Lusca Fantastic Film Fest

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Lusca Fantastic Film Fest
Logo of Lusca Fantastic Film Festival.png
Location Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, United States
Founded2006
Website http://www.luscafilmfest.com

The Lusca Fantastic Film Fest (formerly Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest) is an annual film festival held in Puerto Rico. It is the first and only international fantastic film festival in the Caribbean devoted to sci-fi, thriller, fantasy, dark humor, bizarre, horror, anime, adventure, virtual reality and animation in short and feature films. [1] The event is held in San Juan, Puerto Rico metropolitan area, and other venues throughout the island of Puerto Rico. It runs for eight days during two weeks during October and November. [2] Its main objective is to promote cinematographic art by presenting high-quality short and feature films.

Contents

History

The festival was started in 2006, and took the form of a competitive festival in 2009. It is sponsored by Scene 51, Inc. and the Puerto Rico Film Academy since 2007. [1] In 2011, MovieMaker Magazine commented that the Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest was one of the “13 Horror Film Festivals to Die For.” [3] [4] [5] [6] In 2016 The Puerto Rico Horror Film Festival had a name change to LUSCA Caribbean International Fantastic Film Festival [7] expanding to more film genres and adding anime, adventure, virtual reality and an animation competition. In 2016, the Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest became LUSCA Caribbean International Fantastic Film Fest, retaining it identity in Lusca's Horror selections.[3]

Prominence

The Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest is a point of entry for movies that would otherwise not be shown in Puerto Rico due to the level of specialization of their genre. Since its inception, the Festival has grown in terms of programming, media relevance, and attendance. [1] The festival is attended by over 7,000 people and features an average of over 200 films. It is part of "La Alianza Latinoamericana de Festivales de Cine Fantástico", [8] [9] one of Latin America's main horror film festivals.

Awards

The festival has been the recipient of the following awards. [10] [11]

International winners

For the complete list of winners visit: Past Editions

YearBest Intl. Feature FilmBest Intl. ShortfilmBest Intl. DirectorIntl. Audience Award
2009 [12] The Last Gateway (Dir. Demián Rugna)Remote (Dir. Mark Roussel)
2011 [13] Krokodyle (Dir. Stefano Bessoni)Wilt (Dir. Daniel Vogelmann)
2013 [14] Halley (Dir. Sebastián Hofmann)Happy B-day (Dir Holger B. Frick)
2014 [15] Sacrament (Dir. Shawn Ewert)Subterraneo (Dir. Miguel A. Carmona)
2015 [16] III (Dir. Pavel Khvaleev)The Pond (Prod. Mark Wouters & Pieter Smelr) Isaac Ezban (El Incidente)
2016 [17] Train to Busan (Dir. Yeon Sang-ho)The Cleansing Hour (Dir. Damien LeVeck) Jaco Van Dormael (The Brand New Testament)The Dream Catcher (Prod. Dave Film School's Students)
2017 [18] Dave Made a Maze (Prod. John Charles Meyer)Apolo81 (Dir. Diego Luciano)Lukas Feigelfeld (Hagazussa: A Heathen's Curse)Hard Way - The Action Musical (Dir. Daniel Vogelmann)
2018 [19] Chimera (Dir. Maurice Haeems)The Heartbreak Factory (Dir. So Young Shelly S Yo) Kenji Nagasaki (My Hero Academia: Two Heroes)Oscar's Bell (Dir. Chris Cronin)
2019 Artik ( Dir. Tom Botchii)Roberta's Living Room (Dir. Judy K Suh) Mattie Do ( The Long Walk)
2020 Meander (Dir. Mathieu Turi)Moment (Dir. Geoffrey Uloth) Macoto Tezuka (Tezuka's Barbara)
2021Mstitel (Dir. Lucia Klein Svoboda)Chi Zhang (Annular Eclipse)Dana (Dir. Lucía Forner Segarra)
2022Kung Fu Girl (Dir. Devon Downs,Kenny Gage)Part forever (Dir. Alan Chung-An ,Ou)Yen Kuang Chen (Hideout)

Local winners

For the complete list of winners visit: Past Editions

YearBest Local Feature FilmBest Local ShortfilmBest Local DirectorLocal Audience Award
2009 [12] Los Unos y los Otros (Dir. Juanchi González)
2011 [13] Barricada (Dir. Vance McLean Ball & Joe Vargas)Jessica (Dir. Skip Font)
2013 [14] Under the Rain (Dir. Salvy Ortíz)
2014 [15] Los Reyes del Barrio (Dir. Angel Janer)Deathchaser (Dir. Carlos Martínez & Luis Morales)
2015 [16] Inergía: Sentience Into The Void (Dir. Juan G. Álvarez & Gilberto D. Vázquez)Gilberto D. Vázquez (Inergía: Sentience Into The Void)No te Duermas Cabrón (Dir. Yoanna Sánchez)
2016 [17] Cáscara o Semilla (Dir. Jeileen M. Ocasio / Javier E. Delgado)Javier Enrique Delgado Ruiz & Gilberto David Vázquez Gómez (Cáscara o Semilla)Lunas Rojas (Dir. Arturo E. Lizardi Rivera)
2017 [18] Lo Innombrable (Dir. Elijah Alicea & C.J. Lozada )Elijah Alicea & C.J. Lozada (Lo Innombrable)Alien Hand (Dir. Liz Nieves & Angel G. Nieves)

Xanathos (Dir. Wilfred Miranda)

2018 [19] Jaulas Invisibles (Dir. Gilberto D.Vázquez-Gómez)Gilberto D.Vázquez-Gómez (Jaulas Invisibles)Apartment 4 (Dir. Angel Janer)

Flush (Dir. Gabriel Morales)

International representation

The global film community participates in the Festival, among they are: Argentina, [4] [20] [21] Australia, Brazil, [21] Canada, Chile, [4] [21] Colombia, Costa Rica, [21] Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, [4] [22] Hong Kong, [21] Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, [4] [23] Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, [4] Russia, Scotland, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, [24] Sweden, Switzerland, United States of America, [4] United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, [21] Uruguay, [4] [21] Venezuela.

Notable celebrities

Some of the best known names in the film industry have participated in the PRHFF, including Zelda Rubinstein (Poltergeist) 2009, Tony Todd 2011 [25] (Candyman), Tippi Hedren in 2013, and Lloyd Kaufman in 2016, all of them awarded by the festival's Lifetime Achievement Award. [26]

Past editions

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References

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