Grandmonster wins Outpost Award at Fantasia’s Frontières market
Norwegian zombie comedy “Grandmonster” won Frontières’ top Outpost Award, with “Reset” and “Sea Spirits” earning special mentions.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
The Grandmonster Outpost Award win put a Norwegian zombie comedy at the front of Fantasia Festival’s Frontières Co-Production Market, where six prizes were handed out at the event’s closing cocktail, Variety reported.
Director Vegard Dahle’s “Grandmonster” received the top Outpost Award, which carries CAD$15,000, or US$10,637, in post-production services. The project was one of 20 titles in the Frontières official selection.
The film follows an American dropout who accidentally starts a zombie outbreak at a remote nursing home in Norway while trying to rescue her grandmother from dementia, according to Variety.
Dahle and producer Jon Vatne pitched the project during a full day of Frontières presentations on July 22. Variety reported that the pair appeared in matching sweaters and delivered the pitch with dry, self-mocking humor to a packed room of fellow filmmakers, buyers and industry delegates.
What is Grandmonster about?
“Grandmonster” is a zombie comedy centered on a family rescue mission gone disastrously wrong. Its premise mixes elder care, dementia and a remote Norwegian setting with an outbreak unleashed by accident.
Frontières drew 300 delegates from 24 countries, Variety reported. Attendees included teams from the market’s official selection, Genre Lab, Shorts to Features and Music strands.
Frontières executive director Annick Mahnert told Variety before the awards ceremony that response to the projects pitched that week had been “overwhelmingly positive.” She said participants praised both the quality of the projects and the filmmakers’ presentations, adding that decision-makers return because they trust the market’s curation.
Which other Frontières projects won awards?
Two Shorts to Features titles received Outpost Special Mention Awards, each worth CAD$5,000, or US$3,545, in post-production services.
- “Reset,” from U.S. directors Celine Tien and Jerry Hsu, is a sci-fi drama about a program that turns elderly people back into children so they can remain economically useful. Variety reported that the short is also screening in Fantasia’s official international short film competition.
- “Sea Spirits,” from director Edson Jean, is a Haiti-set gothic folk horror story about a mother haunted by her daughter, who was lost at sea and will not leave the country while searching for her ghost.
The PurpleDOG Award for a project in the official selection went to “Cher,” described by Variety as the first Thailand project to take part in Frontières. The supernatural folk horror follows a vengeful forest spirit who appears near a remote mining camp trespassing on sacred forestland. The prize includes CAD$10,000, or US$7,091, in post-production services.
A second PurpleDOG Award, given to a Gender Equity in Media Society project in the Genre Film Lab, went to “Wifey.” Canadian director Cassidy Civiero’s horror thriller follows an independent artist preparing to transition from female to male who is forced into a non-consensual marriage where traditional gender roles are used as a weapon. That prize also includes CAD$10,000, or US$7,091, in post-production services.
The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival Award went to “Eternal Valley,” a dark comedy body-horror project from U.K. director Jasmine De Silva. The award comes with an invitation to pitch at the Sitges festival in October. Variety reported that the feature is based on De Silva’s proof-of-concept short “Beauty Sleep,” which premiered at Fantasia in 2025.
One-on-one meetings and industry seminars were scheduled to wrap on July 25, according to Variety.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.