Manchester’s horror film and culture festival Grimmfest, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, is back (3-6 October, ODEON Great Northern) with 2019’s Awards Jury recently announced, as well as exciting news of prizes and sponsors.

Voted as one of the top ‘30 Bloody Best Genre Fests in the World’ by MovieMaker magazine, Grimmfest has gained international recognition as one of the finest of its kind: not only showcasing new horror film creativity but celebrating it through their inaugural award scheme.

Panel Jury

Having received the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ at Grimmfest 2018, horror movie icon Barbara Crampton (first left - renowned for her roles in films such as RE-ANIMATOR and YOU’RE NEXT) will be chairing this year’s awards jury, which consists of 5 other genre experts.

The 5 new judges on the panel (pictured above) are Jennifer Handorf (film producer with credits including PREVENGE, THE CHAMBER), Amanda Presmyk (film producer for FANGORIA and CINESTATE, with credits including PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH), Anton Bitel (film critic for publications including SIGHT & SOUND, LITTLE WHITE LIES and SCIFINOW), Nikki Baughan (film critic for publications including SCREEN INTERNATIONAL, SIGHT & SOUND) and James Fler (sales agent for RAVEN BANNER ENTERTAINMENT, whose titles include TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID, LIFECHANGER).

Along with chair Barbara Crampton, this strong judging jury will view the films selected for Grimmfest 2019 – with short and feature-length film submissions still being accepted via FilmFreeway (Deadline: 7 July, late deadline: 4 August). The jury will then decide on winners for a range of awards, including even more opportunities and a total of £120,000s worth of post-production services for some of the winning filmmakers:

2019 AWARDS PRIZES AND SPONSORS: 

  1. BEST FEATURE FILM and BEST DIRECTOR

Both awards sponsored by film financier and producer Michael Laundon, with a prize of £40,000s worth of post-production funding to be awarded to each winning filmmaker for a future feature production (subject to terms and conditions).

  1. BEST SHORT FILM

Sponsored by video-on-demand platform Shudder, who are offering an airing of the winning film on their channel.

  1. BEST SCREENPLAY

Sponsored by leading screenwriting software company Final Draft, with a free copy of the latest version of the software offered for the winner. Also sponsored by Inktip who are offering the winner a free screenplay listing on their website.

  1. BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Sponsored by UK-based post-production house One Bright Dot, who are offering 10 days’ grade/online plus 10 days’ VFX and picture deliverables, for a total value of £20,000’s worth of post-production services.

  1. BEST SCORE

Sponsored by Grimm Entertainment, the feature film development and production arm of Grimmfest, who will offer the winning composer an opportunity to score one of their upcoming productions.

  1. BEST ACTOR
  2. BEST ACTRESS
  3. BEST SFX

Sponsored by Fangoria magazine, offering online coverage of the award-winning piece of work, plus a year’s subscription to the magazine.

  1. BEST KILL

Sponsored by Dread Central, who are offering online coverage of the award-winning film.

  1. BEST SCARE

Sponsored by Rue Morgue magazine, who are offering an article on the award-winning film, plus a year’s subscription to the magazine.

In addition to the above listed awards which will be deliberated by the awards jury, Grimmfest will also present the following 3 awards:

12. BEST WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Sponsored by Michael Laundon, Film Seekers and Screen International, the winner will receive £20,000s worth of post-production funding (subject to terms and conditions), an offer of international sales representation and a year’s subscription to Screen International magazine.

13. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Sponsored by Horror Channel who will present this award to honour a very special guest on their body of work within genre cinema.

14. AUDIENCE AWARD

Sponsored by Shudder, who will award the winning filmmakers with a 12-month subscription to their video-on-demand service.

Grimmfest 2019 will take place 3 – 6 October at Odeon Great Northern in Manchester, UK. Until then, audiences can enjoy their range of horror film screenings at Stockport’s Plaza Cinema (for example, a Hammer Horror double bill) sponsored by the Horror Channel, and stay updated via the Grimmfest website.