Big Awards on the Day of 'The Long March' and the Tribute to Gale Anne Hurd
The SITGES – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia wraps up its 58th edition with an intense blend of emotions, dystopias, and tributes. Sitges 2025 reached its climax with the screening of The Long Walk, the eagerly awaited adaptation of Stephen King's novel directed by the man behind The Hunger Games, while films such as The Ice Tower, The Holy Boy, and The Restoration at Grayson Manor -this year's surprise film- were the stars of a top-tier final stretch.
Set in a dystopian America ruled by a totalitarian regime, The Long Walk was the film chosen to bring this splendid edition of the Sitges Film Festival to a close. Directed by Francis Lawrence (Constantine), it tells the story of fifty teenagers forced to take part in a deadly contest. The audience had an intense experience watching this unsettling survival story, as moving as it is heartbreaking, which reflects on friendship and resistance in times of despair. Before the screening, Gale Anne Hurd, producer of classics including The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, and the television series The Walking Dead, was awarded the WomanInFan Grand Honorary Award. And so, Hurd stands out at the world's benchmark genre Festival as one of the great MaestrAs who have transformed the fantastic and horror genres from within, spearheading hugely successful franchises with a creative, strategic, and innovative vision.
On the other hand, Lucile Hadzihalilovic's hypnotic The Ice Tower was also a major standout. This is a dark and elegant fairy tale set in the 1970s, where an orphaned teenager finds refuge on a movie set, only to discover a fascination that is as seductive as it is destructive.
As if that weren't enough, tonight saw the screening of the surprise film, The Restoration at Grayson Manor, a gothic tale of queer repression about a mutilated young man and a mother willing to push the limits of technology to give him back what he lost. The film, which received rave reviews at Fantastic Fest, confirms the power of Irish director Glenn McQuaid as a talent to be followed closely.
Meanwhile, the Noves Visions section concluded with the screening of The Holy Boy, which shocked audiences at the Prado Theater with its portrayal of a seemingly idyllic Italian village, where a teenager whose embrace promises to heal pain becomes the epicenter of disturbing fanaticism. The film, directed by Italian Paolo Strippoli, is an unsettling reflection on faith and collective madness, which aroused a mixture of applause and awe among the audience.
As for the awards, it has been a year of shared prizes, with a few exceptions. The brutal satire The Ugly Stepsister by Emilie Blichfeldt, an ingenious feminist rewriting of folklore, won the Award for Best Feature Film, while the Special Jury Award was given jointly to the stunning martial arts display by Kenji Tanigaki in The Furious and Curry Barker, director of the chilling Obsession, which also won the Audience Choice Award and the Carnet Jove Jury Award. The film offers a terrifying portrait of the objectification of love and the limits of affection, which produced very positive sensations among the audience.
Likewise, the Jury of the Official Fantàstic In Competition Selection -made up of Mary Harron, Peter Chan, Hernán Findling, Jovanka Vuckovic, and Laura Pedro- confirmed expectations by giving the Best Actress Award to Rose Byrne for her fascinating performance in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You. However, there was a huge surprise when we heard that the Award for Best Actor went to the entire male cast of the thrilling The Plague. A fantastic decision!