Norwegian director Vegard Dahle’s zombie comedy “Grandmonster” has won the top Outpost Award, and a prize of post-production services, at the Fantasia Festival’s prestigious Frontières Co-Production Market, which handed out six awards at its closing cocktail, July 25.
The film, about an American dropout who unintentionally triggers a zombie outbreak at a remote Norwegian nursing home while trying to save her grandmother from dementia, was presented with deadpan, self-deprecating humor by Dahle and producer Jon Vatne, who wore matching sweaters, at a day-long Frontières pitching event on July 22.
The project, one of the 20 titles in Frontières official selection, received a boisterous, laugh-inducing response from the packed Frontières audience of fellow pitchers and buyer and industry delegates. 300 delegates from 24 countries attended the market, including team members of projects in its official selection, Genre Lab, Shorts To Features, and Music strands.
Outpost Special Awards were presented to two titles in the Shorts to Features category. “Reset” is U.S. directors Celine Tien and Jerry Hsu’s sci-fi drama about a program that resets the elderly into children to remain economically useful; the short is screening in Fantasia’s official international short film competition. “Sea Spirits” is director Edson Jean’s Haiti-set gothic folk horror about a guilt-ridden mother haunted by her daughter, who is lost at sea and refuses to leave the country in search of her ghost.
The PurpleDOG Award for an official selection project, which comes with a prize of post-production services, went to “Cher,” the first project out of Thailand participating in Frontières, a supernatural folk horror about a vengeance-seeking forest spirit who emerges near a remote mining camp that is trespassing on sacred forestland.
The PurpleDOG Award for a project in the Gender Equity in Media Society (GEMS) section of the Genre Film Lab went to “Wifey,” Canadian director Cassidy Civiero’s horror thriller about an independent artist about to transition female-to-male who is is forced into a non-consensual marriage in which traditional gender norms are used as a violent weapon.
The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival Award, which comes with an invitation to pitch at the Sitges festival in October, went to “Eternal Valley,” U.K. director Jasmine De Silva’s dark comedy body horror, a feature project based on her proof-of-concept short film “Beauty Sleep,” which had its world premiere at Fantasia in 2025.
“The feedback we’ve received from participants about the projects pitched last Wednesday has been overwhelmingly positive,” Frontières executive director Annick Mahnert told Variety shortly before the award ceremony.
“People have praised not only the exceptional quality of the projects themselves, but also the filmmakers’ pitch presentations. Every year, the bar is raised even higher, and I believe that’s why decision-makers return year after year. They trust our curation.”
One-on-one meetings and industry seminars conclude on July 25.
Here is the full list of Frontières award winners and their prizes:
Outpost Award of CAD$15,000 (US$10,637) in post-production services: “Grandmonster”
Outpost Special Mention Award of CAD$5,000 (US$3545) in post-production services: “Reset”
Outpost Special Mention: Award of CAD$5,000 (US$3545) in post-production services: “Sea Spirits”
PurpleDOG award to Official Selection project, CAD$10,000 (US$7091) in post-production services: “Cher”
PurpleDOG award to GEMS project, CAD$10,000 (US$7091) in post-production services: “Wifey”
Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival: an invitation to pitch at the Sitges Festival next October, “Eternal Valley”
