Norwegian director Vegard Dahle’s zombie comedy “Grandmonster” won the top Outpost award and a post-production services award at Fantasia Festival’s prestigious Frontières Co-Production Market, which handed out six awards at its closing cocktail party on July 25.

The film, about an American dropout who unwittingly triggers a zombie outbreak in a remote Norwegian nursing home while trying to save her grandmother from dementia, was introduced with deadpan, self-deprecating humor by Dahle and producer Jon Vatne, who wore matching sweaters, at a daylong Frontières launch event on July 22.

The project, one of 20 titles in the official Frontières selection, received a boisterous and fun response from the packed Frontières audience of fellow launchers, buyers and industry delegates. The market was attended by 300 delegates from 24 countries, including project team members from its official selection, Genre Lab, Shorts To Features and Music.

Outpost Special Awards were presented to two titles in the Shorts to Feature category. “Reset” is the science fiction drama from American directors Celine Tien and Jerry Hsu about a program that transforms the elderly into children so that they remain economically useful; The short is screened in Fantasia’s official international short film competition. “Sea Spirits” is a gothic folk horror film set in Haiti from director Edson Jean about a guilt-ridden mother haunted by her daughter, who is lost at sea and refuses to leave the country in search of her ghost.

The PurpleDOG Award for an Official Selection Project, which comes with an award for post-production services, went to “Cher,” Thailand’s first project to participate in Frontières, a supernatural folk horror about a revenge-seeking forest spirit who emerges near a remote mining camp that is invading a sacred forest.

The PurpleDOG Award for a project in the Genre Film Lab’s Gender Equity in Media Society (GEMS) section went to “Wifey,” Canadian director Cassidy Civiero’s horror thriller about an independent artist about to transition from woman to man who is forced into a non-consensual marriage in which traditional gender norms are used as a violent weapon.

The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival Award, which comes with an invitation to present at the Sitges festival in October, went to “Eternal Valley,” the black comedy body horror from British director Jasmine De Silva, a feature-length project based on her proof-of-concept short film “Beauty Sleep,” which had its world premiere at Fantasia in 2025.

“The feedback we have received from participants on the projects presented last Wednesday has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Frontières executive director Annick Mahnert. Variety shortly before the awards ceremony.

“People have praised not only the exceptional quality of the projects themselves, but also the presentations of the filmmakers. Each year, the bar is raised even higher and I think that is why the decision makers return year after year. They trust our selection.”

Individual meetings and industry seminars will conclude on July 25.

Here is the complete list of Frontières award winners and their awards:

Outpost Award of CAD$15,000 (US$10,637) in post-production services: “Grandmonster”
Outpost Special Mention Award of CAD$5,000 (US$3,545) in post-production services: “Reset”
Outpost Special Mention: CAD$5,000 (US$3,545) award in post-production services: “Sea Spirits”

PurpleDOG Award for Official Selection project, CAD$10,000 (US$7,091) in post-production services: “Cher”
PurpleDOG Award for the GEMS project, CAD$10,000 (US$7,091) in post-production services: “Wifey”
Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival: an invitation to present your pitch at the Sitges Festival next October, “Valle Eterno”