in-competition in the Official Fantàstic Selection.

Finally, the Casa Àsia –Anima’t Section, which was formed of Eduard Terrades, Frédéric Ambroisine and Ricardo Reparaz, recognised ‘Wu Xia’ (Dragon), by Peter Ho-sun Chan, as the Best Feature Film in this section. It also gave a prize to ‘Okami kodomo no ame to yuki’ (Wolf Children), by Mamoru Hosoda, as the Best Animated Feature Film. Finally, this jury also honoured ‘Fuga’, by Juan Antonio Espigares, as the Best Animated Short Film.

The festival director, Àngel Sala, was satisfied with this year’s event. He emphasised that the audience figures had increased by 3% compared to a year ago. Furthermore, he criticised those who want to “attack” the cinema industry by drastically increasing taxes and reducing the public budget. It was an indirect criticism to the Spanish Government, which decided to increase the VAT for cinema tickets, a measure that has outraged both the industry and cinema fans.