Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival is known for presenting some of the wildest, most boundary-breaking films in the world, but this year’s biggest winner was The Count of Monte Cristo, an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ 180-year-old novel. Fantasia being Fantasia, however, this adaptation is marked by a boldly ambitious sweep and genre-defying nods to modern superhero films.

The French film by Mathieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelière, won the festival’s Cheval Noir Award for best feature film, while the Argentinian Electrophilia, by Lucía Puenzo, won the jury’s special mention as well as prizes for best screenplay and outstanding performance for Mariana Di Girolamo. It is the story of a woman who awakens from a coma after being struck by lightning, and also subverts expectations — as all Fantasia films do.

The awards were handed out at the 28th edition of the Montreal festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. The festival runs through August 4.

Additionally, the winner of the New Flesh Competiton for Best First Feature went to director Michael Pierro Canadian film Self Driver. The Chilean film “Empty Jars” won the International Short Film Competition, and the Satoshi Kon Award for Achievement in Animation went to Japan’s Mononoke The Movie: The Phantom in the Rain.

Naomi Jaye won the DGC Competition for Best Feature Film Director for Darkest Miriam, and Me and My Victim won the AQCC Competition for Best Film.

The Cheval Noir for Best Directing was awarded to Hwang Wook for Mash Ville, and Penalty Loop won prizes for Best Editing and Best Original Music.

Cheval Noir Competition at Fantasia

“There is a saying in film, that Less is More. That maxim could not have been better represented than in the films in this year’s competition. What these films were able to do with bare-bones budgets is a remarkable statement on the ingenuity of film makers worldwide and should provide encouragement for all young directors as to what is possible with a good idea and a camera pointed in the right direction. But there was one film that challenged this idea, asking audiences ‘If Less is More, just imagine how much more More could be?’ The winner, of this year’s Cheval Noir, is The Count of Monte Cristo,” the Cheval Noir jurors said in a statement.

The jurors include chair Matt Johnson (actor, director, screenwriter), as well as Steve Dollar (critic, journalist, and artistic director of the Tallahassee Film Festival), Rob Jabbaz (director, screenwriter), Ariane Louis-Seize (director, screenwriter) and Kristina Klebe (director, actress, voice performer).

Of Electrophilia, the jurors said, ” For its daring psycho-sexual exploration of the archetypal bond between women and 10-gigawatt lightning bolts, and its pump-fake superhero origin story of a veterinarian who gains the powers of a cow, we the jury grant a special mention to Lucia Pueno’s Electrophilia.“

The jurors said of Hwang Wook, winner of best directing, for the South Korean film Mash Ville: “This director has crafted a quirky surrealistic ensemble western with increasingly insane characters and a non-stop flow of violent and odd events that is both disturbing and captivating.” They also cited its “creative and precise staging” and a “unique mix of tones that cohesively works from beginning to end.”

The jurors also praised Lucía Puenzo and Lorena Ventimiglia’s screenplay for Electrophilia, citing its “bold originality of vision and evocation of desire compelled by the extremes of human experience” and saying the script is “alive to mystery and textured with a literary sensibility.”

In praising Mariana Di Girolamo’s performance in Electrophilia, the jurors said she was “magnetic, fierce, and touching in her electrifying portrayal of an adrift character.”

They also gave the Outstanding Performance Award to Kazakhstan’s Steppenwolf, directed by Adilkhan Yerzhanov, to Berik Aitzhanov and Anna Starchenko.

The New Flesh Competition at Fantasia

The jury was chaired by Rain Rannu (director, screenwriter, producer, founder of Tallifornia) alongside Sapta Mohni Bhavnani (director, producer, actress, founder of the Wench Film Festival (Mumbai), Eric S. Boisvert (director, screenwriter, director of photography, editor) and Amelia Moses (director, screenwriter, producer).

They said Best First Feature winner Self Driver “captivates with its inventive storytelling and a poignant exploration of the human mettle within a technological landscape,” and said the film’s “compelling narrative, exceptional score, and minimalist filmmaking” made it a standout.

They also awarded Special Jury Mention to Estonia’s Chainsaws Were Singing, by Sander Maran.

“While filmmaking is typically a collaborative effort, there are times when a filmmaker does not have that luxury and must take matters into their own hands, overcoming all odds and breaking norms to bring their vision to life,” the jurors said, adding that Chainsaws Were Singing “exemplifies such determination, presenting an innovative blend of musical, horror, and comedy that illustrates the director’s bold and creative vision. “Making musicals gory good!”

Jurors have another Special Jury Mention to the Canadian-Haitian-French film Kidnapping Inc., by Bruno Mourral, saying it “featured hilarious and engaging performances by its two leads with an emotional pull that will catch the audience off guard.”

Jurors added that they “appreciated how the strong and important message was packaged in an entertaining and funny film.”

International Short Film Competition at Fantasia

The International Short Film Competition jury was chaired by Heidi Honeycutt (journalist, critic, film historian, and co-founder of the Etheria Film Festival), and composed of Jean Anne Lauer (professor, festival programmer – Fantastic Fest), Emily Lerer (director, screenwriter), Gary Pullin (illustrator, graphic designer) and Alex Williams (senior acquisitions and development manager, XYZ Films).

