Screenwriting Aspirations

There's a pretty good reason why I haven't been posting on here regularly and I'll let you know what it is...

I'm polishing up a script that I'm going to be entering into the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards.  I've been working on this script for a while and, a few weeks ago, I saw that the late deadline for the contest was Monday, April 2nd.  So, I made that my goal.  When I say I've been working on it a while, I mean I've been working on it for a while... like, 2 years.  I wrote my first draft fast, like a month and a bit.  Then, I rewrote it a couple times, I gave it out to a few people to get their advice and feedback, then I sat on it... for about a year.  Not sure what I was doing during that time, probably just drinking and contemplating the shittyness of aspiring to be a screenwriter.  Anyhow, I picked it back up a few months ago and, well, here we are.  So, every spare minute I get, I've got that fucking thing open and I'm tweaking words, phrases and sentences.  I'm cutting lines of description and I'm really working hard to polish this turd up.  At absolute worst, I want to be done with it so I can move on to my next script, for Christ's sake.  

There's only a handful of screenwriting competitions that are worth entering, let's start with that, and PAGE is one of them.  Slamdance's early deadline is in a couple weeks, that one is also worthwhile, especially as they have a horror specific category AND they've developed some of the screenplays.  I'll be entering it, as well.  Here's a link to the PAGE Awards site, as well as Slamdance, if you're interested.  I actually know a couple people that have been judges at PAGE and I've spoken with the festival director before.  I've also spoken with the festival director at Slamdance.  Long and short, I trust them.  For horror, there's also Screamfest and Shriekfest, but I don't know when their deadlines are.  I'm going to look into that.  

The cool thing is that, for an extra $50 or so, both PAGE and Slamdance will give you feedback on your script.  This is really what I'm looking forward to.  Truth is, not that many people have read my work.  Sure, a lot of my friends in the industry have, but they're going to be bias.  Sure, a few friends outside the industry have, but they don't know a good script for a piece of shit.  Sure, my film professors and some script supervisors have read my work, but I was paying them.  This will be industry folks that don't know me at all and have nothing to gain.  I want to know where I stand with them.  Quite frankly, so should you.  If you're an industry outsider and you're an aspiring screenwriter, what kind of options do you have of getting noticed?  Well, I'll tell you what... some sort of accolade from one of these competitions is a good start and if you get the big heave-ho right away, knowing why you suck is just as important.  

Anyhow, I'll let you all know how it goes, every step of the way.  

Stay tuned...      

An Interview With Slamdance Executive Director, Drea Clark

You're an indie filmmaker or an indie film fan, right? If you're reading this, I'd have to assume so. Then, when you think of Utah in January, what comes to mind? Drawing a blank? Okay, I'm not talking about snowboarding or anything like that. Let me narrow it down... think Park City. Think festival. Think indie film. Yeah, you got it... SLAMDANCE. The TRUE representation of independent film, not like that other festival thing that goes on at the same time in the area. I can't remember what it's called... I'm drawing an f'ing blank.

I'm not sure that there's much I can say about Slamdance that hasn't already been said. Slamdance is the festival that's by filmmakers, for filmmakers, and has the balls to do it in the industry's favorite wintery stomping grounds. Although they're not specifically horror, the festival gets a lot of horror submissions. Long and short, this is a festival that you don't want to miss and you need to know about. So, to help you along on your quest for knowledge, we had the distinct pleasure of talking with Slamdance Executive Director, Drea Clark, and she's going to tell you about all the goodness that is Slamdance...

Please tell us a bit about yourself… how’d you get into the indie horror scence?

I guess I got into the indie horror scene as a direct result of working at Slamdance and programming films for so many years, although I’m a huge fan of the genre anyway. A lot of my favorite films growing up were horror films, and they also happened to be my introduction to indie films: Evil Dead, Re-Animator, Last House on the Left, Dead Alive.

Tell us a bit about Slamdance. When was it founded and why?

Slamdance was founded in 1995 by a bunch of losers. Actually, just four losers – four guys whose films were rejected from Sundance, anyway. (Um, sorry, Co-Founders That I Just Called Losers.) They made films on their own: their money and their talent and their friends. So when they got turned down, they decided the next step in an indie revolution would be to show the films anyway – they made them on their own, so why not show them on their own? We’ve grown a lot from that, this will be our 15th anniversary year, actually, but at the heart that’s still our focus. Our feature competition films are ONLY open to first time directors working with less than $1 million, that don’t have distribution. Other would-be losers; those are our people.

