Hey folks, Harry here - This year's festival was an enormous success. For those that sought outside the "big ticket" screenings - they found themselves immensely entertained. The festival has grown double in size in just one year. If you attended this year and would like to offer up suggestions on how to make the fest better next year - by all means - comment below in Talkback. It was a pleasure to be both a programmer and a member of the audience at this year's fest, and I look forward to what comes up for us next year!
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 AUSTIN, TX The 2006 Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas has come to a close and the jury and audience awards have been announced. The list of films in competition is attached at the end of this release. Films without distribution at the time of their acceptance to Fantastic Fest were eligible for awards. AUDIENCE AWARDS 1st Place - HATCHET 2nd Place - ISOLATION 3rd Place -FIREFLY SHORT FILM AWARDS Best of Show - THE LISTENING DEAD Best Short Form - THE COST OF LIVING Best Long Form - ROGAIRI (VILLAINS) Best Animated - IF I HAD A HAMMER Best Comedy - THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT HORROR JURY AWARDS Best Picture - ISOLATION Best Director - Billy O'Brien, ISOLATION Best Script - Dylan Bank and Morgan Pehme, NIGHTMARE Best Actor - Kane Hodder, HATCHET Best Actress - Nicole Roderick, NIGHTMARE Best Supporting Actor - Lance Henriksen, ABOMINABLE Best Supporting Actress - Kristen Bell, ROMAN Best Art Direction - Alex Boynton, UNREST Best Cinematography - Robbie Ryan, ISOLATION Best Special Effects - HATCHET Best Make-up - BROKEN FANTASTIC FEST JURY AWARDS Best Film -THE LIVING AND THE DEAD Best Director - Simon Rumley, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD Best Script - Larry Kent and Daniel Williams, HAMSTER CAGE Best Actor - Leo Bill in THE LIVING AND THE DEAD Best Actress - Jodie Jameson, VENUS DROWNING Best Supporting Actor - Alan Scarfe, HAMSTER CAGE Best Supporting Actress - Kate Fahy, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD Best Art Direction -STARFISH HOTEL Best Cinematography - A QUIET LOVE Best Special Effects - PUZZLEHEAD Best Make-up -THE LIVING AND THE DEAD Special Mention of the Jury, Blood Tea and Red String "For its originality and stunning visual audacity! Blood Tea and Red String is a dark psychological fairy tail, a work of creative passion by director Christiane Cegavske. The films eccentric and unique vision will be with you like a feverish dream for years to come." 2006 FANTASTIC FEST COMPETITION FILMS THE BEACH PARTY AT THE THRESHOLD OF HELL BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING FIREFLY GAMERZ HAMSTER CAGE INSIDE PUZZLEHEAD A QUIET LOVE STARFISH HOTEL VENUS DROWNING THE LIVING AND THE DEAD 2006 FANTASTIC FEST HORROR COMPETITION FILMS ABOMINABLE BLOOD TRAILS HATCHET SIMON SAYS WILDERNESS THE LAST SUPPER BROKEN ISOLATION UNREST ROMAN NIGHTMARE The shorts jury was comprised of Chris Cargill (Ain't It Cool News), Brian Satterwhite (Ain't It Cool News) and Jay Knowles (Ain't It Cool News). The Horror Jury was comprised of Peter Martin (Twitchfilm), Jay Slater (UK Journalist, Hot Dog/Film Threat), Chris Cargill (Ain't It Cool News) and Ed Neal (star, Texas Chainsaw Massacre). The Fantastic Fest jury was comprised of Christian Hallman (Lund International Fantastic Film Festival), Wiley Wiggins (star, Dazed and Confused), and Scott Weinberg (Rotten Tomatoes). Audience Award films were chosen by ballot from all 22 of the Horror and Fantastic competition films. Press photos for all of these films are available at www.fantasticfest.com/press If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact tim@originalalamo.com or call (512) 912-0529. ABOUT THE FESTIVAL: Fantastic Fest is an eight day festival of the best new sci-fi, horror, fantasy and genre films, as well as choice classic and obscure cult titles from all over the world. The festival director is Tim League (Alamo Drafthouse Cinema). Programmers include Harry Knowles (Ain't It Cool News), Kier-la Janisse (Big Smash, Cinemuerte), Matt Dentler (SXSW) and Paul Alvarado-Dykstra. Festival co-chairs are Paul Alvarado-Dykstra and Tim McCanlies (screenwriter, Iron Giant). This year's festival featured 60 features and 30 shorts. The festival is co-sponsored by Ain't It Cool News and the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema South Lamar.
