FIRST WAVE OF 2017 LINE UP ANNOUNCED screamfest August 29, 2017 - 9:16am ANNOUNCES FIRST WAVE OF 2017 LINE UP Dominic Monaghan to Serve as Festival Ambassador HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – August 29, 2017 – America’s largest and longest running horror film festival, Screamfest Horror Film Festival, is proud to announce the first wave of its official 2017 film line up. In its 17th year, the festival, which will run from Oct. 10-19, 2017 at the TCL Chinese in Hollywood, has launched careers - providing a platform for filmmakers and actors to showcase their latest work to enthusiasts and general audiences. Actor and producer Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings trilogy, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, TV’s “Lost”) will serve as this year’s festival ambassador. “I am extremely honored to serve as this year’s Screamfest ambassador,” said Monaghan. “I applaud Screamfest and its Founder and Festival Director Rachel Belofsky for embracing the work of filmmakers and actors in the horror genre. I’m a big fan of this space, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of a fest that truly acknowledges unique and creative work.” Screamfest Horror Film Festival will offer unique access to some of the most creative forces in the horror genre through film screenings, Q&As and conversations with some of the most captivating artists working in the industry today. “We are thrilled to partner with Dominic Monaghan at this year’s Screamfest,” said Belofsky. “He is an amazing actor and filmmaker who understands the vision of this festival. His experience in the industry alone, I am certain, will inspire other actors, filmmakers and horror film enthusiasts.” The festival is best known for discovering Paranormal Activity in 2007. Other past premieres include 30 Days of Night, Let the Right One In, The Grudge, The Fourth Kind, The Collection, Trick ‘r’ Treat, The Human Centipede and Diary of the Dead. Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Sam Raimi, Clive Barker, Eli Roth, James Wan, Zack Snyder, William Friedkin, John Landis and James Gunn are just some of the filmmakers who have supported the festival year after year. Film festival badges are currently on sale at www.ScreamfestLA.com and individual film tickets will be available end of September 2017. All screenings are open to the general public. Winners will receive a 24 karat gold dipped skull trophy designed by the legendary, Academy award-winning special make-up effects creator, Stan Winston, who partnered with the festival until his passing. Screamfest Horror Film Festival is proud to announce that the following films have been admitted to the festival – the first wave of the 2017 line up. DEAD ANT (USA) 2017 LEATHERFACE (USA) 2017 RUIN ME (USA) 2017 TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (MEXICO) 2017 TODD & THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL: THE END OF THE END (CANADA) 2017 TRAGEDY GIRLS (USA) 2017 TRENCH 11 (CANADA) 2017 Get Social with Us: “LA’s @Screamfest #Horror #FilmFestival has announced the line-up! Oct 10-19 @ChineseTheatres #Hollywood! www.ScreamfestLA.com #ScreamfestLA” |
Screamfest Announces Official Lineup Julia Kaminski October 3, 2017 - 10:19am The countdown has officially begun for Screamfest 2017 and we have dropped the official lineup. With less than two weeks before the festival kickoff, we here at Screamfest are gearing for another kick ass year of genre films from around the world. Aside from the killer American films to look forward to, we also have an especially great lineup of international films to check out. Some of our most well received films in recent years have been international titles, including last year’s Lake Bodom out of Finland. So, since it’s important not to sleep on this particular collection of international films, we have compiled you a list of some of the titles that we are particularly excited for. The Laplace’s Demon [Italy] “Eight people are imprisoned in a secluded mansion on an uninhabited island. After waiting in vain for the host, they find a model with eight self-propelled pawns that reproduces the movements of each group member in real time...” “We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future. An intellect which at a certain moment would know all forces that set nature in motion, and all positions of all items of which nature is composed, if this intellect were also vast enough to submit these data to analysis, it would embrace in a single formula the