It’s awards time, Grimmlins!
The daunting challenge of allocating the 2023 Awards was confronted with an admirable lack of carnage by this year’s stoic jury: Caroline Couret-Delegue, Executive Producer and Managing Director of Film Seekers International Sales Agency; Mary Beth McAndrews, film producer and Editor-in-Chief at Dread Central; UK writer-director Ben Parker (THE CHAMBER, BURIAL); Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes, Reader in English Literature and Film, and Co-Director of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University; Amber T, UK Correspondent at Fangoria; and Sean Wheelan, Producer at Filmgate Films and Filmgate VFX in Gothenburg.
The festival team would like to thank them all for their dedication, discernment and diplomacy. Their task has not been an easy one, and no doubt many favoured films fell by the wayside as the passionate arguments flew back and forth, but in the end a final consensus and agreement were reached.
The award winners for Grimmfest 2023 are:
BEST SCARE: DELETER
Always a hotly contested category as jurors debate what precisely constitutes a “scare” and whether to select a traditional “jump scare” or something more… intangible. In the case of DELETER, what impressed and stayed with the jury, rather than any one moment, was the eerie, unsettling mood and atmosphere of the film as a whole.
BEST VFX / SFX, and BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: PANDEMONIUM
Quarxx’s visually astonishing tour of existential hell was a real favourite with the jury, who were particularly impressed by the film’s rich visuals and consistently imaginative and seamless mix of practical and digital effects work.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: MOTHER SUPERIOR
Another richly visual film, the jury particularly praised Marie Alice Wolfszahn’s heady mix of Nazi eugenics, folklore and witchcraft for its elegant and evocative production design and truly immersive sense of time and place.
BEST SCORE: DOOR
DOOR presented the jury with something of a conundrum, insofar as, while it is 35 years old, it had never previously been screened in the UK, on which basis they elected to make it eligible for awards at this year’s festival. It was highly commended in pretty much every category, but our jurors were particularly taken with Gôji Tsuno’s offbeat soundtrack and determined to award it BEST SCORE.
BEST SHORT: MANTRA
MANTRA was a favourite with everyone in the jury, singled out for its strong use of location, powerful performances, elegantly jittery camerawork, and suffocating atmosphere – and for its unsettling view of contemporary sexual mores.
SILVER MELIES SHORT: THERE ARE NO GHOSTS
A clear favourite, jurors praised THERE ARE NO GHOSTS for its subtle performances, elegant staging, and beautifully written script, which moves from wry humour and gentle humanism to an emotionally devastating final payoff.
BEST ACTOR IN A FEMALE ROLE: TAMSIN TOPOLSKI for WHAT YOU WISH FOR
In keeping with this year’s female focus, this was a standout year for female roles, but in the end the jury was unanimous in singling out Tamsin Topolski’s chilling study in polite, privileged psychopathology, all the more terrifying because the polished veneer never slips, no matter how monstrous her character is revealed to be.
BEST DIRECTOR, BEST SCREENPLAY: NICHOLAS TOMNAY for WHAT YOU WISH FOR
WHAT YOU WISH FOR was a real favourite with the jury for its deft, witty, Highsmithian screenplay; its carefully controlled, pitch-perfect direction; and the skill and subtlety with which the various twists and tonal shifts are orchestrated.
BEST ACTOR IN A MALE ROLE: DAVID PAREJA for THE COFFEE TABLE
THE COFFEE TABLE was another clear winner with the jury, who felt that a major part of its success was down to the extraordinary performance of David Pareja, who manages to retain audience sympathy and empathy no matter how appalling his actions become.
BEST FEATURE FILM: THE COFFEE TABLE
Of all the films in the festival, THE COFFEE TABLE made the most visceral impact on our jury, with its beautifully balanced mix of sociopathic social comedy, black farce, and escalating nightmare; simultaneously hilarious and horrifying, it was an undisputed choice for BEST FEATURE.
Plus, the votes are all in, and after a close-run contest, this year’s Audience Awards go to Andrew Rutter’s THE HERITAGE for BEST SHORT and Nicholas Tomnay’s WHAT YOU WISH FOR for BEST FEATURE.
Huge congratulations to all of our winners!