FANTASPORTO 40 YEARS  THE AWARDS

ASIAN CINEMA DOMINATES

 FANTASPORTO OPENS TO THE BIG ISSUES OF TODAY 

PORTUGUESE FILM AWARDS GO TO BUNKER, ETIC FILM SCHOOL AND BEHIND THE COIN

“Ghostmaster” by Paul Young, a fantasy comedy with heavy touches of gore, won the Fantasy Section in the 40th Porto Film Festival- Fantasporto. A film crew in action. The assistant director, called Akira Kurosawa, is frequently humiliated by all. But what nobody knows is that in a script he wrote, called “Ghostmaster”, there are malefic forces that are going to kill them all one by one.  With constant film references, this feature is a “splatter film” in which the highquality special effects match the litres of fake blood used. Lots of humour, manga influences and a super crazy atmosphere reminds us of the early Peter Jackson movies.

Sabu, a past winner of Fantasporto, goes home to japan with another award, the Special Award of the Fantasy Jury for his “Dancing Mary”. When the City Hall wants to clear some land for new housing, an old theatre with a ghost dancer named Mary stands in the way. After many wounded, they need to find a medium to solve the problem. They ask a clumsy civil servant to find her. He discovers a girl who can see ghosts. Sabu, a Japanese diretor whose real name is Hiroyuki Tanaka, was several times selected for the Berlin Film Festival with films such as “Ryu San”, “Chasuke´s Journey” or “Monday”.  Better known for “Dangan Runner” which was screened in Fantasporto 1999.  He won the Fantasporto Best Film Award – Fantasy in 2014 with “Miss Zombie”. He was also awarded 15 international prizes.

Best Actor Award in the Fantasy section went to Leif Edlund in a Danish/ Swedish production, “Koko-Di, Koko-Da” and Phillipino actress Christine Reyes won with “ Untrue”. But that was not the only award for this emergent cinema. Well-known director Roderick Cabrido, won Best Director with his exorcism story “Clarita”

Chris Bavota and  Lee Paula Springer from Canada, won Best Screenplay with “Dead Dicks”  and the Best Visual Effects  Award went to Russian feature “The Soul Conductor”  by  Ilya Maximov. The Best Fantasy Short Award went the Spanish “ Breaking and Entering/ Moros en la Costa” by  Damiá Serra Cauchetiez.

Also in the Fantasy Jury’s list of awards,  a Korean film, “Fallen”, by Lee Jung Sub, with a Special Mention, with part of the crew coming to Porto to celebrate  the anniversary of the festival.

TAIWAN AND SOUTH KOREA WIN THE ORIENT EXPRESS AWARD

The first feature from Taiwan in competition, “Detention” by John Hsu, and “Bring me Home” by  Seung- Woo Kim, from South Korea, won this section dedicated to Asian Films.

“Bring Me Home”, a powerful drama about a mother looking for her missing son, got the Best Orient Express Film Award and “Detention”, about a monster in a school during the last days of China’s power over the island, won the Special Award of this jury.

PORTUGUESE CINEMA AWARDS WENT TO “BUNKER” AND ETIC FILM SCHOOL

 The Jury of this Portuguese Cinema section devoted its time to watching 38 features and shorts, granting its top prize to “Bunker” by João Estrada. ETIC Film School from Lisbon was chosen as the best school of the year. A Special Mention also went to the documentary “Behind The Coin” by Luís Moya, about  the street musicians of Porto, and the Creativity Mention  in a School Short went  to “Leo” by  Maria Eduarda Rodrigues.

DIRECTORS WEEK AWARD/ MANOEL DE OLIVEIRA AWARD

MANCHEVSKI  DOES IT AGAIN WITH WILLOW

Director Milcho Manchevski  and  his feature “Willow”  came to Porto and won the top award of this generalist section of Fantasporto. Three Macedonian women have to contend with control over their bodies, tradition, loyalty, pregnancy and adoption. They have not set out to change the world or society, but their struggle to become mothers makes them unlikely heroines. The three bittersweet stories, one medieval, two contemporary, mirror and contrast one another, exploring themes of love, trust and motherhood. Stories of the heart and sensitivity, an unexpected twist in Manchevski’s films, he who came to Fantasporto and was a Career Award in 2017.

The International Jury of the Directors Week, Anton BItel, Nigel Floyd, film critics (Rotten Tomatoes, Film Total, Sight And Sound )  from UK and Portuguese director Luís Diogo who directed the most internationally awarded feature, “A Sublime Life”, chose Hungarian Béla Bagota, who came to Porto, for two awards, Best Direction and Best Screenplay for his “Valan – Valley Of The Angels”, a story about one of the most heart-breaking dramas of today. Peti returns to his home village, Valan, to discover the fate of his little sister whose body seemed to be found in the forest. At the same time, he investigates a group of child sex traffickers in Brazov. Beyond facing his own devils, Peti is also going to fight the silence and secrets of the villagers. This is the first feature of the director.

The Best Actor award went to Turkish Cem Bender  in “Omar And Us” by Mehmet Bahadir Er, Maryna Gorbach,  and  the Best Actress of the Directors Week went to Korean Yeong- Ae Lee in “Bring Me Home”. The Special Award of the jury primed Argentinean Francisco Bendomir’s “Una Chica Invisibile”, about the use of technology.

Fantasporto celebrated its 40^th anniversary in 2020, still with its founding directors, having presented in this edition around 150 features and shorts from 37 countries (from the 68 which sent films for selection).

Among the discoveries of the festival, now famous people who presented their first films in Porto, mostly in competition, are such names as David Lynch, James Cameron, Luc Besson, Peter Greenaway, Joel Coen, Lars von Trier, Roland Emmerich,  Pedro Almodovar, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson, Kathryn Bigelow, John McNaughton, Barry Sonnenfeld, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Anthony Minghella, Todd Haines, Nick Park,  Quentin Tarantino, Baz Luhrman, Julia Reichert, Tim Robbins, Bryan Singer, Roberto Rodriguez, Guillermo del Toro, Danny Boyle, Lee Tamahori, David Fincher, os Wachowski  Brothers, Don McKellar, Darren Aronofsky, Vincenzo Natali, Alejandro Iñarritu, J.A. Bayona, Dennis Villeneuve, Kornel Mundruczó, Karen Shaknazarov, Park Chan-Wook, Andrea Arnold, Kim Jee-Woon, Steve McQueen, Kim Ki-Duk, Karoly Ujj Meszáros, Paul Greengrass.