Summary
- Marion Le Corroller’s Sanguine won Best Feature Film at Sitges 2026.
- Joko Anwar received Best Director for Ghost in the Cell.
- The festival also recognized acting, cinematography and visual effects.
- Both films’ official trailers are included.
Marion Le Corroller’s French body-horror feature “Sanguine” won Best Feature Film at Sitges 2026, while Joko Anwar took Best Director for “Ghost in the Cell”.
The 59th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia ran from October 8 to 18. The winners were announced on October 17, with films exploring workplace pressure, the abuse of power and survival through the language of horror.
Watch the official French trailer for “Sanguine”, released by distributor ARP Sélection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFe0qiSBDHs
Sanguine: Horror in the emergency room
Marion Le Corroller secured the festival’s top prize with her debut feature, turning a hospital into a setting for physical and psychological horror.
Margot is a young medical intern starting work in an exceptionally demanding emergency department. Patients her own age begin displaying unexplained symptoms. Soon, she notices unsettling changes in her own body.
The story combines the pressure of hospital work with body horror, using bodily transformation as a source of dread. “Sanguine” previously screened out of competition in Cannes’ 2026 Midnight Screenings. The 103-minute film stars Mara Taquin, Karin Viard, Kim Higelin and Sami Outalbali.
The cinematography is by Guillaume Schiffman, AFC. According to the AFC, the production used the RED V-Raptor 8K FF with Leitz Hugo FF lenses, alongside Laowa wide-angle and Enataniya fisheye optics. Those choices are especially relevant to a story centered on the body and the perception of confined space.
Ghost in the Cell: Joko Anwar wins Best Director
The Indonesian filmmaker behind “Impetigore” and “Satan’s Slaves” won the directing award for a prison-set horror comedy.
Inmates are trapped between rival factions, everyday violence and authoritarian prison officers. When a supernatural force begins killing people with negative energy, old enemies must work together to survive. Dark humor and action serve a story about the abuse of power.
“Ghost in the Cell” also won the Carnet Jove youth jury’s Best Feature Film award in the Official Competition.
Watch the official trailer published by production company Come and See Pictures.
Other major Sitges 2026 winners
The Special Jury Award in the Official Competition went to “Drag” by Greg Yagolnitzer and Raviv Ullman. Jasmine Trinca won Best Actress for “The Spiral”, while Benoît Magimel received Best Actor for “Historias de la noche (The Birthday Party)”.
Raphaël Vandenbussche won Best Cinematography for “Océano Titánico”, Mondo Boys took Best Music for “River”, and Hong Jeong-ho won the special, visual or makeup effects award for “Colony”. Adrian Chiarella received the Citizen Kane award for Best New Director with “Leviticus”.
Travis Knight’s “Wildwood” won the Official Competition audience prize and Louis Paxton’s “The Incomer” received the FIPRESCI critics’ award. Gábor Holtai’s “Feels Like Home” won the Golden Méliès for Best Fantastic Feature, while Paolo Strippoli’s “The Spiral” won the Silver Méliès.
For image makers, the cinematography and effects awards are particularly revealing. In fantastic cinema, lighting, visual distortion and the physicality of effects often shape the experience as decisively as the script.
What we think
The success of “Sanguine” puts a first-time feature director in the spotlight with a film that draws fear from an entirely recognizable place. An overburdened emergency department and a body pushed beyond its limits provide a convincing foundation for horror with a social dimension.
“Ghost in the Cell” takes a different route. Joko Anwar combines a supernatural threat, a claustrophobic environment and a satire of authority. His directing award, alongside the youth jury recognition, points to the appeal of that approach across different juries.
For filmmakers, both titles raise a practical visual question: how do you make an enclosed location continually engaging? Hospitals and prisons demand deliberate framing, lighting, lens choices and pacing. A full assessment of how the films achieve this, beyond what their trailers show, requires watching the completed features.