They praised Best Film winner “Empty Jars,” who said that they unanimously chose it because it “has all of the attributes that a competition winner requires: a compelling story, superb acting, depth of meaning, technical magic, and that indescribable quality the French call ‘I don’t know what.’

“Empty Jars” star Ana Burgos won the Outstanding Performance Award for acting the jurors described as “nuanced, haunting and hilarious, ” and the film won Best Screenplay for writing that goes “through a myriad of experiences and emotions, nuances in empathy and points of view, ultimately leaving the viewer with a sense of wonder and curiosity about what will happen next, while also completing a satisfying story arc.”

The category’s Best Director award went to Björn Schagerström for the Swedish film “Headache,” which jurors called “completely original in its character study of a man beset by the sociopathic vicissitudes of the pharmaceutical company for which he works.”

The film’s Amed Bozan, Jenny Gustavsson, and Torkel Petersson also won an Outstanding Performance Award. The jurors said they chose all three leads because they couldn’t decide which most deserved to be honored. “They are all exceptional and somehow manage to steal each scene they are in, even when they are in scenes together,” jurors said.

Best Cinematography went to Spain’s “Be Right Back,” by directors Gabe Ibañez and Lucas Paulino, and Best Editing went to the South Korean “Night Fishing,” by Moon Byoung-gon.

Best Score went to Canada’s “Blitzmusic” by Martin Amiot.

Honorable mention went to the American film “The Streetlight” by Sophia Barella for what the jurors called “an absurdist fantasy buddy comedy between a sentient street light and a man who decides to help it fulfill its dream of leaving the small street corner where it has been standing its entire life.”

The Satoshi Kon Award for Achievement in Animation

The jury included president Johane Matte (story designer, Dreamworks Animation), Jonathan Alvarez (senior coordinator, theatrical distribution and acquisition) and Elizabeth E. Schuch (creative director).

The jurors said Best Feature Film winner Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rainthe film “pushes forward the medium of 2D animation toward new potentials, opening the doors wider for further evolution of the art form. It’s a fantastical, mesmerizing production: a feast of colours, each frame is crafted with extreme attention to detail, with  all of the visual elements feeding into a complex and captivating story. This is a film that really must be seen on the big screen to be properly appreciated.”

in addition to giving Best Feature film to Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain, they gave Special Jury Mentions to the Phillipines’ “he Missing, by Carl Joseph Papa.

Best Short Film — Gold went to the U.S. film “Wild Animal,” by Tianyn Lyu, Best Short Film —Silver went to the Canadian “Itch” by Maggie Zeng, and Best Short Film — Bronze went to the Chilean “Trumpet Voice” by David Monarte Serna and Pilar Smoje Gueico.

“All of this year’s animation feature film entries displayed great artistry, unique vision and imaginative storytelling. Showing a great range of diversity in style, tone, and approach, we were transported from the heights of otherworldly planes, to the depths of hell, and deep into the sensitive dark places of the human soul,” the jurors said.   

DGC Competition

The jury was chaired by Philip Kalin-Hajdu (producer and screenwriter), Trevor Anderson (screenwriter and director), Francesco Giannini, Caroline Labréche, Serena Whitney

They praised Naomi Jaye, winner of Best Feature Film Director for Darkest Miriam: “Bubbling underneath the surface is a genre film that grips from beginning to end, anchored by Britt Lower’s complex performance as Miriam. Naomi Jaye’s adept direction ensures that there is nothing quiet about the film, or Miriam. The demons lurk in Miriam’s insides as she navigates a mystery, the ghost of her father, an uncertain romance and the dusty, musty hallways of a library that — no matter how brightly lit — has seen its fair share of tragedy. 

They also gave a Special Jury Mention to The G director Karl G. Hearne, saying the film “doubles as a statement on how society deals with the elderly, especially when there is money to be made. Director Karl R. Hearne knows exactly what he has with Dale Dickey, and makes the most of her incredible talent. The G takes the audience on a ride that has unexpected turns, structured as a thriller that never strays from its core themes. It is an emotional, dark, restrained and accomplished film.”

AQCC Competition

The jury was made up of Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau (critic, comic strip writer and translator), Guillaume Potvin (critic, programmer and teacher) and Prune Paycha (photographer and critic).

They praised Best Film winner Me and My Victim, an American-Canadian film by directors Maurane and Billy Pedlow for “an ultra-contemporary aesthetic, inspired by memes and Instagram lives.”

“Maurane and Billy Pedlow’s first film manages to intelligently deal with complex issues such as consent and the power issues that arise in human relationships. By agreeing to re-enact their meeting through a narration that is as playful as it is ruthless, Me and My Victim offers a fragmented, lively and disturbing story of an intimacy made up of gropings, failures, sometimes tenderness, and above all lucid and necessary confrontations.”

They also gave Special Jury Mention to Vulcanizadora, by Joel Potrykus.

“The AQCC jury also wanted to give special mention to the most recent film by an independent filmmaker whose voice and vision have been refined over time,” the jurors said. “The new film from Fantasia regular Joel Potrykus is the logical sequel to Buzzard, The Alchemist Cookbook and Relaxer. But it is also his most accomplished work to date. It is a pessimistic film, bordering on nihilism, which remains animated by great compassion for the fate of its characters – a humanist story, in the most difficult conditions possible.”

You can learn more about Fantasia, including additional screenings, here.