Thea Hvistendahl’s Norwegian horror picture Handling The Undead, won the best feature prize at the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) in Switzerland. Known as the H.R. Giger ‘Narcisse’ award, the prize is worth 10,000 Swiss francs (£8,600).
TrustNordisk is selling the film which will be handled in Switzerland by Filmcoopi Zurich.
The international competition jury also gave a special mention to German director Tilman Singer’s Neon-backed horror thriller, Cuckoo, starring Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens. The Swiss release is handled by Praesens Film.
Among other prizes, the RTS audience award went to Irish director Damian Mc Carthy ’s paranormal horror film Oddity, handled internationally by UK outfit Blue Finch, while Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In by Soi Cheang won the audience prize for best Asian Fflm in the festival’s Asian Competition.
Ennennum (Now And Forever) from Indian director Shalini Ushadev won the NIFFF International critics’ prize.
Half of the movies in the international competition were directed by women or non-binary filmmakers. The selection included the Swiss premiere of non-binary director Jane Schoenbrun’s teen angst horror film I Saw The TV Glow.
“It was not artificial. II think it was very organic to have more and more female and non-binary/queen [filmmakers]. I think that is really, really important,” NIFFF artistic director Pierre-Yves Walder said of his programming strategy. “We will go on like this.”
Total admissions of 35,000 were marginally up on the 2023 edition.
The festival reported sell-out screenings for its Eat The Rich retrospective including “richsploitation” titles such as Mamoru Oshiii’s Ghost In The Shell, George A Romero’s Land Of The Dead and Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer.
Swiss launch
NIFFF is increasingly used by distributors to generate press and publicity in advance of the films’ Swiss releases. The festival is also a useful international launchpad for new Swiss fantasy and genre films including films like Sophia Bösch’s directorial debut Milkteeth, which screened in the Amazing Switzerland sidebar.
In future editions, Walder is hoping to boost NIFFF’s international industry activities and is considering introducing a projects market, including a potential collaboration with Frontières, the market event at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal taking place later this month.
For now, though, the festival director is basking in what has been a successful and well-attended edition. “People trust us as an event,” he said. “They like to be at the festival. In a time of streaming and when people have access to everything everywhere, Curation is key.”
Guests in Neuchâtel included Asia Argento, who presented a series of her favourite films including Georges Franju’s 1960 classic, Eyes Without A Face. Argento also participated in a Q&A to accompany Indian filmmaker Ishan Shukla’s sci fi animated feature Schirkoa, in which she stars, playing in the Asian competition.
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