Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s Debut ‘The Platform’ Tops Sitges Awards

Bilbao-born Gaztelu-Urrutia is an experienced producer at Basque Films and has directed commercials as well as two shorts. One, “House on the Lake,” won awards at festivals such as Kinofest Film Festival (Bucharest Romania), Salento Finibus Terrae Festival (Italia) and Cinemad (Spain). Sold by Latido Films, Netflix has acquired “The Platform” worldwide rights except some territories in Asia.

This year’s jury included director-producer-writer Anurag Kashyap (“Dabba,” “Gangs of Wasseypur”), producers Alan Jones and Marina Ortiz, editor Mary Jo Markey and casting director Nancy Bishop.

Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles won the best director award for “Bacurau,” in which writers expose Brazil’s convoluted socio-political situation through a dreadful human safari. Written by Mendonça and Dornelles, it’s sold by Paris’ SBS International and premiered to an upbeat reception in competition at Cannes.

“The Platform” and “Bacurau” highlight a lineup full of features set in dystopic apocalyptic universes and heavy on social criticism. It was a trend at the 2019 Sitges Festival, whose leitmotiv was the post-apocalyptic atmosphere of “Mad Max.”

Best screenplay went to Mirrah Foulkes for her debut directorial feature “Judy & Punch,” “a tale of domestic-violence revenge set in a satirical-whimsical land of never-was,” according to its Variety review.

The best actor award went to Miles Robbins for his performance in Adam Egypt Mortimer’s “Daniel Isn’t Real.” Robbins plays Luke, a distressed college student who, after suffering a violent family trauma, revives his childhood imaginary friend. The film snagged the Choice Award for best director at 23rd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival last July.

U.K.’s Imogen Poots (Michael Winterbottom’s “The Look of Love”) took best actress for her performance in Lorcan Finnegan’s “Vivarium,” a sinister and austere sci-fi parable of dehumanization.

Another big winner on the day was the sixth feature from Belgian director Fabrice du Welz, “Adoration,” which took the special jury prize, cinematography award and Méliès D’Argent Best Film. World-premiered at Locarno and sold by Memento Films Intl, it’s the last of the director’s Ardennes-based trilogy (“Calvaire,” “Alleluia”) and follows the peripeteia of two young lovers who flee from a mental institution in search of their “haven of peace.”

Traditionally a launchpad for young local talent in genre cinema, this Sitges edition delivered a robust brace of movies by up-and-coming directors with five Spanish directors in the main section – Gaztelu-Urrutia, Óscar Martín (“Amigo”), Aritz Moreno (“Advantages of Traveling by Train”), José Luis Montesinos (“Strings”) and Alice Waddington (“Paradise Hills”).

World-premieres offered at Sitges included: Jonas Alexander Arnby’s “Suicide Tourist,” “Advantages of Traveling by Train,” Carlos Martín Ferrera’s “The Pack” and Fernando González Molina’s “The Legacy of the Bones.”

Time Machine awards, for career achievement, went to actors Patrick Wilson (“The Conjuring”), Maribel Verdú (“Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Y tu mama también”) and Javier Botet (“It”), and producer-director Charles Band (“Meridian”).

An Honorary Career Achievement Awards were granted to actor Sam Neill (“Jurassic Park”). The Méliès Career Award went to Italian actress-director Asia Argento (“Misunderstood,” George A. Romero’s “Land of the Dead”).

Reinforcing its commitment to TV shows, in this edition Sitges hosted the second installment of AMC originals “The Terror: Infamy” and docu-series “Eli Roth’s History of Horror” (Season 1).

Movistar + presented Craig Viveiros’ “The War of the Worlds,” a Mammoth Screen production, and offered three new episodes of “Chapter 0,” a Spanish series about big cinema stars in their still-wannabe days, trying to star in films that were never made.

“The Vigil,” closes the 52nd edition of Sitges Festival on Saturday, Oct 12. A co-production between Boulderlight Pictures and Angry Adam Prods, “The Vigil” is sold by CAA.

52ND INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL OF CATALONIA. 

THE WINNERS:

OFFICIAL FANTASTIC COMPETITION

FILM

“The Platform” (Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, Spain)

DIRECTOR

Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles (“Bacurau,” Brazil, France)

SPECIAL JURY AWARD

“Adoration” (Fabrice du Welz, Belgium, France)

ACTRESS

Imogen Poots (“Vivarium,” Nancy Lorcan Finnegan, Ireland, Denmark, Belgium)

ACTOR

Miles Robbins (“Daniel Isn’t Real,” Adam Egypt Mortimer, U.S. )

SCREENPLAY

Mirrah Foulkes (“Judy & Punch,” Mirrah Foulkes, Australia)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Manu Dacosse (“Adoration”)

F/X

Iñaki Madariaga (“The Platform”)

MUSIC

Dan Levy (“I Lost My Body,” Jérémy Clapin, France)

BEST FANTASTIC SHORT

“Polter” (Álvaro Vicario, Spain)

SPECIAL MENTION

“Achoura” (Talal Selhami, Morocco)

2ND SPECIAL MENTION

Kids in “Adoration” (Thomas Gioria, Fantine Harduin)

NEW VISIONS AWARDS

BEST FILM

“Dogs Don’t Wear Pants,” (Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää, Finland, Latvia)

BEST DIRECTOR

Mattie Do (“The Long Walk,” Laos, Spain, Singapore)

BEST SHORT

“Lucienne Mange Une Auto” (Geordy Couturiau, France)

SPECIAL MENTION

“Nina Wu” (Midi Z, Taiwan, Malaysia, Myanmar )

2nd SPECIAL MENTION

“Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway” (Miguel Llansó, Spain, U.K., Ethiopia, Latvia, Romania)

3rd SPECIAL MENTION

“Hail Satan?” (Penny Lane, U.S.)

OTHER AWARDS

GRAND AUDIENCE APPRECIATION AWARD

“The Platform”

BLOOD WINDOW (LATIN AMERICAN PRODUCTION)

“Brief Story From The Green Planet” (Santiago Loza, Argentina, Germany, Spain, Brazil)

MELIES D’ARGENT BEST FILM

“Adoration”

MELIES D’ARGENT BEST SHORT

“Children of Satan,” (Thea Hvistendahl, Norway)

ORBITA AWARD

“Huachicolero” (Edgar Nito, Mexico, U.S., U.K.)

JOSE LUIS GUARNER CRITICS’ AWARD

“Bacurau”

CITIZEN KANE AWARD TO AN UP-AND-COMING DIRECTOR

Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia

YOUTH JURY AWARDS

“Bacurau”

ANIMATION AWARDS

BEST ANIMATION FILM AWARD

“Ride Your Wave” (Masaaki Yuasa, Japan)

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

“The Lonely Orbit” (Frederic Siegel, Benjamin Morard, Switzerland)

BRIGADOON PAUL NASCHY AWARD FOR BEST SHORT

“Tu último día en la Tierra” (Marc Martínez Jordán, Spain)

COCOON BEST FEATURE (VR 360 AWARD)

“Gloomy Eyes” (Jorge Tereso, Fernando Maldonado, Spain)

SGAE AWARDS – NEW CATALAN AUTHORS — SHORTS

“La Mugre” (Pau Bösch, Berta Galvany)

“Cuando acabe el verano” (Marina Espinach)

SCRIPT

Agustín Elizalde, Carlos Villafaina (“Gusanos de seda”)

Marina Espinach (“Cuando acabe el verano”)

MUSIC

Juan Luís Pérez (“Gusanos de seda”)

https://variety.com

EMILIO MAYORGA