Grimmfest, Manchester’s International Festival of Fantastic Film, celebrated its sixteenth anniversary this year with four high-octane, fear-filled days of the very best in genre cinema, screening at The Odeon Great Northern in Manchester, UK, on October 3rd – 6th. Twenty one feature films and two programmes of short films, all new to Manchester, and many of them World, International or UK premieres. And all of them eligible for the much-coveted Grimm Reaper Awards.
The daunting challenge of allocating the awards was confronted with an admirable lack of conflict or carnage by this year’s stoic jury: Screenwriter and Producer JONATHAN BUCHANAN and Director TRAVIS GREENE the creative team behind neo-noir, 8 FOUND DEAD, one of the big hits of Grimmfest 2023; CLELIA MCELROY, founder and director of Monstrous Flesh, a multi-disciplinary venture exploring the evolution and role of women and non-binary people in horror through a feminist lens, and her colleague, writer, researcher, and folklorist DR MEGAN KENNY; and Rebecca Sayce, freelance journalist for Metro UK, Digital Spy, Film Hounds Magazine, FANGORIA, Dread Central, Starburst, Moving Pictures Film Club and many others.
The festival team would like to thank them all for their dedication, discernment, and diplomacy. Their task has not been an easy one.
The Grimm Reaper winners for Grimmfest 2024 are:
BEST SCARE: Aaron Fradkin for BEEZEL (with special mentions for Nick Cheung for PEG O’MY HEART and Stuart Ortiz for STRANGE HARVEST).
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. BEEZEL was a rare example of a film that delivered on both counts, with its masterful use of space and shadow, and escalating oppressive mood.
BEST VFX / SFX: Carlo Diamantini (special make-up effects) and Giulio Cuomo & Team (VFX) for THE WELL (with special mentions for Dennis Yeung & the VFX Team for PEG O’MY HEART, Didier Konings, Rolf Te Booij and the SFX and VFX teams for HERESY, and Robyn August for KILLHER).
Among some striking and startling effects work this year, THE WELL stood out for its visceral mix of grisly practical make-up effects and subtle use of VFX.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Nils Eilif Bremdal-Vinell for FROM DARKNESS (with special mentions for Ari Virem for DELIVERY RUN and Pascal Walder for EARLY BIRDS).
In a year of beautifully shot films, FROM DARKNESS earned particular praise for its crisp, atmospheric visuals, making extraordinary use of the night time forest landscape.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Paula Loos for HERESY (with a special mention for Blazej Wasiak for THE WELL).
HERESY was hands-down winner here, for its astonishing period detail and perfectly realised sense of a particular culture and location.
BEST SCORE: Kyle McConaghy and Joe DeBoer (featuring original music by Janet Beat) for DEAD MAIL (with special mentions for Alex Symcox for BLEEDING and for Si Begg and Damon Baxter for TIM TRAVERS & THE TIME TRAVELER’S PARADOX).
A perfect example of a soundtrack that not only reflects but enhances the film’s sense of period and narrative detail.
BEST SCREENPLAY: Andrew Bell for BLEEDING (with special mentions for Darijan Pejovski and Vardan Tozija for M, and Stimson Snead for TIM TRAVERS & THE TIME TRAVELER’S PARADOX).
Kudos here for a unique reinvention of vampire tropes, and a subtle, moving, and, given the more fantastic elements, unexpectedly real and authentic depiction of addiction and dependency.
BEST SHORT: Sam Fox for BLUE DIAMOND and Loïs Dols de Jong for AMSTERDAM ALERT, joint winners. Special mention: Rebecca Thomson for A GREEN AFFAIR and Jano Santos Pita for APOTEMNOFILIA.
The Best Short category presented the Jury with a problem this year. While Sam Fox’s uproarious satire BLUE DIAMOND was a firm favourite, so, too, was Loïs Dols de Jong’s harrowing AMSTERDAM ALERT, which, at 37 minutes found itself a subject of some debate as to whether it should be considered a long short, or a short feature. In the end, the Jury decided on the former, but, unable to decide between the two films decided that this year’s best short award should go to both.
SILVER MELIES SHORT: Martin Gouzou for COLEOPTERE
A clear winner in the European shorts category, Martin Gouzou’s deft contemporary social realist reimagining of Kafka’s METAMORPHOSIS had our Jury calling for it to be expanded into a feature.
ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION AWARD went to Victoria Taylor and Lawrence Jacomelli for BLOOD STAR, shot, remarkably, in only 10 days, and a special mention to Pierre Tsigaridis and Maxime Rancon forTRAUMATIKA, a real labour of love, filmed over many months, depending on availability of cast and crew.
BEST ACTOR IN A FEMALE ROLE: Duygu Kocabiyik for SAYARA (with special mentions for Anneke Sluiters for HERESY, Silvana Synovia for EARLY BIRDS, and Rachel Cook for SUCCUBUS).
A hotly contested award, as might be seen from the number of Special Mentions, but ultimately, Duygu Kocabiyik swayed the Jury with her astonishingly physical, emotionally ferocious interpretation of the eponymous SAYARA.
BEST ACTOR IN A MALE ROLE: Nathanael Chadwick for SELF DRIVER (with special mentions for John Speredakos for CRUMB CATCHER, John Fleck for DEAD MAIL, Nick Frost for BLACK CAB).
