Film Fest Friday, but this is more about The Oscars...

Okay, so it's a lame weekend at the box office because it's the Oscars... and I'm not a big fan of the Oscars, I think it's a big joke... I mean, it was started BY the industry as a way to legitimize what they were doing and now it's just an excuse to give awards to people because they think they deserve them, but I digress...

We're all going to watch The Oscars, so we might as well have some people to root for. First and foremost, Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" - as much as a fucking weirdo as he's become (see pic), he's still Marv from "Sin City", Johnny Handsome from "Johnny Handome", Harley Davidson from "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" and Harry Angel from, one of my favorite horror films of all time, "Angel Heart". By the way, yes, I liked "Johnny Handsome" and "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man", so what? I'd also like to see Marisa Tomei get Best Supporting Actress for playing the stripper in "The Wrestler" because, well, I saw a LOT of her in the film. Not only that, it really was a good movie. Go check it out, if you haven't seen it. I'd like to see Heath Ledger get Best Supporting Role for "The Dark Knight", as he kicked ass and so did the movie. I think a lot of people want to see him win it and, guess what, I don't think Robert Downey Jr. will be getting it for "Tropic Thunder". I also hope that "The Dark Knight" wraps up all the other nominal awards, like Sound Editing and all that shit. Otherwise, I only hope for two things... Danny Boyle, who WE all know as the guy behind "28 Days Later", "28 Weeks Later" and "Trainspotting", gets a shit-load of awards for "Slumdog Millionaire" AND for that douche, Sean Penn, to get fuck-all for "Milk".

Okay, what's going on in festival world?

The early bird deadline for the LA Shorts Fest is today and, although that seems like short notice, as long as you have your submission postmarked by today, you're cool. Well, that's still not a lot of time. So, at this point it looks like you're going to have to buck up and pay the extra $10, or whatever it is. Anyhow, the LA Shorts Fest is, obviously, all about short films and they do have a horror category. They're also accredited by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences and 33 filmmakers from the LA Shorts Fest have gone on to earn Academy Award nominations... none of which were horror. Actually, one of the very cool things about the festival is that they have a thing called LA Shorts TV and they'll show some of the shorts on the site... "Seat 29E" was awesome, if you head over there.

I was ABOUT to mention the all new Thrillspy International Thriller & Spy Festival until I read that they "promote all categories of thriller films with the exception of Horror or Shock films". Okay, well then... THAT'S a slap in the face.

And for those horror fans in Chicago, you've got the upcoming Fangoria's Weekend of Horror on March 6 - 8. You're going to get some good guests, too. You've got Tobe Hooper, George Romero, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Tom Savani and the list goes on and on... it'll take place at the Wyndham O'Hare. Weekend of Horror will also be in LA in April and New York in June.

That's it... that's all we got for this week. Go get your drink on and we'll see you next week!

Film Fest Updates - Fright Night Film Fest, The Fantasy Film Fest, Film4 Fright Fest, Fargo Fanatastic Film Fest and LA Shorts Fest

It's a long weekend up here, so I've been boozing for three days... thus the late post. Here's some info on some new film fests and some others with updates. I'll be adding them / updating the horror film fest section soon... I swear.

We've covered Fright Night Film Fest in the past, but it's coming up here pretty quick. It's August 15 - 17 in Louisville, KY. So, obviously, you can't submit your film to THIS years festival, but you can submit to next years. You can see their film schedule here, so take a look. By the way, if you think your film is in line with what they're accepting, get yours in for next year. They accept a LOT of films, so this is a great one to look into if you want to get one of those little logos that say "official selection of..." on your DVD cover.

The Fantasy Film Festival takes place in various cities in Germany. They screen a lot of big budget indie films, such as "My Name Is Bruce", "Mother Of Tears" and "The Rage". That's not to say that's not awesome, all three of those films are... it's just to say that they probably aren't accepting too many 'shot of DV' films, especially non-German ones. In any case, the festival runs August 12th - September 10th and there are screenings in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Dortmund, Frankfurt... and a bunch of other German cities. Go to the site if you're interested (and look for the button that says 'english' on the left side) to make navigating the website a bit easier.

Sticking to overseas festivals, the Film4 Fright Fest, which takes place in London, England, is going on August 21st - 25th. Obviously, once again, you can't submit your film now, but make note that submissions for the 2009 festival open on Jan 1, 2009. Once again, they screen more of the higher budget indie-fare, such as: "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer", "Midnight Meat Train" and "Bad Biology", but they do have a few lower-budget films in there. It's a little more open than that last one.

Now, quickly, a few domestic festivals... First, the Fargo Fantastic Film Festival is still accepting submissions. The deadline is September 15th, the late deadline is October 1st. The fest takes place October 31st - November 2 this year. They show both professional and amateur productions, "as both can learn from the other". Any lengths, formats and styles accepted. Here's a link to the entry form.

I just found out about LA Shorts Fest when they sent me a message... can't remember if I got by Myspace or through email, but whatever. They screen all genres of films, so they're not exclusively horror, but they do have a horror section. Their jurors are all pro's, such as Sandra Oh - actress from Grey's Anatomy, Andrew Reimer - Sr. VP of Acquisitions and Productions for HBO, etc. When I clicked on 'horror', nothing seemed to come up. Further, I have no idea how submissions work... or even how the festival works period. WTF? Maybe someone can go on there and enlighten me? Are you supposed to just upload your film and hope for the best? Why are there films (most that don't work) just playing randomly? Wow... for a fest that boasts high-end judges and being "Academy accredited", they sure don't make it easy to figure out what the F is going on.