L’Etrange Festival rewards Kill and The Young Woman with the Needle (2024 awards)

The Indian production won the Grand Prix Nouveau Genre, while the Cannes feature film was acclaimed by the public.

There 30th edition of the Strange Festival recently closed in Paris with great success. As every year, the public was able to discover several astonishing, atypical productions on the border of genres. On the feature film side, twelve of them were in competition for the Grand Prix Nouveau Genre. Among them, it is therefore Kill by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, who emerged as the big winner.

Coming from India, this tough-guy film made a smashing entrance. A young man, a member of the special forces, boards the Rajdhani Express to prevent the woman he loves from being forcibly married. But on board, a gang of thieves takes the passengers hostage. A bloody and merciless fight then begins between the carriages – a sort of John Wickbut on a night train, with ultra-violent fight scenes. Thanks to this prize, Killreleased in France on September 11, was bought by Canal + (partner of the festival) and will therefore soon be broadcast on the channel.

Kill: An Explosive and Enjoyable Massacre Game (Review)

Shunned at the Cannes Film Festival where he was competing for the Palme d’Or, The Young Woman with the Needlee, by Magnus Von Horn, received the Audience Award. Inspired by true events that hit the headlines, the story takes place in Copenhagen in 1918. Karoline, a young worker, lives in poverty. Abandoned by her husband, she has an affair with her boss and falls pregnant. He abandons her, and while her husband returns from the war completely disfigured, she wants to have an abortion. That’s without counting on her meeting with Dagmar, a mysterious woman who runs a child trafficking ring. A true crime filtered in black and white.

Cannes 2024: The Young Woman with the Needle, What Horrors (review)

On the short film side, the Canal + Grand Prix goes to Rusalochka by Dasha Charusha, a Russian production that revisits the tale of The Little Mermaidvery far from its childish Disney version, the synopsis warns us. Perhaps even in the same spirit as these recent horrific rewrites like the upcoming Mickey Mouse one? The Audience Award goes to Chew by Felix Dobaire.

To celebrate its pearl wedding anniversary with genre cinema, a new prize was awarded, L’Etrange Prix Logical. For the Grand Prix, a jury chaired by Xavier Gens (Under the Seine) including Just Phillippot (The Cloud, Acid) and Manuel Chiche (President of The Jokers Films), selected Strangerwritten by Julien Hamelin from among 150 scripts sent. He will thus receive help from Logical Pictures Group to develop his genre film project.

The complete and detailed list of winners can be found on the Etrange Festival website.