From the perspective of the film, why should indie horror filmmakers try to get their films into the festival?

We’ve had great success with their films getting stellar reviews, great audience reaction (and subsequent word-of-mouth) and solid film sales with our indie horror selections. Last year alone we had Paranormal Activity, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer and Trailer Park of Terror. Those films were some of my favorites overall – we even had to add an additional midnight screening for Trailer Park, which was batshit fun. Plus, I got to meet Robert Englund (who stars in Jack Brooks), and that’s about the only kind of celeb encounter worth blogging about, in my estimation. People that check out Slamdance films are looking for raw talent and a good ride, and I think filmmakers taking on horror independently bring both to the table.

From the perspective of the filmmaker, what can I expect to get out of having my film screen at the festival?

I might’ve answered some of this in the first question, but the other thing that comes into play is that often Slamdance will be the first stop in a whole season of touring festivals with your film. Once you’re in the circuit, interacting with other filmmakers is a great way to gain insight to other fests and Slamdance is big on camaraderie. We really encourage our filmmakers to be all BFF with each other, to check out each other’s films and take part in all our activities. Plus, you’re in Park City! With a film! That town is swarmed with industry people and other filmmakers and parties and seminars, it’s like the most fun film boot camp you’ll ever attend.

As a horror fan, what can expect to get out of attending the festival?

Programming some great horror films is just a natural part of our slate (we call it our Twilight Series, and I don’t mean teen vampires in love with mortal girls... Unless someone submits something like that; I dig vamps). Along with the films I mentioned above, we’ve also had some foreign horror pics that you might not be able to catch elsewhere, like Cold Prey. So there are a lot of options at our fest, and Sundance has had some great flicks, as well. A couple years ago I was crushed because one of the films that we offered a position in our line-up also got into Sundance and played there instead – but it’s so good I’m totally fine pimping them out here: The Signal. You broke my heart, The Signal!

When you’re accepting films, what are you looking for?

Something that keeps my attention, that makes me think that the person (or the team) behind it all is someone who is doing something great AND has it in them to make more and more great movies. I like a consistent tone, I like a recognizable voice (and I mean directorial, not stars – we don’t care much about stars). I like being taken by surprise; if you knew how many films start with a white dude in bed as his alarm goes off and then he gets up and brushes his teeth... Kill me. (Or kill him! That keeps my eyes open.)

Does budget come into play when you’re considering films?

Budgets come into play for us because they have to be under $1 million to be eligible for competition. Other than that, not so much, although I do like having at least a couple REALLY low budget bad boys in there. Two years ago we had a feature in narrative competition with a budget of $547 (tape stock). People that craft solid stories with no money are all right in my book... Biggest problem there often ends up being craptastic performances.

As a filmmaker, what can I do to make my film more festival friendly? Should I even be thinking of that?

I don’t know if that’s really anything you can do, because when you’re making a film you should primarily be thinking about the film itself. Think of how many big budget films suck ass, largely because you can just hear the executives’ notes while you’re watching it. I think what you CAN do is concentrate on making sure it’s as solid as it can be – there isn’t money for re-shoots when you’re shooting independently. Get smart people that you trust and that are blunt with you to a) read your script and tell you what doesn’t work and b) watch your edit and be brutal. I want to trim about 20 minutes out of 78% of our submissions.

At what point in the filmmaking process should I be thinking about the festivals?

I’d say when you’re in post, but I’m a purist (and down with artists) so I’m sure others would say differently.

I’d like to also mention that you have a screenplay competition. A lot of new screenwriters are weary of sending off their scripts, what can you tell them to put their mind at ease?

We actually have four writing competitions: feature screenplay, short screenplay, teleplay (comedy, drama and unscripted) and horror screenplay. We effing love writing competitions. I totally get being freaked about sending your script out, in some ways it’s kind of like a diary – like it’s more personal than sending out your film. You send the film and there’s other people to blame, but a screenplay is just all raw and you. What I can say is that we take our submissions seriously; most of the people who work at Slamdance (staff, programmers, readers, festival bitches) are filmmaker alumni – we’ve been there, many of us are still there in the off season. And we WANT your scripts to be good, we want you to have careers, we want you to win or to get good notes back and build a name for yourself and then someday thank us from some imposing podium. So we’re not reading things hoping to cut them down, we’re hoping for them to excite us – and they often do. (In a non-pervy way.)

