Mother Of Flies, the latest feature from the US filmmaking family of John Adams, Zelda Adams and Toby Poser (collectively known as the Adams Family), has won the top prize at Canadian genre fest Fantasia.
It is the first feature from the US to win the Cheval Noir Award for best film at Fantasia in the festival’s 29-year history. The thriller-horror is inspired by the family’s own experiences of illness, and focuses on a college student, played by Zelda Adams, whose cancer returns. The feature also won the Cheval Noir Award for best motion picture score.
Shudder has acquired the film for release across North America, UK-Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
Best Director went to Indonesia filmmaker Hadrah Daeng Ratu, for her supernatural shocker The Book Of Sijjin And Illiyyin, while best screenplay was awarded to US-UK writing duo Connor Diedrich and Samuel Johnson, for their work on Steve Pink’s Terrestrial.
SXSW world premiere It Ends, the debut feature from LA-based filmmaker Alexander Ullom, took home best first feature in the festival’s New Flesh competition.
The festival runs from July 17 to August 3.
Fantasia 2025 award winners
Cheval Noir best film – Mother Of Flies dirs. John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser
Best screenplay – Connor Diedrich and Samuel Johnson, Terrestrial (dir. Steve Pink)
Best cinematography – Alex Metcalfe, Cielo (dir. Alberto Sciamma)
The Sandro Forte Award for best motion picture score – H6LLB6ND6R, Mother Of Files
Outstanding performance award – Bakhytzhan Alpeis, Stinker (dir. Yerden Telemissov)
Outstanding performance award – Ui Mihara, I Fell In Love With A Z-Grade Director In Brooklyn (dir. Kenichi Ugana)
New Flesh best first feature – It Ends dir. Alexander Ullom
Santoshi Kon best animated feature – The Girl Who Stole Time dirs. Yu Ao and Zhou Tienan
Northern Excellence for best Canadian filmmaker – Chloé Cinq-Mars dir. Nesting
AQCC best film – The Virgin Of The Quarry Lake dir. Laura Casabe
Poulin Noir best film (gold) – The Sound Of Raindrops dirs. Max Banse, Julie Blanc, Alvaro Deolio, Elena Forlini, Estelle Jourdan, Gabriel Riera, and Lila Trouvé
Poulin Noir best film (silver) – Soap Box dir. Jimmy Pettigrew
Poulin Noir best film (bronze) – Christopher And The Bug dir. Vanessa Lynn Esteves
Special jury mentions
Cheval Noir nest film – New Group dir. Yuta Shimotsu
New Flesh best first feature – Fucktoys dir. Annapurna Sriram and Hellcat dir. Brock Bodell
Santoshi Kon best animated feature – I Am Frankelda dirs. Arturo Ambriz, Roy Ambriz
Northern Excellence for best Canadian filmmaker – Buffet Infinity dir. Simon Glassman
AQCC best film – Burning dir. Radik Eshimov
Poulain Noir – The Little One And The Giant dir. Isabela Costa and A Small Garden By The Window dir. Lee Jong-hoon
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