The animated feature ‘Seoul Station’ by Korean Yeon Sang-Ho, awarded for best film at FANT 2017

The Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the Bilabo Fantastic Film Festival has been awarded to 'La Voce' by David Ulloth; The award for Best Basque Short Film went to 'Bestealdetik' by Mar González Ruiz.

The Jury of the XXIII edition of the Bilbao Fantastic Film Festival – FANT 23, made up of the actress Melina Matthews, the writer, director and screenwriter, Elio Quiroga, and the director, screenwriter and Sevillian journalist, Miguel Ángel Vivas, has awarded the 2017 FANT Award for Best Film, to the animated feature film Seoul Station, (South Korea, 2016) by filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho.

The FANT jury has chosen this film "for breaking away from animation stereotypes and making its characters totally human." Yeon Sang-ho also writes the script for this film set in Seoul Central Station, which becomes a home for beggars at night. Meanwhile, a girl breaks up with her boyfriend and seeks refuge in the terminal, but there she only finds a horde of homeless people turned into zombies.

In the short films section, the jury has awarded the Best Short Film award to the work La Voce (Canada, 2016, 20') by David Uloth. The court has opted for this work of fiction because of “the way in which it describes the hypersensitivity of the protagonists through sound, music and image and finds beauty in the most unexpected places.”

The award for Best Basque Short Film, according to the jury's criteria, went to the fiction work On the other hand (2016, 15 min) by Mar González Ruiz de Larramendi, which they have justified in “the risk of its aesthetic proposal and how with the simple look of an actor something as elusive as the end of a life can be transmitted.”

For its part, the public at this edition of the Bilbao Fantastic Film Festival – FANT 22 has voted for Best Short Film The App (Spain, 2016), a 16-minute fiction by Julián Merino.

Fantastic Panorama

This edition the festival will also present its honorary awards without financial prize, for the Best Feature Film and Best Short Film in the Fantastic Panorama section. The jury in charge was made up of the screenwriter and fantasy film researcher, Ángel Agudo, the journalist and film critic, Iratxe Fresneda, and the also journalist and fantasy film critic, Javier Donate.

In this way, the award for Best Feature Film in the Panorama section has gone to The Forest of Lost Souls, by Jose Pedro Lopes (Portugal, 2016), and has received a special mention Therapy by Nathan Ambrosioni (France, 2016). In the short films section the award went to Einstein Rosen, by Olga Osorio (Spain, 2016).

The Festival Awards Gala, organized by the Bilbao City Council, will be held today at 8 pm in the BBK Room – Gran Vía, with a special screening of the film PET by Carles Torrens. In addition, a FANT Honor Award will be presented to the Bilbao director Pedro Rivero and the new Star of FANTastic award, which aims to distinguish an entire career within the genre, to the North American actress, Barbara Crampton.

FANT 23 winners

WINNING FILM
“Seoul Station”, (South Korea, 2016) by Yeon Sang-ho. ANI

FANT AWARD IN SHORT

Jury Prize Best Short Film
“La Voce” (Canada, 2016, 20’) by David Uloth

Jury Prize for Best Basque Short Film
"On the other side" (2016, 15 min) by Mar González Ruiz de Larramendi

Audience Award for Best Short Film
“The App” (Spain, 2016), by Julián Merino.

AWARD FOR BEST SCRIPT OF OFFICIAL SECTION
(AWARDED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF BASQUE SCREENWRITERS)
“I Am Not a Serial Killer” (IRE/UK 2016) de Billy O´Brien

AWARD FOR THE MOST INNOVATIVE DIRECTION OF THE OFFICIAL SECTION
(AWARDED BY THE CINE CLUB FAS)
“The Eyes of my Mother”, (USA, 2016) de Nicolas Pesce

FANTROBIA AWARD 2017
Sean Brosnan

STAR OF FANTastic 2017
Barbara Crampton

FOUND THE HONOR 2017
Pedro Rivero
Terele Pávez

AWARD FOR THE BEST FEATURE FILM IN THE PANORAMA SECTION
“The Forest of Lost Souls”, (Portugal, 2016) by Jose Pedro Lopes.

• SPECIAL MENTION: “Therapy” (France, 2016) by Nathan Ambrosioni.

AWARD FOR THE BEST SHORT FILM IN THE PANORAMA SECTION
“Einstein Rosen”, (Spain, 2016) by Olga Osorio.

JURY PRIZE FOR THE BEST FAKE TRAILER
“Fishface”, José Mellinas

1ST AUDIENCE PRIZE FOR THE BEST FAKE TRAILER
"Hugo", Iker Maguregi

2ND AUDIENCE PRIZE FOR THE BEST FAKE AUX TRAILER
“Collector”, Angel Holgado