As a screenwriter, what can I expect to get out of submitting my screenplay?

If you’re just submitting for the competition, then you’ll be in the running for a variety of prizes (money and the various option deals that we’re always developing and building on for the writing competitions). However, you can also check “Coverage” when you submit, which means you’ll get back comprehensive notes on what is working, what isn’t working, how you can improve it – we offer year round coverage outside of the competitions, as well. Either way, your script is read all the way through (I know this; I read a lot of our submissions) and given full consideration.

Are there any particular success stories from films that screened or the screenplays that were submitted to Slamdance?

We’ve had great films picked up at Slamdance, like Mad Hot Ballroom or King of Kong or Wassup Rockers. However, I think our biggest legacy has been in the directors who showed their first film at Slamdance and developed a career as a result: Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight), Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), and Greg Mottola (Superbad) all started at Slamdance, which is kind of a mindfuck. That’s really been our niche, launching talent. Our screenplay competition’s biggest breakouts have probably been Maria Full of Grace and The Woodsman.

What advice can you give to an up and coming filmmaker or screenwriter in the indie horror genre?

Just do it! Craft a good story, flesh it out on the page (or de-flesh it if that’s part of your narrative), make it interesting and tight, where every minute is worth watching. That’s the free part, when you’re writing, so really get in there. Then find some money, drag in your most talented friends, bring it to life. Indie horror is great because it can be irreverent or scary or allegorical or hilarious, there are so many options.

Tell us about the future of indie horror, where do you see it going?

I think people always want to be scared, it’s such a pure form of escapism. Indie horror films are fun, there’s opportunities to shock and provoke thought and be a little sexy or creepy or both. Some of the best original horror films had great metaphor to them, and I think that’s easily interwoven – I would love to see more of that. I always love to see more blood, either way.

What’s next for you and Slamdance?

We are just starting our programming process now, submissions are closed and I’m watching about 15 movies a week, gearing up for the festival. We’ll be in Park City from January 15-23, 2009. We’re at the top of Main Street, if you’re going to be in town – check us out. I’ll probably be in the office, yelling at someone, but pop in and say hi.

Where can people find out more about Slamdance and how can they go about entering their film?

Slamdance.com is the way to keep up with all our happenings, activities, clam bakes, screening series, blah dee blah. And they can enter their films there next year (closed for this year) and find out more about the writing competitions and those dates, as well!

Interview With Michael Hein, Festival Director of the NYC Horrorfest

If you're a regular reader, you're probably aware that we talk to a lot of indie filmmakers, trying to get insight and information to pass on to other indie filmmakers. Well, we're going to start branching off every once in a while, by interviewing people in other areas of the indie film world in an effort to show you insight into all these other facets, as well... the area we're going to look at this time? The indie horror film festival. More specifically, The New York City Horror Film Festival, which has been going on since 2001. It takes place in New York, obviously, and runs for a week in October. They currently have a call for submissions going on and there's lots of categories to win awards in. With lots of screenings, parties and things to do, it's one of the best festivals of the year to get involved in as a filmmaker or fan. Dead Harvey talked with Michael Hein, the founder and festival director...

Tell us a bit about yourself. How’d you get into indie horror?

I'm a New York City based Producer / Director. I've been working in the indie film scene going on 18 years. From PA to Special Effects work, and now Directing & Producing, I worked my way up the production ladder, and now run my own production company; MooDude Films. While horror films are not all we do, it has always been my passion. When I was 13, I caught a George Romero double feature of Dawn of the Dead and Creepshow and I was hooked from that day on. You can check out my recent films at Moodudefilms.com

Tell us a bit about NYC Horror Fest. When did it get started and why did you start it up?

I founded the festival in 2001 to help other like minded filmmakers get their work seen, not just by the fans, but most importantly, by the industry and contemporaries. At the time there were only two other festivals (also in their first year) but they were both out in LA, so building an event like this in the worlds largest media market seemed like a no-brainer. Now it seems that every state has a horror film festival, but we like to think the NYCHFF stands out as an important global film festival. We get acquisitions reps from every major distribution company in the world, from Universal and Lionsgate to NBC and HBO.

From the perspective of the film, why should indie horror filmmakers try to get their films into festivals?

