Full Fantasia 2024 Jury Statements [ENGLISH ONLY]
► CHEVAL NOIR COMPETITION – Feature Films
Best Film
LES CHAMBRES ROUGES (Québec, d. Pascal Plante)
“The ultimate effect a film can achieve is to implant a significant and lasting emotional memory. The jury was unanimously convinced that Les chambres rouges masterfully accomplished that goal. With incredible skill and artistry, without resorting to gore or violence, this film delivers not only an extremely disturbing and frightening experience but introduces you to characters and situations you may never forget.”
Best Director
Sam H. Freeman & Ng Choon Ping (FEMME, United Kingdom)
“Femme is a gripping thriller that is both supremely tense and sensitively directed. The two contrasting worlds of the drag queens and the macho thugs are vividly rendered. The contradictions in the two main characters’ feelings are explored in all their nuances and complexity, and the powerful ending provides no easy resolution to the revenge theme.”
Best Screenplay
Pascal Plante (LES CHAMBRES ROUGES, Québec, d. Pascal Plante)
“Pascale Plante created a deeply gripping and intricate screenplay that was so powerful to watch play out. Filled with unique characters, motives, and a rich overall story arc which left us unanimously impacted by the world which he created. The intensity of watching the film where you never quite know the depth of relationships, where the story will take you, or what each character’s intentions are, leaves you in constant intrigue. With this, we give the award for Best Screenplay to Les chambres rouges, written by Pascale Plante.”
Best Score (The Sandro Forte Award)
Dominique Plante (LES CHAMBRES ROUGES, Québec, d. Pascal Plante)
“The jury felt the score Dominique Plante created for Les chambres rouges truly defines and enhances the emotional impact of this startling film. Painted with a fine brush, the soundtrack brilliantly creates a fertile environment in which to grow the fascinating characters and disturbing story of this immensely disturbing film. Plante skillfully opens doors and then closes them, escorting, rather than leading, the audience through a maze of emotions.”
Best Cinematographer
Zelda Adams & John Adams (WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS, United States, d. Zelda Adams, John Adams and Toby Poser)
“The Adams Family have done an extraordinary job of capturing the film’s challenging (on any budget) 1930’s setting, transporting us back in time with their creative approach and extraordinary aesthetic. Every frame vibrates with a visceral, eerie, dread. The team have masterfully conjured up a unique, starkly haunting, visual style and filmic texture. Where the Devil Roams elevates and refines low-budget, indie madness into an excitingly unique cinematic triumph.”
Outstanding Performance
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (FEMME, United Kingdom, d. Sam H. Freeman & Ng Choon Ping)
“Nathan Stewart-Jarrett gives a breakout performance in Femme, showing us both the beauty and vulnerability of being queer in a society that stubbornly holds on to traditional heteronormative values of what love and gender expression can look like for a man. The beauty, honesty and grace of his performance feels both true and deeply moving.”
Outstanding Performance
Juliette Gariépy (LES CHAMBRES ROUGES, Québec, d. Pascal Plante)
“Juliette Gariépy gives a brave, full-bodied performance in Les chambres rouges. As Kelly-Anne, she shows us the complexity of female desire in a world that can be strange and violent. With determination, beauty and a strange sense of humour, Gariépy creates a wholly original character who takes us down the rabbit hole and shows us dark, profound truths.”
Special Mention
VINCENT DOIT MOURIR (France, d. Stéphan Castang)
“We give the special jury mention to Vincent Must Die for its strikingly original take on the zombie genre and for the way it potently resonates with the climate of simmering violence and social disintegration of our times.”