movements of the greatest bodies of the universe and those of the tiniest atom; for such an intellect nothing would be uncertain and the future just like the past would be present before its eyes.” Directed by Giordano Giulivi, The Laplace’s Demon explores the scientific principle that, by thoroughly studying the past, you may have the ability to predict the future. But how does this apply to human beings and free will? The Laplace’s Demon explores this concept in the style of House on Haunted Hill, a film that it clearly drew inspiration from. The stylistic black & white cinematography and period aesthetic pay tribute to the classic American horror films of the 1950’s and 60’s, For more information about the film, filmmakers, and ticketing, check it out here. Double Date [UK] “Meet innocent Jim, terrified of girls, and on a reluctant quest to prove his manhood the night before he turns 30. He and his cocky friend Alex think they've hit the jackpot when they meet the beautiful siblings Kitty and Lulu, who seem up for anything on a wild party-fuelled night. But little do they know that the femmes fatales want to make Jim lose much more than just his virginity - Getting laid has never been so bloody difficult.” If you are a fan of British dark comedies, this one is for you. Double Date is a wacky (and bloody) rollercoaster of a film. Double Date is the brainchild of Director Benjamin Barfoot and Writer Danny Morgan, whose mutual black sense of humor unites in this first feature film endeavor. Tigers Are Not Afraid [Mexico] “We are in a Mexican city turned into a ghost town by the drug-war. Estrella is 11, and when her mother vanishes, she makes a wish: she wants her mother to come back. And mom does return—from the dead. Terrified, Estrella escapes and joins a rag-tag gang of other children orphaned by the violence, all escaping their own past. But she learns that in a city ruled by death, you can’t simply leave the ghosts behind; they walk with you wherever you go.” The third feature for Writer, Director Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid is a brutal and fantastical tale that would be right at home in the world of Guillermo Del Toro. The film is a topical and significant window into an underworld of Mexico’s forgotten children. López has received various awards for her literary pursuits and seems to be quite the force to be reckoned with. Vidar the Vampire [Norway] “Vidar Haarr is a 33 year old, sexually frustrated bachelor farmer who leads a Christian, monotonous and strenuous working life on his mother's farmstead in the Western outskirts of Norway. In a desperate attempt to break free from routine, Vidar prays to a higher power to grant him a life without boundaries. Unfortunately, his prayers are heard and Vidar wakes up one evening as the Prince of Darkness in sin city, Stavanger.” VIdar the Vampire is the debut feature for directorial duo Thomas Aske Berg and Fredrik Waldeland, In a similar vein as the mockumentary masterpiece What We Do in The Shadows, Vidar the Vampire is a kafka-esque horror/comedy made on an impressively low budget. Alone [France] “Leïlais 16. She wakes up late, like any other morning. Except that today, no one is here to tell her to get moving. Where are her parents? She gets on her bike and rides through the neighborhood: it's all empty. Everybody has disappeared. Thinking she's the sole survivor of an unexplained disaster, she eventually crosses ways with four other teenagers: Dodji, Yvan, Camille and Terry. Together they will try to understand what has happened and to learn to survive in a world that has become hostile... But are they really alone?” Based on the comic book of the same name by Fabien Vehlmann and Bruno Gazzotti, Alone is the second on this list that falls into the increasingly popular “Kid Squad” craze that has recently re-entered the zeitgeist. The nostalgic feeling of the unsupervised-kids-on-bikes-save-the-world aspect of the film is a strong draw in today’s market and it will be interesting to see how this trope translates into French culture. Read more about Alone, here. You can find our full festival schedule here. Screamfest 2017 kicks off on Tuesday, October 10 with our premiere of Dead Ant at 7:30pm, followed by our opening night party at 9:30pm. Hope to see you all there! |