It's a great place for your work to be seen, meet reps, set up connections that could lead to selling your film. I try to point out to all filmmakers, a film festival is supposed to be about making connections. A lot of film festivals out there are really only about screenings for horror & sci-fi fans and that's great, but we try to make the NYCHFF all about the industry.

From the perspective of the filmmaker, what can I expect to get out of having my film screen at the festival?

We work very hard to make sure the attending filmmakers have a great time at the event. Parties, panels, etc. Of course, I’d like filmmakers to also make some good contacts with distribution companies, producer reps, and other filmmakers.

When you’re accepting films, what are you looking for?

The same thing everyone looks for in a good film; A solid story, good directing, and talented acting. We honestly never look for bigger budgets or name actors. The NYCHFF is all about the genre and we expect a little genre knowledge from our filmmakers. We like to program an eclectic festival, so send us the best of horror, sc-fi and thrillers.

As a filmmaker, what can I do to make my film more festival friendly? Should I even be thinking of that?

No, you shouldn’t be thinking that way at all. As a filmmaker myself, my advice is never compromise your art. Make the film you want to make, never change things because you THINK a festival would be more friendly to it if you did “this” or “that” differently.

Are there any particular success stories from films that screened at NYC Horror Fest?

I’d hate to single out any one filmmaker for another, but there have been many alumni filmmakers that are now doing big stuff. The one thing I will say is that every feature film that has screened at the NYCHFF in our seven years has been picked up for distribution. I don’t think any other genre film festival can say that and we are very proud of that fact.

What advice can you give to an up and coming filmmaker in the indie horror genre?

Make your film…..period! I’ve know a lot of people that talk and talk about they are going to do this or that and it never happens. If you want to be a filmmaker…….be one!

Tell us about the future of indie horror, where do you see it going?

Who knows? Right now (I hope) we are coming to the end of this “lets go out and remake every horror flick from the seventies, but change everything about them that made them great” attitude from the Hollywood studios. I see some great indie films every year and one thing is for sure, the new Romero’s, Carpenter’s and Craven’s are not going to be found on a studio lot.

What’s next for you and the NYC Horror Fest?

Same as always, onward and upward! Great films, great panels and great parties!

Where can people find out more about NYC Horror Fest and how can they go about entering their film?

NYCHorrorfest.com. You can also google us and film a ton of press and stories on past film and filmmakers. You can also watch some great past shorts from the fest at Openfilm.com

Film Fest Friday - Fright Night Fear Fest

I was recently sent some updates from Louisville, Kentucky's very own horror film festival, The Fright Night Film Fest, which will be August 15-17 this year. What you'll find below is from their press release that's geared towards the filmmakers...

Fright Night Film Fest is the largest genre show in the Mid South. Our festival has risen to prominence and has attracted worldwide attention. Our films come from Spain, Sweden,Canada, England, LA, New York and of course all over the Country. Not only are we a Film Festival and Convention, we are an industry show providing educational forums for actors, producers, investors, directors and others wanting to break into the industry. We support the independent community by providing a forum for their film and a voice of support to help them get distribution. As a direct result of our show we have helped launch the careers many filmmakers.

This year the Kentucky Arts Center will be hosting our “Silver Scream Awards” in Whitney Hall where we will be expecting over 2000 people to attend to walk the Red Carpet. This will be the venue for celebrities, filmmakers, families, press and the fan's to enjoy a great night honoring those who work so hard for their craft.

You filmmakers are not going to want to miss this opportunity to get your film in competition. We are still accepting submissions until July 24th, 2008.

Combined with the Film Festival is the Horror Convention with over 32,000 sq. feet of vendor space. We are also bringing in over 30 Celebrities…. Angus Scrimm, Mick Foley, a 30th Anniversary Reunion with the “Halloween Cast”, Adams Family Reunion, just to name a few.

This year we are working heavily with the Make-A-Wish foundation to provide one child with a wish. You are not going to want to miss the 2008 Fright Night Film Fest.

We'll update their entry in our horror film festivals section and be sure to keep you posted on any updates that they may have... for more information on the festival, you can go check out their website here.

Film Fest Friday - Results from 'Dead by Dawn' and 'Nevermore' Film Festivals

As usual, my Friday post is a little late, but here it is... Dead by Dawn just wrapped up on April 27th and they already sent out an email with notes on all the winners... here's some exerpts, plus I added a few notes in there.

