Outside dedicated genre festivals, horror movies rarely win prizes. But yesterday Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani's Amer exceeded expectations by nabbing the Audience Award at the 38th Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal. The surrealist film, which includes elements of homage to past genre classics, follows a woman's journey of self discovery, with what at first seems erotic becoming increasingly oppressive. It has been praised for its rich imagery and intelligently fractured narrative.
Also doing well in Montreal were Cannes award winner Canine, about a strangely disjointed family, and Should I Really Do It?, in which a German immigrant in Turkey tells her life story to a masked stranger. The prize for Best Canadian Feature went to Nuages Sur la Ville, which looks at how successive generations in a small town have experienced a changing world.
Peruvian actress Magaly Solier took the festival's acting award for her third film, Fausta: La Teta Asustada, which was released across most of Europe earlier this year.
