This year’s Sitges Film Festival is soon coming to an end. So it is time to recollect who has and will get their awards this year, besides the final list of awards for the productions in competition this 2019, which will be announced the last day of the festival. One of the nice facts of Sitges Film Festival is that along its 10 days of events, many stars pay their visit on separate days. So every day one can see a masterclass, a photo shooting or a red carpet appearance. Here we share a list of the awarded people and the final dish that will be Sam Neill.
Patrick Wilson was present the opening day of the festival, to present together with its director Vicenzo Natali their new film In The Tall Grass (2019). But that was not the only excuse for the actor to be present at the festival, because as part of the Opening Gala he is receiving the Time Machine Award. A homage for a performer who has dedicated an extense part of his career to genre films that can include the controversial Hard Candy (2005), Watchmen (2009), Prometheus (2009), Space Station 76 (2014), or Bone Tomahawk (2015), and, overall, his appearance in the sagas Insidious, The Conjuring and Annabelle.
Other Time Machine Award winners are Charles Band, American director, and producer of hundreds of horror, science fiction, fantasy and comedy movies, who also was in charge of kicking off the traditional Sitges Zombie Walk. One of the most prolific producers of Hollywood B Movies during the 80s and 90s. Spanish actors Javier Botet and Maribel Verdú also received the Time Machine Award on Monday 7th.
Pupi Avati got the Nosferatu Award on Sunday 6th. Italian musician and director, he collaborated with Pier Paolo Pasolini on the screenplay for Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), and has touched a wide variety of genres, from musical biopic Bix (1991) to romantic comedy Incantato (2003) , and he has bequeathed us with great works in Italian fantastic genre such as La casa dalle finestre che ridono (1976), Zeder (1983) and L’Arcano incantatore (1996).
Asia Argento might ring a bell because how her last name is linked forever to the genres of horror and Giallo. But the daughter of Dario Argento doesn’t live off her name, and she is a prolific actress and director with an admirable career of her own. On Sunday the 6th she received her Méliès Career Award, one of the most important awards of the festival. Debuting at an early age in classic Giallo titles, she has been present in movies like Zoo (Cristina Comencini, 1988), Red Wood Pidgeon (Nanni Moretti, 1989) and The Church (Michele Soavi, 1989). The third was produced by her father, Dario Argento, who has directed her in movies such as Trauma (1993), The Stendhal Syndrome (1996) or Mother of Tears (2007). Other remarkable works are her performances in New Rose Hotel (Abel Ferrara, 1998), xXx (Rob Cohen, 2002), Land of the Dead (George A. Romero, 2005), Boarding Gate (Olivier Assayas, 2007) and On War (Bertrand Bonello, 2008). She debuted as the director of a feature film with Scarlet Diva (2000), which was followed by The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) and Misunderstood (2014).
On October the 11th, Luis Gasca will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for his active work related to film and comics. And to top it all, on Saturday, October 12th, Sam Neill will receive his Grand Honorary Award. A man who needs no introduction, he has been present in numerous productions including Possession (1981), Evil Angels (1988) and Dead Calm (1989). Although, undoubtfully, his biggest contribution to the genres of fantasy, science-fiction, and horror have been starring two iconic titles as can be Steven Spielberg‘s Jurassic Park (1993) and John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness (1994).
Other celebrities that have and will walk through the Red Carpet are Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Alice Waddington, Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, Olga Kurylenko, Gaspar Noé, Richard Stanley, Aaron Paul, and Nancy Bishop.
