20/10/2026 - European co-productions such as The Spiral, The Birthday Party and Titanic Ocean have taken home other key awards
Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia has come to a close with an awards ceremony that crowned the winners of its 59th edition, with Marion Le Coroller’s Species taking home the top prize, the Award for Best Feature Film in the Official Fantastic Competition (informally known as “The Kong”, named after the festival’s King Kong emblem). The film, which follows a driven young ER internist who encounters patients with strange symptoms, had its world premiere in the Midnight Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
(The article continues below - Commercial information)
Notably, 2026 marks the third year in a row where the winning film has been directed or co-directed by a woman. This year, the fantastic jury consisted of Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona Nazzaro, Spanish writer and filmmaker Valeria Vegas, British producer Andy Starke, Russian-born US screenwriter Alex Litvak and Spanish producer Merry Colomer.
Other top award winners perhaps point to more genre diversification at European prestige festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Venice; last year’s big winner, The Ugly Stepsister, screened in the Berlinale’s Panorama section. In the Official Fantastic Competition, Italian thesp Jasmine Trinca took home the Award for Best Actress for her role in Paolo Strippoli’s newest feature, The Spiral, which vied for the Golden Lion at Venice.
As for Best Actor, France’s Benoît Magimel walked away with the prize for his role in Léa Mysius’s The Birthday Party, which was in contention for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Paris-based cinematographer Raphaël Vandenbussche received the Award for Best Cinematography for his lensing of Konstantina Kotzamani’s Titanic Ocean, also a Cannes premiere. Joko Anwar’s Indonesian horror-comedy Ghost in the Cell also premiered at the Berlinale this year and received the Award for Best Direction at Sitges.
K?hei Kadowaki’s animated diptych We Are Aliens (a Cannes Directors’ Fortnight premiere) ended up clutching the top prize in the Anima’t section. Javi Prada’s Spanish-produced Gummy, which premiered at the festival, won the top prize in the Òrbita section, for films with styles bordering on the fantastical, such as thriller, action, adventure, noir and suspense.
Finally, the Méliès Awards are given out to films screened at gatherings within the Méliès International Festivals Federation (including Brussels' BIFFF, Sitges and Strasbourg) for European genre cinema. Winners of the Méliès d’Argent, handed out at each festival, then go on to compete for the Méliès d’Or at the end of the cycle. Feels Like Home by Gábor Holtai won the Méliès d’Or after winning the Méliès d’Argent at last year’s edition of Sitges. This year, The Spiral scooped the Méliès d’Argent, meaning that it will qualify for the Méliès d’Or competition next year.
Here is the full list of award winners:
Official Fantastic Competition
Best Feature FilmSpecies – Marion Le Coroller (France/Belgium)
Special Jury AwardDrag – Greg Yagolnitzer, Raviv Ullman (USA)
Best DirectionJoko Anwar – Ghost in the Cell (Indonesia)
Best ActressJasmine Trinca – The Spiral (Italy/France/Belgium)
Best ActorBenoît Magimel – The Birthday Party (France)
Best ScreenplayCasper Kelly, Jamie King – Buddy (USA)
Best CinematographyRaphaël Vandenbussche - Titanic Ocean (Greece/Germany/Romania/France/Spain/Japan)
Best MusicMondo Boys - River (USA)
Best Special, Visual or Make-up EffectsHong Jeong-ho - Colony (South Korea)
Best Short FilmMan Eating Pussy – Emily Lawson (Canada/USA)
Citizen Kane Award for Best New DirectorAdrian Chiarella – Leviticus (USA)
Noves Visions (New Visions)
Best Feature FilmHen – Nico Scheepers (South Africa)
Best Direction (ex aequo)Fernando Martínez, Juan González (aka Burnin’ Percebes) - The Death of Dracula (Spain)Cristian Ponce - Family Fears Another Night of Terror (Argentina)
Best Short Film (ex aequo)Snakes in the Lace – Martina Pavlíková (Czech Republic)NOIZE – Javier Rodríguez Pino (Chile)
Òrbita
Best Feature FilmGummy – Javi Prada (Spain)
Anima’t (animated film section)
Best Feature FilmWe Are Aliens – K?hei Kadowaki (Japan/France)
Best Short FilmThe Flesh Dress – Joachim Hérissé (France)
Méliès Awards
Méliès d’Or for Best Fantastic Genre Feature FilmFeels Like Home – Gábor Holtai (Hungary)
Méliès d’Or for Best Fantastic Genre Short FilmThe Old Lady and the Eternity – Marc Martínez Jordán (Spain)
Méliès d’Argent for Best European Fantastic Genre Feature FilmThe Spiral – Paolo Strippoli
Méliès d’Argent for Best European Fantasy Genre Short FilmEl moribundo – Laura Guerricaechevarría (Spain)
Brigadoon
Paul Naschy Award for Best Short FilmThe Last Snow – Rodolphe Bouquet-Populus (France)
Sitges Documenta
Best Documentary AwardDernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern – Mike Mendez (USA)
SGAE Nova Autoria Awards
Best Direction-ProductionDissecció d’una incoherència en crisi – Nausica Serra (short film) (Spain)
Best ScreenplayDiana Magallón - Amor comestible (short film) (Spain)
Best Original MusicPablo Garayoa, Lídia Grau - Amber Lights (short film) (Spain)
People’s Choice Awards
Best Feature Film in the Official Fantastic CompetitionWildwood – Travis Knight (USA)
Best Feature Film in the Sitges Collection Section5 More Minutes – Javier Ruiz Caldera (Spain)
Best Feature Film in the Panorama SectionThe Fox – Dario Russo (Australia)
Best Feature Film in the Midnight X-Treme SectionKung Fu Deadly – Fergal Costello (Ireland/Australia)
Best Feature Film in Blood WindowDon’t Come Out – Victoria Linares Villegas (Dominican Republic)
Best Feature Film in Focus AsiaBlades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert – Yuen Woo-ping (China/Hong Kong)
Other awards
FIPRESCI AwardThe Incomer – Louis Paxton (UK)
Carnet Jove Jury Award for Best Feature Film in the Official Fantastic CompetitionGhost in the Cell – Joko Anwar