On the final evening, the winners of the 44th edition of the Fantafestival were revealed. The winners of the Golden Bat were decided by the jury composed of the orchestra maestro and composer Fabio Frizzi, the director and screenwriter Brando De Sica and Silvia Moras, director of PAFF! – International Museum of Comic Art of Pordenone and teacher at CSC – National School of Cinema.
The French horror Animale by Emma Benestane won the Golden Bat for Best Feature Film. These are the jury’s motivations: “A story immersed in the concept of genre movies: it breathes the western, but also the thriller and everything evolves in the direction of fantasy and horror. A film that envelops and involves the viewer from the first to the last minute, describing the charm of the bull in an almost mythological way.”
The Golden Bat for Best Short Film went to the short Playing God directed by Matteo Burani and animated by Arianna Gheller. These are the jury’s motivations: “A film that enchanted all of us of the jury, for the depth of the story and the great quality of its creation. And we want to quote the words of Laura Bianchi, who summarizes it in a very thoughtful review. «A chisel work on each of the terracotta-colored plasticine figures, with liquid and lost looks and a changing and dramatic expressiveness, full of humanity, makes possible a profound empathy between the spectator and the little creatures that move on the screen, raising more of a problem.» But such a masterpiece cannot be told any further; it is necessary to dedicate nine minutes of viewing to it, but the nine minutes will be followed by many others, of sedimentation of the thoughts and emotions aroused by the experience. Like any real film, long or short, should do.”
Playing God also received the Vespertilino award, assigned by the staff of Vespertilio Awards, which from this year is a partner of Fantafestival.
During the 44th edition of Fantafestival, the Golden Bat for Lifetime Achievement was also awarded to set designer Massimo Antonello Geleng and the special mention Silver Bullet to Zeph E. Daniel.