Our thanks as ever to the gorgeous Stuart Gordon for continuing to make movies that take our breath away - STUCK is the winner of Dead by Dawn's 2008 Audience Award for Best Feature. (DH note - "Stuck" is the film, starring Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea, where she hits a guy with her car and he survives, but is stuck in the windshield. Then she drives home and parks the car in the garage... Believe it or not, it's based on a true story)

In second and third place respectively were THE MIST and MACHINE GIRL, just beating FIVE ACROSS THE EYES by one vote, for which it definitely gets an honourable mention! (DH note - Man alive, I have to see "Machine Girl" soon, check out the trailer)

The Audience Award for Best Short goes to Nash Edgerton's SPIDER with DR TRAN in second place and BUTCHER'S HILL completing our top three. (DH note - we actually covered Jason Noto's "Butcher's Hill" quite some time ago, we're hoping to have some updates on that, soon)

In case you missed the announcement about our Cutting Edge short film competition, the winner was Richard Gale's CRITICIZED and in second place was Liz Adams' SIDE EFFECT and in third, Mark Steensland's PEEKERS.

We also received some updates from the NEVERMORE Film Festival...

The NEVERMORE Film Festival actually ended back on February 24th, but we checked in with Jim Carl to see how it went. He informed us that it was the 3rd highest attended festival of its kind with almost 2500 attendees and there were more artists in attendance than any other year.

As for how things went, Director Kevin Tenney (Witchboard, Night of the Demons) was in attendance with his newest flick, "Brain Dead", which is the story of six people stranded in a deserted fishing lodge with a host of alien-infected, mutant amoeba-controlled zombies. They also had the world festival premiere of "13 Hours in a Warehouse", which is sort of like "Reservoir Dogs" with ghosts.

Although they don't give awards, if they did, Jim told us that the winners of the audience favorites would probably have been Shawn Linden's directorial debut, NOBODY, which is "part mystery, part gangster film, part time-travel paradox, and part extraordinarily ambitious supernatural thriller" and Yfke van Berckelaer's ZOMBIE LOVE (short).

Horror at The Tribeca Film Festival

By popular demand (the one anonymous comment from yesterday), here's some information on what's going on at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The Tribeca Film Festival was founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal and Robert DeNiro in a response to the consequent loss of vitality in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan following 9/11. It's now one of the big festivals of the year for Hollywood movies and those vain, vanity projects by actor-turned-directors, but they do have a "Midnight Section" for the... how do you put it? The less mainstream titles. For example, "Hatchet" premiered in the "Midnight Section" of the festival last year. This year, they have six films in the section, three (maybe four) of which I would consider to be horror. The non-horror films are "Auteur", a porn spoof that looks hilarious (check out the trailer), "SqueezeBox!", a documentary about SqueezeBox!, a drag queen nightclub in Manhattan and "Cottage", which is the one that I'm swaying back and forth on whether or not it should be classified as horror, but still looks awesome. Keep in mind, I haven't seen it.

"Cottage" stars Andy Serkis, who played Golum in "The Lord of the Rings" movies and it's being billed as "Shaun of the Dead" meets "Evil Dead". However, "Shaun of the Dead" was about zombies, "Evil Dead" was about, well... zombies and this is about a kidnapping gone wrong. Either way, it's an indie film and it's about a kidnapping plot gone horribly awry when two brothers and their shit-talking hostage stumble into the wrong farmhouse in a gory horror-comedy. It's directed by Paul Andrew Williams, who's only other feature is "London to Brighton", an award winning drama. Either way, it looks pretty damn good. I'll tell you what, there's been a lot of good horror-comedies coming out of the U.K. lately, such as "Severance", "Shaun of the Dead" and "Boy Eats Girl". Apparently, the farmhouse they stumble into is inhabited by a Leatherface kind of character or something... So, okay, okay, it's a horror.

"Dying Breed" is an Australian film written and directed by Jody Dwyer, with help in the writing department from Michael Boughen. This is his feature film directorial debut and, apparently, it's a gory one. The film weaves two stories together, one of the extinct Tasmanian tiger and the other of "The Pieman", who was hung for cannibalism in 1824. How do you intertwine those stories? Funny you should ask... A zoologist and the, otherwise, typical group of horror film prey set off to find the fabled tiger, but end up finding "Pieman" descendants who passionately uphold their cannibalistic heritage. Hilarity ensues.

