16/07/2024 - The International Competition jury was won over by this powerful film that "delivers a painstaking meditation on bereavement and takes a subtle and original approach to tackling a popular genre"

The jury members on stage during the awarding of the HR Giger Narcisse Award for Best Feature Film to Handling the Undead (© Max Gigon/NIFFF)

The 23rd edition of the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) was marked by remarkable attendance figures in the form of 60,000 festival-goers, who were lucky enough to explore and savour the many facets of genre film in the presence of 120 guests.

Hosting a total number of 124 screenings, the nine-day event wrapped with an awards ceremony which foregrounded singular genre film visions. In addition to the mysterious and intriguing work Handling the Undead [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the first feature by Norwegian director and screenwriter Thea Hvistendahl (awarded the HR Giger Narcisse Award for Best Feature Film and the Silver Meliès for Best European Fantastic Feature Film), the International Competition Jury - composed of Saul Pandelakis, Ishan Shukla, Annick Mahnert, João Pedro Rodrigues and Kourtney Roy - decided to honour the astonishing and captivating movie Cuckoo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], by Germany’s Tilman Singer, with a Special Mention. This fascinating story, marked by breathtaking moments of high tension and set in a spa in the Bavarian Alps, stars an impressive Hunter Schafer in the lead role of Gretchen.

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The audience, meanwhile, chose to crown Irish director Damian Mc Carthy’s horrific movie Oddity [+see also:
film review
film profile] with the RTS Audience Award (International Competition), for its hilarious yet frightening ghost story exploring a poignant relationship between sisters. The jury of international critics composed of French journalists Léon Cattan and Nora Bouazzouni and Dutch journalist Ard Vijn was won over by Shalini Ushadevi’s Indian offering, Ennennum, revolving around a couple who are able to defy death thanks to a revolutionary piece of technology. The Imagine the Future Prize for Best Production Design went to American work I Saw the TV Glow by non-binary trans director Jane Schoenbrun, which is a queer teen horror centred around two adolescents who find themselves in a world defying the boundaries of reality. The Youth Prize, for its part, went to Eternal [+see also:
film review
interview: Ulaa Salim
film profile] by Danish director Ulaa Salim, while the Silver Meliès for Best European Fantastic Short Film went to Ali Cherri’s Italian/French co-production The Watchman. Last but not least, the Audience Award for Best Fantastic Film in the Asian Competition was nabbed by Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In by Soi Cheang and Best Swiss Short Film by Kantarama Gahigiri’s Terra Mater.

The full list of winners is as follows:

International Competition

HR Giger Narcisse Prize for Best Film
Handling the Undead [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Thea Hvistendahl (Norway/Sweden/Greece)
Special Mention
Cuckoo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Tilman Singer (Germany/USA)

Silver Méliès for Best European Fantastic Feature Film
Handling the Undead – Thea Hvistendahl

Imagine the Future Prize for Best Production Design
I Saw the TV Glow – Jane Schoenbrun (USA)

Denis-De-Rougemont Youth Prize
Eternal [+see also:
film review
interview: Ulaa Salim
film profile] – Ulaa Salim (Norway/Iceland/Denmark)

RTS Audience Award
Oddity [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Damian Mc Carthy (Ireland)

NIFFF International Critics’ Award
Ennennum – Shalini Ushadevi (India)

New Cinema from Asia Competition

Audience Award for Best Asian Film
Twilight of the Warriors : Walled In – Soi Cheang (Taiwan/China)

Short Film Competition

HR Giger Narcisse Prize for Best Swiss Short Film
Terra Mater – Kantarama Gahigiri (Switzerland/Rwanda)

Silver Méliès for Best European Fantastic Short Film
The Watchman – Ali Cherri (Italy/France)

Youth Prize for Best Short Film
Meat Puppet – Eros V (UK)

Audience Award for Best Short Film
Meat Puppet – Eros V

(Translated from French)