Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2019 Awards

The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival closed out its fourth edition on October 24th with a sold-out screening of Joe Begos’ VFW. The Screening was hosted at Nitehawk Cinema Prospect Park with Director Joe Begos, Writer Max Brallier, and cast members Stephen Lang, Tom Williamson and Linnea Wilson in attendance.

This year the festival featured over 100 films and events across Brooklyn at Nitehawk Cinema, Cobble Hill Cinema, IFP Made in NY Media Center and Long Island University’s Kumble Theater. Guests included filmmakers Adam Egypt Mortimer, Travis Stevens, Joe Begos, David Gregory, Carlo Mirabella-Davis, Karen Arthur as part of the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies talk and more. This year’s fest also welcomed many cast members including Phil “CM Punk”  Brooks and Trieste Kelly Dunn with GIRL ON THE THIRD FLOOR, Miles Robbins with DANIEL ISN’T REAL, Jeffrey B. Chapman with SPIRAL and Tom Williamson & Stephen Lang with our audience award winner VFW.

Brooklyn Horror was proud to partner with premium sponsors ALTER, Blood Manor, IFC Midnight, Spamflix and Fangoria, who produced the acclaimed VFW and presented the festival’s closing night party.

After welcoming more festival attendees, film guests and putting on more events than ever before, Brooklyn Horror has been recognized as ‘One of the country’s premier indie horror showcases’ by Vulture and continues to grow and offer festival-goers a unique and internationally celebrated experience.

This year the festival welcomed Tom Philip, Journalist for GQ, Jess Mills, Director of Content Marketing for Breaker, and Heather Buckley, Producer, THE RANGER, BLOOD & FLESH on the horror jury, and awarded DANIEL ISN’T REAL with the best picture and best director.

The Head Trip Jury, which focuses on genre films that push outside the bar of horror cinema, featured Madeline Whittle, Programmer at Film at Lincoln Center, Madeleine Koestner, Journalist for Rue Morgue, and Charles Bramesco, Journalist for The Guardian, who awarded Jagoda Szelc’s MONUMENT top honors and a trio of awards for SWALLOW including best actress, best screenplay and best production design.

The 2019 Shorts Jury consisted of Anya Stanley, Journalist for Dread Central, Jamie Righetti, Social Media Manager for IFC Midnight, and Sean Redlitz, PR Director at Shudder and top honors was given to Branden Cronenburg’s mind-fuck of a short film PLEASE SPEAK CONTINUOUSLY AND DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCES AS THEY COME TO YOU. The jury also awarded numerous special jury awards.

HOME INVASION, a special offering of BHFF centered on platforming films from local filmmakers, invited Chelsea Lupkin (Alumni ‘18), Ben Sottak (Alumni ‘17), and Julia Zanin de Paula (Alumni ‘17) to return for the Shorts jury, and who offered distinctions towards THE MUFFIN MAN for best short and best director to Carlen May-Mann’s for THE RAT which is now available via festival partner ALTER.

Complete list of award winners can be found below:

HORROR FEATURE COMPETITION

Best Picture – DANIEL ISN’T REAL dir. Adam Egypt Mortimer

Best Director – Adam Egypt Mortimer, DANIEL ISN’T REAL

Best Screenplay – Johannes Nyholm, KOKO-DI KOKO-DA

Best Actress – Nina Medeiros, THE FATHER’S SHADOW

Best Actor – Stephen Lang, David Patrick Kelly, William Sadler, Fred Williamson, George Wendt, Martin Kove VFW

Special Jury Award – KOKO-DI KOKO-DA dir. Johannes Nyholm

Best Gooey Effects – GIRL ON THE THIRD FLOOR dir. Travis Stevens

Audience Award – VFW dir. Joe Begos

HEAD TRIP FEATURE COMPETITION

Best Picture – MONUMENT dir. Jagoda Szelc

Best Director – Ramon Porto Mota, THE YELLOW NIGHT

Best Cinematography – Matthew Macar, THE LONG WALK

Best Screenplay – Carlo Mirabella-Davis, SWALLOW

Best Production Design – Erin Magill, SWALLOW

Best Sound Design – Rafal Nowak, MONUMENT

Best Actor – Yannawoutthi Chantalungsy, THE LONG WALK

Best Actress – Haley Bennett, SWALLOW

Special Jury Awards

Best Film Within a Film – ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS

Best Performance of a Dog – Toto the Guinea Pig, ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS

Best Ensemble – Cast of MONUMENT

Audience Award – SWALLOW dir. Carlo-Mirabella Davis

SHORTS COMPETITION

Best Short – PLEASE SPEAK CONTINUOUSLY AND DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCES AS THEY COME TO YOU dir. Brandon Cronenberg

Best Performance – Lisa Smit, LILI

Best Supporting Performance – Felicity Steel, MIDNIGHT TALK

Best Director – Nico Van den Brink, THE BURDEN

Best Screenplay – Yfke Van Berckelaer, LILI

Best Cinematography – Matthew Lynn, INFERNO

Best Editing – Maïlys Degraeve, SWITCH

Best Score – Kenya Gillespie, JEREMIAH

Best Sound Design – Matt Davies and Cazz Cerkez, SKIN OF MAN

Best VFX – Cristina Asenjo and Antonio Naranjo, STIGMA

Best WTF Short – VALERIO’S DAY OUT dir. Michael Arcos

Special Jury Award – GIRL IN THE HALLWAY dir. Valerie Barnhart

Audience Award – BATHROOM TROLL dir. Aaron Immediato

HOME INVASION SHORTS

Best Film – THE MUFFIN MAN dir. Ethan Blum

Best Director – Carlen May-Mann, THE RAT

Best Actress – Ella Rae Peck, BRAIN JAIL

Best Actor – Peter Vack, DEEP TISSUE

Special Jury Award – LAUNDRY NIGHT dir. A.K. Espada

Brooklyn Horror Film Festival will return for its fifth edition in 2020, look out for announcements of dates, submissions and badges this winter.