Sitges festival crowns new champion
The International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, known as Sitges, concluded its 59th edition with an awards ceremony that recognized a range of genre films from across Europe and beyond. Marion Le Coroller's Species won the top prize, the Award for Best Feature Film in the Official Fantastic Competition, often referred to as "The Kong" after the festival's emblem.Winning film's background
The film, which follows a young ER internist encountering patients with strange symptoms, premiered at the Midnight Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. This marks the third consecutive year that a woman has directed or co-directed the winning film.Jury composition and other winners
The fantastic jury included Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona Nazzaro, Spanish writer and filmmaker Valeria Vegas, British producer Andy Starke, Russian-born US screenwriter Alex Litvak, and Spanish producer Merry Colomer. Other notable winners included Jasmine Trinca for Best Actress in The Spiral by Paolo Strippoli, and Benoît Magimel for Best Actor in The Birthday Party by Léa Mysius.Cinematography and international recognition
Raphaël Vandenbussche won the Award for Best Cinematography for Titanic Ocean by Konstantina Kotzamani. Joko Anwar's Indonesian horror-comedy Ghost in the Cell, which premiered at the Berlinale, received the Award for Best Direction at Sitges. Kōhei Kadowaki's animated diptych We Are Aliens, a Cannes Directors' Fortnight premiere, won the top prize in the Anima't section.Section-specific awards
Javi Prada's Gummy, produced in Spain, won the top prize in the Òrbita section, which showcases films with styles bordering on the fantastical. The Méliès Awards, given to films screened at festivals within the Méliès International Festivals Federation, recognized Feels Like Home by Gábor Holtai with the Méliès d'Or after winning the Méliès d'Argent at last year's Sitges.Additional honors
This year, The Spiral won the Méliès d'Argent, qualifying it for the Méliès d'Or competition next year. Additional awards included the Citizen Kane Award for Best New Director, given to Adrian Chiarella for Leviticus, and the Noves Visions (New Visions) Best Feature Film award for Hen by Nico Scheepers. The Sitges Documenta Best Documentary Award went to Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern by Mike Mendez.