"From Within" has, what I would call, an eclectic cast, with Thomas Dekker from "The Sarah Connor Chronicles", Adam Goldberg from "Zodiac" (also, previously from the shows "Joey" and "Friends"), Laura Allen from "The 4400" and Rumer Willis from Bruce Willis' penis. It's about a young girl who grew up in Christian town, who wants to get out and see the world and when people in the town start dying by suspiscious suicides, it only strengthens her resolve to leave. The film was actually financed through a European equity fund, even though it was filmed in Maryland. It was directed by Phedon Papamichael, who's mostly known for his work as a cinematographer on films like "3:10 to Yuma", "The Pursuit of Happyness" and "Walk the Line". Papamichael, known by his friends as The Greek God of Cinematography, made his directorial debut with Showtime's "Sketch Artist", then later directed the indie film, "Dark Side of Genius".

The last horror film at the festival could also reside in the 'is it horror?' bin, right beside "Cottage". That's not to say it won't be good. Quite the contrary, "Killer Movie", much like "Cottage", looks like it's going to be good. The plot, reality show turns horror, has been done a few times... but there's something different about this one. First off, it's about a reality show gone bad... not a reality show where contestants getting killed. Secondly, what's awesome is that the writer/director of the film, Jeff Fisher, cut his chops directing actual reality shows, such as: "The Real World/Road Rules Challenge", "The Simple Life" and various other crappy, MTV reality shows. So, he's got a bit of insight into how the whole reality show shit goes down. I'm wondering if he didn't come up with this idea while shooting "The Real World", thinking to himself... "Why can't all these people just die?".

So, there's what's in store for you at the Tribeca Film Festival. For showtimes and more information, go to the Tribeca Film Festival website or, to skip past all the artsy junk, just go straight to the Midnight Section.

Film Fest Friday - Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival

Dragon*Con is the largest multi-media, pop culture convention focusing on sci-fi and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the US, it's going to take place in Atlanta, Georgia over labor day long weekend (Aug 29 - Sep 1) and it's one of THOSE conferences, you know what I mean... where Star Trek alums show up to sign autographs and all the people attending get dressed up like their favorite video game characters? That's right, one of THOSE festivals. The kind that you secretly want to go to, but you just can't bring yourself to... These conferences are like Halloween for nerds, where girls who would usually wear an oversized sweater and an ankle length skirt, throw on a bunch of spandex and dress up as Wonder Woman. Check out this link to some pictures that were taking at last years Dragon*Con. You can find more links to pictures, plus other information on the conference at the home page here. As much fun as I'm sure the conference would be and as much as we like nerdy girls dressed up in dominatrix Darth Vadar outfits, we're going to talk about the film festival that takes place at Dragon*Con, as we're an indie-horror film site about indie-horror.

The Dragon*Con Indie Film Festival doesn't actually bill itself as a horror festival, but there's lots of horror films that screen there. Check out all the 2007 films that screened here. The festival is a combination of film oriented panels, celebrity guests, new and classic independent feature and short film screenings, discussions, and a short film competition (sometimes referred to as the Dragon*Con Independent Short Film Festival). All that combined with the 30,000+ Dragon*Con attendees creates an extraordinary film event. For film-lovers, you can hear some of the masters discuss their projects, watch the films entered in the festival, and then drop by a panel and hear the winning directors / producers discuss their films. Film screening and panels will mix, guaranteeing that you won't have a moment without something film-related to do.

It would be a great festival to get your film into and if you want to submit your film, Dragon*Con is a great opportunity to meet others in the field, discuss the trials and tribulations of making a film, get some tips, and make some connections. They're currently accepting submissions and the deadline is June 15. For more information on how to submit your film, click here. Unfortunately, though... if you do submit your film, you better start thinking about what you're going to wear now.

Film Fest Friday - some updates to get you through the summer

I went through all the festivals that take place from around now through August and updated them on our film festivals section. (actually, I'll write this, then update the festivals section in the the next few days) Summer's when the horror festival circuit starts to heat up and it really gets going in the Fall. I'd encourage any horror fan or filmmaker to get out and support them, whether or not you're entering a film, screenplay or just attending. Anyhow, here's the updates:

It would appear that the PhantasmaGoria Film Festival, which took place in Swindon, Wiltshire, UK is no longer around. All I can find is info on their 2006 festival, which really doesn't say too much about what they did in 2007, let alone their plans for 2008. Further, it looks like it was never called the PhantasmaGoria Film Fest at all! It was called Bloodbath. Either way, it's no longer going on. Cancel your flight to Swindon.... wherever that is.

