Screamfest Line up, panels and Q&A announced

Rachel Belofsky, founder and festival director of SCREAMFEST Horror Film Festival and partner Stan Winston announce its 2005 selected films this morning. The ten day festival running October 14 – October 23, 2005 will include sixteen independent feature films, twenty-seven shorts and special screenings. Screenings will be held at the Loews Universal Studios Cinemas located at Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles.

ScreamFest was formed in 2001 by producer Rachel Belofsky to give filmmakers and writers in the horror genre a venue to introduce their work to the industry. “We are very proud of the success of past filmmakers. The tradition seems to continue as some of our filmmakers have already been contacted for possible directing roles” says Belofsky.

ScreamFest will open on October 14th with one of its competitive screenings of CRUEL WORLD directed by Kelsey T. Howard. The cast includes Edward Furlong (DETROIT ROCK CITY, AMERICAN HISTORY X, TERMINATOR 2), Jamie Pressly (NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE, MY NAME IS EARL, JOE DIRT, RINGMASTER), Susan Ward (SHALLOW HAL, SUNSET BEACH, THE IN CROWD), Andrew Keegan (10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, O, INDEPENDENCE DAY). Being voted off this reality television show will cost you your life.

Feature films eligible for awards include Korea’s BUNSHINSABA, directed AHN Byeong-ki (PHONE). Along with other victims of hatred, Yu-jin puts a curse on the four girls tormenting them through a Ouija Board. Making its Los Angeles debut at ScreamFest 2005 is BOO directed by Anthony C. Ferrante and featuring DAYS OF LIVES’S Rachel Melvin and Dee Wallace Stone (E.T., THE HOWLING, CUJO). Some hospitals don’t have a 13th floor. Santa Mira Hospital shouldn’t have had a third.

Five Girls, Five Floors Five Ghosts…. DEATH TUNNEL, directed by Phillip Adrian Booth, stars Steffany Huckaby, Annie Burgstede, and Kristin Novak. Other feature films include Philippines’s Yam Laranas directed SIGAW. This film is already getting a buzz and great reviews. Renee Tab at ICM grabbed Yam for representation. "I found myself jumping at certain scenes and I have seen many other horror movies where that never happens" said Roy Lee, executive producer The Ring & The Grudge. Thailand’s Tanit Jitnukul directed ART OF THE DEVIL tells the tale of a mysterious and bizarre murder of a millionaire's entire family grips the attention of the public. Evil Is In The Air in, REEKER, directed by David Payne. Germany’s HAPPY END directed by Daniel Stieglitz makes its North American premiere. This supernatural tale tells the story of a young writer who moves into an old suburban house because of his writing blockade but soon becomes haunted by the ghost of a little girl. COOKERS, directed by Dan Mintz, asks the “What is the shape of your soul?” SEVERED directed by Carl Bessai brings this fun zombie film to the screen and features Colin Lawrence – Arnold (also FANTASTIC FOUR, X2, HOUSE OF THE DEAD). An experimentation goes disastrously wrong, transforming a disparate group of loggers and environmental activists into the "infected" -- ravenous, zombie-like creatures who prey upon the few terrified survivors while they attempt to understand and control the disaster. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI directed by David Lee Fisher is a reimagining of the original film and was shot entirely on green stage. Modern day actors have been composited, or overlaid, onto scanned images taken from an original, public domain 35mm print of the film. Every background in the film is a digital enhancement of the original expressionistic sets.

Special screenings include the 25th anniversary screening of the classic FRIDAY THE 13TH

followed by a Q & A with Producer/Director Sean S. Cunningham. After the screening the Book Launch Party for CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES: THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF FRIDAY THE 13TH written by Peter Bracke will be held at Café Tu Tu Tango at CityWalk. Series guests from the FRIDAY THE 13TH series will be in attendance at the autograph party including Sean S. Cunningham, Joseph Zito, Erin Gray, Harry Manfredini, Adam Marcus, Heidi Kozak, Kimberly Beck, Vincent Guastaferro, Rob Hedden, John LeMay, Amy Steel and many others from the series. 2001 MANIACS directed by Tim Sullivan and produced by Christopher Tuffin, Brett Nemeroff, Eli Roth, Boaz Yakin, and Scott Spiegel makes its U.S. Premiere at this year’s Screamfest. The films stars Robert Englund (“Freddy Krueger” in NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET), Lin Shaye, and cameo appearance by country superstar Travis Tritt. The film is based on the original motion picture TWO THOUSAND MANIACS! By Herschell Gordon Lewis. THREE EXTREME’S an Asian cross-cultural trilogy of horror films from accomplished indie directors. Segments are directed by Fruit Chan (DUMPLINGS), Takashi Miike (BOX), Chan-wook Park (CUT). A special screening of the unrated director’s cut, GEORGE A. ROMERO’S LAND OF THE DEAD screens to promote the coinciding DVD release.

Panels include “How Your Short Can Launch Your Career” highlighting such success stories as SAW, EL CICLO, SAM’S LAKE, THE SITTER and many more. “Using SAG Professional Actors In Your Low Budget Or No Budget Films” and “Distributors – What They Look For” are two other panels to help filmmakers create better films.

Director Toby Wilkins brings us STARING AT THE SUN which screened in Sundance earlier this year. BRASIL directed by Javier Gutierrez was pre-selected for the 2004 Oscar Academy Awards in the Short Film/Live Action Category. Danica McKellar (best known for her role as “Winnie” in THE WONDER YEARS) makes her directorial debut with her short BROKEN. Two shorts hail from France this year, Guillaume Enard’s directed BRUMES and produced by Cyril Tysz, an UCLA alumni and PHOTOMATEURS directed by Pascal Tosi. From down under comes THE INTRUDER by Aussie director Janine Hewitt. Director Robert Sexton has produced hundreds of videos, commercials and worked with rockers such as Marilyn Manson. Robert brings his LEGION: WORD MADE FLESH a short movie reminiscent of “THE EXORCIST and ROSEMARY’S BABY” to this year’s festival. UK’S Harry Richards brings STILL LIFE a wonderfully shot period piece to the shorts line up. Marius Markevicius directed UNDISCLOSED, a young couple purchase a condo from a sinister realtor. Bryan Norton’s PENNY DREADFUL features FRIDAY THE 13TH infamous “Mrs. Voorhees”, Betsy Palmer.

Student films from USC, Florida State University, Chapman University, Occidental College, NYU, and Ohio University compete for Best Student Film. Other films rounding out the Comedy Horror and Animated categories.

ScreamFest is open to the general public and tickets are available by calling (310) 358-3273 or purchase opening night and festival passes by visiting their website at www.screamfestla.com. Tickets for individual films are $11.00, $200 for all of the screenings, while a ScreamFest pass is $300.00. Full Festival passes include all screenings, after parties, a complimentary Tarantula Azul Margaritas, seminars and the closing dinner awards ceremony.

Screamfest is sponsored by Tarantula Azul, IFILM, Screenplay.com, IndieWire, SAGIndie, Inktip.com and Moviola.

Dedicated to “Discovering The New Blood of Horror and Honoring The Masters” ScreamFest is in its fifth year.

21.09.2005 | Editor's blog