‘Handling the Undead’ Takes Top Prize at Neuchatel
variety.comBen Croll Thea Hvistendahl’s atmospheric slow-burn “Handling the Undead” took top honors at this year’s Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF), claiming the festival’s H.R.
Giger “Narcisse” prize alongside the Silver Méliès for best fantastic European feature. Toplined by “The Worst Person in the World” stars Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie, director Thea Hvistendahl’s feature debut repurposes walking-dead tropes, reimagining the traditional zombie movie as a more ambient reflection on family grief. “Full of frail, mortal feeling and overcast last-days imagery, ‘Handling the Undead’ lingers coolly in the bones longer than many zombie films that offer more immediate, grisly gratification,” Variety’s Guy Lodge wrote out of Sundance. “It’s a living-dead nightmare with a brain and a heart, and, most importantly and indelibly, a soul.” This year’s international jury – made up of sci-fi author Saul Pandelakis, filmmakers Ishan Shukla and João Pedro Rodrigues, festival programmer Annick Mahnert, and photographer Kourtney Roy – also gave a special mention to Tilman Singer’s gonzo, Hunter Schafer-led freak-out “Cuckoo” and awarded Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow” the Imaging the Future prize best production design.
That all three films arrived with laurels from Sundance and Berlin – and, perhaps more importantly, with both Swiss and U.S.
distribution secured – reflects the growing pride of place for elevated genre fare in festival selections and in the marketplace.
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