The Indy Horror Film Festival seems to have been melded into the Chicago Horror Film Festival, which takes place in September this year (Sept 26 - 28, to be exact). The last bit of news on their site is from March 26th, 2007, where they reported that they've been having "many ups and downs with getting the Indy Horror Film Festival into it's second year." Now, when you click on the Indy Horror Film Fest's Myspace page, you're taken directly to the Chicago Horror Film Festival. So, long and short, seems those "ups and downs" are all downs now... see you in Chicago.

They haven't fully updated their site, but Fantastic Films Weekend is back on and will be held June 13 - 15th this year in the National Media Museum (NMeM), based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The Fantastic Films team is hard at work putting together the program and they've already lined up some special guests... also, they're planning on screening film prints of "The Thing", "Outland" and "Poltergeist". Cool...

I have the wrong website on the festivals page for the Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival, I guess they changed it - here's a link to the new page. It's going to take place from July 1 - 6 this year. If you don't know where Neuchatel is, don't fret... neither do I. However, since it's subtitled, 'The Swiss Event for Fantastic Films, Asian Cinema & Future Images", I'm guessing it's somewhere in Switzerland. ...and is it just me, or does that subtitle sound like it could be the sequel to "Borat"?

The 2nd Annual "B" Movie Celebration is going to be held in Franklin, Indiana this year from September 26th - 28th and they're screening some pretty cool movies. It's too long to list here, but here's a link to their site, where you can take a look at what they're screening in glorious 35mm original formats.

Dragon*Con 2008, the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music and film, will be held Labor Day weekend (August 29 - Sept 1) in Atlanta, Georgia. A lot of their site is still about the 2007 festival, but I'm assuming it'll be quite similar to the 2008 festival. In any case, the link I have on the festivals page is current.

Everything else in our film festivals section appears to be up to date through the summer. Now get off your ass and go support indie horror by either submitting a film or attending one of these festivals!

Film Fest Friday - I Can Smell Your Brains Cinema

Once again, Film Fest Friday comes a little late this week - sorry, Friday's are always a tough day to get a post up. This week I'm going to cover something that the guys over at icansmellyourbrains.com are doing, which is a great opportunity for any indie-horror filmmaker and it's just a pretty damn cool idea, period. They're based down in Scottsdale, AZ and they're teaming up a local theater, Chandler Cinemas, to give a theatrical release to indie horror films that usually don't get them. Each month, they're going to screen a different indie film and make it into an event by having Q&A sessions with directors and actors, plus have autographed items for sale and giveaways. It's really a win/win for audiences, filmmakers and everyone involved. The events will be called I Can Smell Your Brains Cinema and here's a couple paragraphs from their press release...

I Can Smell Your Brains Cinema is the latest addition to roster of the newly managed Chandler Cinemas. Horror film fanatics Danny Marianino and Brandon Kinchen, the two proprietors of Arizona’s monster movie home base I Can Smell Your Brains .Com, have teamed up with Chandler Cinemas to bring a more personal look to independent films that do not get a widescreen release.

“We’re busy, no doubt”, Danny adds. With I Can Smell Your Brains Cinema they are just going to get busier. “So far we had a very successful weekend with Bikini Bloodbath for our first showing the weekend of Feb 22nd. For the weekend of March 21st we have booked The Quick and the Undead – a Zombie Apocalyptic Western that is awesome! I have also confirmed Death of a Ghost Hunter, Death Factory –Bloodletting (including a Q&A with directors), Black Devil Doll, New York Blood (including a Q&A with actors), Street Trash (including a Q&A with actor), and Puppet Show. Our original plan was to show once a month but I am getting bombarded by directors and film studios so we may do it twice a month, we shall see. Everyone has been so open to the idea hopefully this carries on to other states as well.”

I think it's an awesome idea and, hopefully, stuff like this catches on in other markets. In fact, maybe Dead Harvey should do something like this up here...

Here's a link to the I Can Smell Your Brains website and for bookings and more information on I Can Smell Your Brains Cinema, you can email: danny@icansmellyourbrains.com.