{"id":16389,"date":"2026-07-25T04:00:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16389"},"modified":"2026-07-25T04:00:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:00:50","slug":"fantasias-frontieres-awards-grandmonster-reset-sea-spirits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16389","title":{"rendered":"Fantasia&#8217;s Fronti\u00e8res Awards &#8216;Grandmonster, &#8216;Reset,&#8217; &#8216;Sea Spirits&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tNorwegian director Vegard Dahle\u2019s zombie comedy \u201cGrandmonster\u201d has won the top Outpost Award, and a prize of post-production services, at the Fantasia Festival\u2019s prestigious Fronti\u00e8res Co-Production Market, which handed out six awards at its closing cocktail, July 25.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe film, about an American dropout who unintentionally triggers a zombie outbreak at a remote Norwegian nursing home while trying to save her grandmother from dementia, was presented with deadpan, self-deprecating humor by Dahle and producer Jon Vatne, who wore matching sweaters, at a day-long Fronti\u00e8res pitching event on July 22.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe project, one of the 20 titles in Fronti\u00e8res official selection, received a boisterous, laugh-inducing response from the packed Fronti\u00e8res audience of fellow pitchers and buyer and industry delegates. 300 delegates from 24 countries attended the market, including team members of projects in its official selection, Genre Lab, Shorts To Features, and Music strands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOutpost Special Awards were presented to two titles in the Shorts to Features category. \u201cReset\u201d is U.S. directors Celine Tien and Jerry Hsu\u2019s sci-fi drama about a program that resets the elderly into children to remain economically useful; the short is screening in Fantasia\u2019s official international short film competition. \u201cSea Spirits\u201d is director Edson Jean\u2019s Haiti-set gothic folk horror about a guilt-ridden mother haunted by her daughter, who is lost at sea and refuses to leave the country in search of her ghost.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe PurpleDOG Award for an official selection project, which comes with a prize of post-production services, went to \u201cCher,\u201d the first project out of Thailand participating in Fronti\u00e8res, a supernatural folk horror about a vengeance-seeking forest spirit who emerges near a remote mining camp that is trespassing on sacred forestland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe PurpleDOG Award for a project in the Gender Equity in Media Society (GEMS) section of the Genre Film Lab went to \u201cWifey,\u201d Canadian director Cassidy Civiero\u2019s horror thriller about an independent artist about to transition female-to-male who is is forced into a non-consensual marriage in which traditional gender norms are used as a violent weapon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/sitges\/\" id=\"auto-tag_sitges\" data-tag=\"sitges\">Sitges<\/a> International Fantastic Film Festival Award, which comes with an invitation to pitch at the Sitges festival in October, went to \u201cEternal Valley,\u201d U.K. director Jasmine De Silva\u2019s dark comedy body horror, a feature project based on her proof-of-concept short film \u201cBeauty Sleep,\u201d which had its world premiere at Fantasia in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cThe feedback we\u2019ve received from participants about the projects pitched last Wednesday has been overwhelmingly positive,\u201d Fronti\u00e8res executive director Annick Mahnert told <em>Variety<\/em> shortly before the award ceremony.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cPeople have praised not only the exceptional quality of the projects themselves, but also the filmmakers\u2019 pitch presentations. Every year, the bar is raised even higher, and I believe that\u2019s why decision-makers return year after year. They trust our curation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOne-on-one meetings and industry seminars conclude on July 25.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHere is the full list of Fronti\u00e8res award winners and their prizes:<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOutpost Award of CAD$15,000 (US$10,637) in post-production services: \u201cGrandmonster\u201d<br \/>Outpost Special Mention Award of CAD$5,000 (US$3545) in post-production services: \u201cReset\u201d<br \/>Outpost Special Mention: Award of CAD$5,000 (US$3545) in post-production services: \u201cSea Spirits\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tPurpleDOG award to Official Selection project, CAD$10,000 (US$7091) in post-production services: \u201cCher\u201d<br \/>PurpleDOG award to GEMS project, CAD$10,000 (US$7091) in post-production services: \u201cWifey\u201d<br \/>Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival: an invitation to pitch at the Sitges Festival next October, \u201cEternal Valley\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Norwegian director Vegard Dahle\u2019s zombie comedy \u201cGrandmonster\u201d has won the top Outpost Award, and a prize of post-production services, at the Fantasia Festival\u2019s prestigious Fronti\u00e8res Co-Production Market, which handed out six awards at its closing cocktail, July 25. The film, about an American dropout who unintentionally triggers a zombie outbreak at a remote Norwegian nursing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Grandmonster-Concept-Art-1.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}