On Sunday, October 22, the fifth edition of Dracula Film Festival, an event dedicated to horror, fantasy and SF, has ended. The Dracula Trophy was awarded to The Wanderers, directed by Dragoş Buliga, a local indie horror with vampires.
For five days, cinema enthusyasts present in Brasov could watch over 55 feature films and short films from 16 countries, they participated in conferences on the challenges of producing genre films, or marched on the streets in the first zombie walk organized in the city under Tampa .
Armand Assante, the special guest of the festival, present in Brasov for the screening of The Wanderers, directed by Dragoş Buliga, in which he plays the main role, received the honorary trophy Count Dracula. Attracted by Emil Cioran’s nihilist philosophy, Assante told the Braşov public that in order to understand how a character like Dracula worked, he read the work of the great Romanian author.
The Wanderers is also the winner of the Dracula 2017 Trophy and the 1,000 Euro prize: “A unique mix of genres, a very good communion of horror, splatter, humor, drama and fantasy. An intelligent melange of different languages that highlights in an excellent manner the international cast. The Romanian landscapes added a special flavor to the Gothic story and contributed to the cementing of the autochthonous production in the patterns of the genre. “, motivated the choice of the jury composed of Serbian director Milan Todorovic, Romain Roll, Market Manager of the Fantastic International Film Festival in Brussels and Paul McEvoy, founder of Horror Channel FrightFest.
The German-Canadian co-production Replace, a horror thriller about youth obsession and the way the medical and cosmetic industry take advantage of it, directed by Norbert Keil, has been awarded a special mention “for the powerful and exciting visual style of a talent in becoming.”
The Danish production Sunkent Convent, an adaptation after Hans Christian Andersen’s short story, directed by Michael Panduro, “a brave and fascinating film, that remains in the viewer’s mind for a long time after watching, maybe because it does not provide clear answers “, won the trophy Little Dracula for Best International Short Film.
The Vladutz Trophy for best Romanian short film was awarded to OffStage, directed by Andrei Hutuleac, “for the particularly humorous and surrealistic humor, admirably handled in every frame and sequence.”
Special mention was also given to the Swiss animation Ooze, directed by Kilian Vilim, “for the simplicity of the visual approach and for the courageous inspiration to approach the animated film as a comic strip using rules and graphics to build and score a story”.
The jury of the short section was composed by director Radu Potcoavă, architect Oana Truscă and electronic music composer Ioan Titu aka Silent Strike.
Eliberare, a short film made with the mobile phone during the festival, starting from “captive,” “muddy” and “franzel”, is the winner of the Dracula Digital trophy and the 500 Euro prize. Dracula Digital is a competition for amateurs who make movies with their mobile phone.
The jury of Dracula Digital was made up of Răzvan Pătraşcu (Firestarter CEO), Răzvan Pascu (Creative Director Amural and Pupil at Aural Eye), Horia Petrascu (photographer, curator, artist) and Horea Rareş Paştina (3D artist, editor and character animator for animation and games).
Eliberare can be viewed here: http://draculadigital.ro/
Dracula Film Festival took place in Braşov, October 18-22, at “Sică Alexandrescu” Theater, Patria Cinematheque, Cinema One and Reduta Cultural Center.
Dracula Film Festival is an annual event organized by the Fanzin Cultural Association and presented by Viasat History. The festival is funded by the Brasov City Hall, the Brasov County Council and the National Center for Cinematography.
Sponsors: Arvato, Coresi, Optiplaza, Police, Scanexpert, Rădacini Motors, Zizin, Romarg, Johnny Walker, Liliac
Culinary partner: Sergiana
The car of the festival: Mazda
Institutional partners: Sică Alexandrescu Theatre, Reduta Cultural Center, Cinemateca Patria, Cinema One, Otaku, MercenarLab, Metropolitan Agency Brasov, Transilvania University Brașov, County Museum of History Brasov
Media partners: KISS FM, Zile și Nopți, Cinemap, Radio România Cultural, AaRc.ro, Art7.fm, Cațavencii, Dinfilme.ro, Festivalier.ro, Life.ro, Noizz.ro, MovieNews.ro, Vice, Ziarul Metropolis, Raftul cu Filme, Urban.ro, Horrorum.ro.
Local media partners: fwdBV.ro, Bizbrasov.ro, CulturaBV.ro, MyTex.ro, Transilvania Express
