Norwegian director Vegard Dahle’s zombie comedy “Grand Monster” won the top awards for Outpost and Post-Production Services at Fantasia Festival’s prestigious Frontier Co-Production Market, which presented six awards at the closing cocktail on July 25.
The film, about a down-and-out American who inadvertently causes a mass zombie outbreak in a remote nursing home in Norway in an attempt to save his dementia-stricken grandmother, was presented with deadpan, self-deprecating humor by producer Jon Vatone, wearing a sweater matching Darle, at a daylong Frontier pitch event on July 22nd.
The project is one of 20 titles included in Frontiere’s official selection, and received a raucous and hilarious response from the Frontiere audience, which was packed with fellow pitchers, buyers, and industry representatives. The market was attended by 300 delegates from 24 countries, including team members from Official Selection, Genre Lab, Shorts to Features and Music Series projects.
Back row, left to right: Edson Jean, Eugene Park, and Daniel Marino of “Sea Spirits.” John Vatonet, Vegard Dahl in “Grand Monster.” Julian Soros (“Reset”), Jasmine de Silva (“Eternal Valley”). Jerry Sue (“Reset”). Front row, left to right: Hans Audric Estialbo (“Cher”); Cassidy Siviero and Mariel Sharpe in “Wifey.” Celine Tien (“Reset”), Tuli Litvak (“Eternal Valley”). Photo by Ted Geoghegan, courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival and Frontiers International Co-Production Market
The Outpost Special Awards were awarded to two titles in the short to full length categories. “Reset” is a science fiction drama from American directors Celine Tian and Jerry Hsu about a program that resets the elderly into children in order to remain economically useful. This short film is being screened in Fantasia’s Official International Short Film Competition. “Sea Spirit” is a gothic folk horror film directed by Edson Jean and set in Haiti that tells the story of a guilt-ridden mother who is haunted by her daughter who is lost at sea and refuses to leave the country in search of ghosts.
The PurpleDOG award, an officially selected project with prizes for post-production services, went to “Cher,” the first project from Thailand to join Frontières, a paranormal folk horror about revenge-seeking forest spirits that appear near a remote mining camp that trespasses on sacred forest land.
“Wifey” won the Purple Dog Award for Project in the Genre Film Lab’s Gender Equality in Media Society (GEMS) category. Directed by Canada’s Cassidy Siviero, this horror-thriller is about an independent artist transitioning from woman to man who is forced into a non-consensual marriage where traditional gender norms are used as a violent weapon.
The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival Award in October went to British director Jasmine de Silva’s dark comedy body horror “Eternal Valley,” which had its world premiere at Fantasia in 2025. The film is a feature-length project based on her proof-of-concept short film “Beauty Sleep.”
“The feedback we received from participants on the proposed projects last Wednesday was overwhelmingly positive,” Frontière executive director Annick Marnert told Variety shortly before the awards ceremony.
“People praise not only the outstanding quality of the projects themselves, but also the pitch presentations of the filmmakers. Every year, the standards are raised even higher, and I think that’s why decision makers come back year after year. They trust our curation.”
Individual meetings and industry seminars end on July 25th.
Here is the complete list of Frontier Prize winners and their prizes:
Outpost Award CAD 15,000 ($10,637) for Post-Production Services: “Grandmonster”
Outpost Special Mention Award CAD 5,000 ($3,545) for Post-Production Services: “Reset”
Outpost Special Award: $5,000 CAD for Post-Production Services: “Sea Spirits”
PurpleDOG Award for Official Selection Project, CAD 10,000 ($7,091) for Post-Production Services: “Cher”
PurpleDOG award for GEMS project, CAD 10,000 for post-production services: “Wifey”
Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival: Invitation to pitch to the Sitges Film Festival “Eternal Valley” next October
