Press Release Méliès d’Or 2008 Sitges, 2008-10-09

The 2008 Méliès d’Or – for Best European fantastic film went to the Swedish genre master piece LET THE RIGHT ONE IN /LÅT DEN RÄTTE KOMMA IN by director Tomas Alfredson at the Méliès d’Or award ceremony at Sitges International Film Festival in Spain on the evening of October 9th 2008. This is the first time a Swedish film takes home the prestigious Méliès d’Or Award since its inception in 1996.

Previous winners include among others; The Day of the Beast/El Dia de la Bestia by Alex de la Igelsias (Spain), The Nameless/Los sin Nombre by Juame Balagueró (Spain), Possessed/Besat by Anders Rönnow-Klarlund (Denmark), The Green Butchers/De Grönne Slagtere by Anders Thomas Jensen (Denmark), Princess by Anders Morgenthaler (Denmark), Adam’s Apples/Adams Aebler by Anders Thomas Jensen (Denmark) as well as Code 46 by Michael Winterbottom (UK).

In existence since 1996, the Méliès d’Or Award is a unique competition: it is the only film competition organised between collaborating film festivals in Europe. The competition is open to both features and short films. The Méliès d’Or Competition for features is organised by all the affiliated members of the Federation. Each Competition cycle takes approximately one year and is organised in two stages. In the first stage, each participating festival organises a Competition during its event, at the end of which a European film is awarded with a Méliès d’Argent. This film is automatically nominated to take part in the Méliès d’Or Competition. Once all the affiliated members have awarded their own Méliès d’Argent, the next festival on the calendar organises the Méliès d’Or Competition and Award Ceremony.

Nine films competed for the prestigious award:
KING OF THE HILL (Gonzalo López-Gallego, Spain, 2008)
Méliès d’Argent winner at Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, The Netherlands
FRONTIÉRE (Xavier Gens, France, 2007)
Méliès d’Argent winner at Brussels Intl. Festival of Fantastic Film, Belgium
THE SUBSTITUTE (Ole Bornedal, Denmark, 2007)
Méliès d’Argent winner at Espoo Ciné Intl. Film Festival, Finland
THE ORPHANAGE (Juan Antonio Bayona, Spain/Mexico, 2007)
Méliès d’Argent winner at Fanomenon – Leeds Intl. Film Festival, UK
FERMET’S ROOM (Luis Piedrahita/Rodrigo Sopena, Spain, 2007)
Méliès d’Argent winner at Fantasporto – Oporto Intl. Film Festival, Portugal
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (Tomas Alfredson, Sweden, 2008)
Méliès d’Argent winner at Neuchatel Intl. Fantastic Film Festival, Switzerland
INSIDE (Julien Maury/Alexandre Bustillo, France, 2007)
Méliès d’Argent winner at Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya, Spain
THE GIRL BY THE LAKE (Andrea Molaioli, Italy, 2007)
Méliès d’Argent winner at Fantafestival Rome/Latina, Italy
LEFT (Froukje Tan, Netherlands, 2008)
Méliès d’Argent winner at Lund Intl. Fantastic Film Festival, Sweden

Short Film Méliès d’Or 2008
Of Cats & Women (Jonas Govaerts, Belgium, 2007)
Short film nominee for a Méliès d’Or at Brussels Intl. Festival of Fantastic Film, Belgium

With the organisation of a Méliès d’Or competition, the Federation intends to highlight the quality and originality of European cinema and to guide the renewal of the genre film on the entire continent, whether in Spain, France, the Scandinavian countries, etcetera…

The European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation also sees itself as a solid network of festivals, facilitating the circulation of films between its members. Today counting 23 film festivals from 17 countries, including supporting members in Asia and North America, each one functioning as a national antenna, the Federation aims to become an important, even essential, pole in the cultural and economic circuit of European fantastic film.

More info about the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation and the Méliès d’Or @ www.melies.org
Christian Hallman Producer/Coordinator Melies.org
+46 704 934040, christian@melies.org