The 2016 Fantasporto Fantastic Film Festival (Portugal)

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The 36th edition of the Oporto International Film Festival, Fantasporto, was held between 22nd of February till the 6th of March 2016.

Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal.

The Oporto International Film Festival, known widely as Fantasporto, started life as a haven for SF and fantasy films, but the festival has now giving space to big screen productions, to auteur films, and to experimental projects.

A film festival filled with personality, rated in Variety as one of the 25 leading festivals of the world. All kinds of films, all genres, all audiences. But with a special taste for Fantasy.

Giving screen space to fantasy/science fiction/horror-oriented commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental projects from all over the world, Fantasporto has created enthusiastic audiences, ranging from cinephiles to more popular spectators, with an annual average of 110,000 attendees.

The festival was born in 1980 at a table of a small coffee shop in the center of Oporto, heritage world town by UNESCO, in a conversation between the three founders, film critics Mário Dorminsky and Beatriz Pacheco Pereira and the painter José Manuel Pereira. It immediately presented in the first edition (1981) the structure of a festival although still non-competitive, which has happened in the following edition.

The name Fantasporto had its origin in the reference used in the first letters – Fantas, because the festival started with a fantasy competition, and Porto, the name of the city.

Going now to its 36th edition, the Oporto International Film Festival – Fantasporto is a film forum of the arts, with nearly 200 films, book presentations and art and photography exhibitions at the main theatre. The festival also tries to bring to its programme various events such as art exhibitions, theatre plays, puppet presentations, lectures, seminars, poster competitions, comics and amateur film-making, as well as the publishing of several film related material www.fantasporto.com and Facebook page FANTASPORTO with 75.000 fans

The festival has the following sections:

FANTASY FILM
DIRECTORS WEEK
ORIENT EXPRESS
FANTAS IN SHORTS
PORTUGUESE FILM PANORAMA
PREMIERE AND PANORAMA
RETROSPECTIVES
HISTORY OF FANTASPORTO

“The president of this year’s jury was Dutch director Ate de Jong: “The nicest thing was, of course, you see a lot of films that you would otherwise never see. I didn’t like all the films, but I liked something about every film and sometimes it was just an element, but it was always something special, so I think they made a very good choice as a festival.”

FANTASPORTO AWARDS 2016

The International Jury of the Fantasy Section on the 36th Oporto International Film Festival – Fantasporto 2016 has decided to grant the following awards:

Best Film Award – FANTASPORTO 2016

“Forget about werewolves. Vampires are so last century and so are zombies. But mermaids are definitely 2016.

That’s according to young Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska, whose horror movie ‘The Lure’ picked up Best Film, Best Director and Best Special Effects at this year’s Fantasporto film festival.”

“The Lure” (Córki dancingu) – Agnieszka Smoczynska (Poland)

FANTASPORTO AWARDS 2016

“The tale of two young mermaids who end up in a night club in 1980’s Warsaw, ‘The Lure’ already made splashes in Sundance where it won a top World Cinema prize. “We killed The Little Mermaid and we created a new modern mermaid,” Smoczynska told euronews. “That’s what we wanted to do. That’s why our mermaids are beautiful above, they are beautiful young girls, and their fishtails are huge, very ugly fishtails because when you read (Hans Christian) Andersen and when you watch Disney, you can see a mermaid with a beautiful body, wearing a bra and with a very sexy fishtail. Our mermaid is half a beautiful girl and half a monster. A beautiful monster.”

Jury’s Special Award

“Queen of Spades: the Dark Rite” (Пиковая дама: черный обряд) – Svyatoslav Pogdayevskiy (Russia)

Best Direction

“The Lure” – Agnieszka Smoczynska (Poland)

Best Actor

Ken’ ichi Matsuyama – “Chasuke’s Journey” by Sabu (Japan)

Best Actress

Laura de Bóer – “Cord” by Pablo González (France/Colombia/ Germany)

Best Screenplay

“Chasuke’s Journey” by Sabu (Japan)

Best Special Effects

The Lure – Agnieszka Smoczynska (Poland)

SPECIAL MENTION OF THE FANTASY JURY

“Cord” by Pablo González (France/Colombia/ Germany)

Best Short Film

“Blight” by Brian Deane (Ireland)

OFFICIAL DIRECTORS WEEK AWARDS : Prémio Manoel de Oliveira /Manoel de Oliveira Award

The International Jury of the ^26thDirectors Week –Fantasporto 2016 has decided to grant the following award

Directors Week Best Film Award:

The Open Poster

“The Open” by Marc Lahore (France)

Directors Week Jury’s Special Award:

“Just Jim” by Craig Roberts (UK)

Directors Week Best Director Award:

Marc Lahore – “The Open” (France)

Directors Week Best Screenplay Award:

Marc Lahore – “The Open” (France)

Directors Week Best Actor Award:

“Greece. Sometime in the near future. A seaside resort struck by a heavy heatwave. Water is rare and violence is mounting. Ashraf, a solitary immigrant, is looking after a villa while its owners are away. On a dusty road crushed by the sun, he is stopped by a police officer for an identity check…”

Ziyad Bakri in “Blind Sun” by Joyce A. Nashawati (Greece/France)

Directors Week Best Actress Award):

Barbie Forteza in “Laut” by Luisito “Louie” Ignacio (Philippines)

OFFICIAL COMPETITIVE SECTION ORIENT EXPRESS 2016

Best Film Orient Express:

“Deep Trap” by Kwon Hyung-Jin (South Korea)

Special Award Orient Express:

“I Am a Hero” by Shinsuke Sato (Japan)

PORTUGUESE FILM AWARD 2016

Best Portuguese Film Award:

“Quarto em Lisboa” (Room in Lisbon) by Francisco Carvalho (Portugal)

Best Film School Award:

ESMAE- Escola Superior de Música, Artes e Espectáculo

Special Mention for Creativity:

Cinema Dom Dinis – Tiago Basílio, Tiago Fonseca, Tiago Costa (Portugal – UTAD)

Critics Award:

“Prisoner X” by Gaurav Seth (Canada)

Audience Award:

Ex-aequo

“I Am a Hero” by Shinsuke Sato (Japan)

“Sensoria” by Christian Hallman (Sweden)

Youth Award:

“Bridgend” by Jeppe Rønde (Denmark/UK)

FANTASPORTO SPECIAL AWARD

Augusto Canedo – Painter – for his contribution to the festival

Career Awards:

Nicolau Breyner- actor, director, producer (Portugal)

Milcho Manchevski- director (Macedonia)

Now in its 36th year, the Fantasporto International Film Festival has been promoting fantasy, science fiction and horror films as well as experimental projects from around the world since it started in 1981.