Another award that led to much debate, but in the end, it was Nathanael Chadwick’s tour de force lead in SELF DRIVER, onscreen the entire time, and really driving that cab through the busy night-time streets of Toronto, while never slipping out of character, that won the day.
BEST DIRECTOR: NICK CHEUNG for PEG O’ MY HEART (with special mentions for Michael Pierro for SELF DRIVER and Stuart Ortiz for STRANGE HARVEST).
So many extraordinary films this year, so many extraordinarily imaginative and creative directors, but ultimately, the award had to go to Nick Cheung, not only writing and directing, but also taking the lead role in his hallucinogenic psychodrama PEG O’ MY HEART.
BEST FEATURE FILM: Vardan Tozija for M (with a special mention for Joe DeBoer, Kyle McConaghy for DEAD MAIL).
Very much a jury favourite, M was a film that was under serious consideration in almost every single feature category. So, it is only right that it should take the laurels for this year’s Best Feature.
The Jury also wished to add two SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT awards beyond the specific awards categories.
Chris Nunn, Justin Hardy and Dominic Hardy for CHILDREN OF THE WICKER MAN.
The only documentary in this year’s festival, it seemed unfair to pitch it against fiction features, but the Jury wished to commend the film for its extraordinary emotional honesty and nuanced exploration of the relationship between fathers and sons, creativity and recklessness. And John Kelley and Francesco Loschiavo, the showrunners and creative driving force behind the remarkable anthology TV show TALES FROM THE VOID, which opened the festival.
We would also like to congratulate Nick Frost on receiving our annual ACHIEVEMENT IN GENRE CINEMA award, for his hugely entertaining body of work and recent successes in independent genre cinema, including Shudder’s BLACK CAB.
Plus, the votes are all in, and after a close-run contest, this year’s AUDIENCE AWARD for BEST FILM goes to R.J. Daniel Hanna for SUCCUBUS, with Loïs Dols de Jong’s AMSTERDAM ALERT and Michael Piero’s SELF DRIVER close enough in votes to merit a Special Mention.
Simeon Halligan Festival director said, ‘What an incredible year for Grimmfest! So many truly original independently made movies hailing from all corners of the globe. We welcomed so many of the film makers and actors, who ventured to Manchester UK to present their films and enjoy the experience. We thank them one and all for their wonderful cinematic creations and for trusting us to give them the big screen exposure they deserve’.
AT A GLANCE:
- BEST SCARE: Aaron Fradkin for BEEZEL. Special mentions for Nick Cheung for PEG O’MY HEART and Stuart Ortiz for STRANGE HARVEST.
- BEST SFX / VFX: Carlo Diamantini (special make-up effects) and Giulio Cuomo & Team (VFX) for THE WELL. Special mentions for Dennis Yeung & the VFX Team for PEG O’MY HEART and Didier Konings, Rolf Te Booij and the SFX and VFX teams for HERESY
- BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Paula Loos for HERESY. Special mention for Blazej Wasiak for THE WELL.
- BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Nils Eilif Bremdal-Vinell for FROM DARKNESS. Special mentions for Ari Virem for DELIVERY RUN and Pascal Walder for EARLY BIRDS
- BEST SCORE: Kyle McConaghy and Joe DeBoer for DEAD MAIL. Special mentions for Alex Symcox for BLEEDING and for Si Begg and Damon Baxter for TIM TRAVERS & THE TIME TRAVELER’S PARADOX
- BEST SCREENPLAY: Andrew Bell for BLEEDING. Special mentions for Darijan Pejovski and Vardan Tozija for M, and Stimson Snead for TIM TRAVERS & THE TIME TRAVELER’S PARADOX
- BEST SHORT: Sam Fox for BLUE DIAMOND and Loïs Dols de Jong for AMSTERDAM ALERT, joint winners. Special mention: Rebecca Thomson for A GREEN AFFAIR and Jano Santos Pita for APOTEMNOFILIA.
- SILVER MELIES SHORT: Martin Gouzou for COLEOPTERE
- SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Chris Nunn, Justin Hardy and Dominic Hardy for CHILDREN OF THE WICKER MAN.
- SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: John Kelley and Francesco Loschiavo, for TALES FROM THE VOID.
- ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION AWARD: Victoria Taylor and Lawrence Jacomelli for BLOOD STAR. Special mention Pierre Tsigaridis and Maxime Rancon for TRAUMATIKA.
- BEST ACTOR IN A MALE ROLE: Nathanael Chadwick for SELF DRIVER. Special mentions for John Fleck for DEAD MAIL, John Speredakos for CRUMB CATCHER, Nick Frost for BLACK CAB.
- BEST ACTOR IN A FEMALE ROLE: Duygu Kocabiyik for SAYARA. Special Mentions for Anneke Sluiters for HERESY, Silvana Synovia for EARLY BIRDS, and Rachel Cook for SUCCUBUS
- BEST DIRECTOR: NICK CHEUNG for PEG O’ MY HEART. Special Mentions for Michael Pierro for SELF DRIVER and Stuart Ortiz for STRANGE HARVEST
- BEST FILM: Vardan Tozija for M. Special mention for Joe DeBoer, Kyle McConaghy for DEAD MAIL
- ACHIEVEMENT IN GENRE CINEMA: Nick Frost
- AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE: SUCCUBUS. Runners up: AMSTERDAM ALERT, SELF DRIVER