2017 FESTIVAL AWARDS ANNOUNCED screamfest October 20, 2017 - 10:09am 2017 SCREAMFEST HORROR FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS ANNOUNCED HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Oct. 20, 2017 – America’s largest and longest running horror movie festival, Screamfest, awarded this year’s top movies, filmmakers and actors Thursday during the fest’s closing night. Screamfest, which ran from Oct. 10 – 19, 2017 at the TLC Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood, has launched careers – providing a platform for filmmakers and actors to showcase their latest work to horror film enthusiasts and general audiences. As voted on by a jury panel, TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID received the most awards of the night with five: Best Picture, Best Director – Issa López, Best Actor – Juan Ramón López, Best Actress – Paola Lara and Best Editing – Joaquim Marti. THE LAPACE’S DEMON received four awards for Best Musical Score by Duccio Giulivi, Best Visual FX by Giordano Giulivi and Alessandro Zonfrilli, Best Special FX by Giordano Giulivi and Best Cinematography by Ferdinando D’Urbano. The closing night’s ceremony also honored Marianne Maddalena with a Career Achievement Award. A film and television producer, she often collaborated with prolific genre filmmaker Wes Craven. Comprehensive List of Screamfest 2017 Winners: Get Social with Us: Screamfest Official Usernames and Hashtag: Screamfest is sponsored by Shock Top, Birns & Sawyer, European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation, Dapper Cadaver, Screenplay.com, InkTip, Elma, Horror Pack,SellAScript.com, Screen Queensland and Simple DCP. Screamfest is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Screamfest is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs. ABOUT SCREAMFEST HORROR FILM FESTIVAL: Formed in August 2001 by film producer Rachel Belofsky, Screamfest Horror Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that gives filmmakers and screenwriters in the horror and science fiction genres a venue to have their work showcased in the film industry. Among the numerous films that have been discovered and/or premiered at the festival include “Paranormal Activity,” “30 Days of Night,” “Trick ‘r Treat” and “The Human Centipede.” For more information, visit www.ScreamfestLA.com or email info@screamfestla.com. |
The Screamfest 2017 Festival Roundup Julia Kaminski November 16, 2017 - 11:16am Another October has come and gone, which means another year in the books for the Screamfest Horror Film Festival. Every year, when we reach the award ceremony and closing night party we find that it is bittersweet. Much like the last day of school, the final night of the festival is the last of a ten-day marathon of the genre’s best of the year. From filmmakers to press to festival staff, we have become a quick and happy family by the final day, and it is sad to see everyone go their separate ways. In case you missed out on this year’s festivities or simply want to recall some fond memories, here are just a few of the incredible moments from Screamfest 2017. All photos by the amazing Angelica Ulloa (@BabeLuck) Ain’t no party like a Screamfest party, cause a Screamfest party has THE MOST INCREDIBLE CAKES. Created by the talented Natalie (pictured above) molded and painted this beauty, while her mother Maggie baked its delicious core. The two run Maggie’s Cakes & More, if anyone is in the market for any high quality baked goods. This one was almost too cool to eat. Cakes just taste better with edible weaponry attached. Dead Ant star, Jake Busey stopped by the party to celebrate our opening night premiere of the film.
Craig Robinson, Josh Hutcherson and the rest of the cast and crew of Tragedy Girls came out for our sold out screening of Screamfest alum Tyler MacIntyre’s newest feature. His previous film Patchwork was a hit at Screamfest 2016, taking home four awards, including Best Picture. Tragedy Girls has already garnered excellent reviews throughout the festival circuit and is another exciting accomplishment in MacIntyre’s very promising career in the genre. The traditional theater experience is important to us here at Screamfest. However, there is no denying that VR is cool as hell. This year, we had a special guest in the lobby during the festival. Before taking my seat on the provided hospital gurney, I was given a brief introduction by my host, dressed in hospital scrubs. He asked the usual questions before any kind of visually stimulating experience, if I had a history of epilepsy, so on and so forth. He then asked if I had ever had a near death experience. “I have not, but why do you ask?” he explained that VR taps into certain impulses in the brain that basically mimic reality, more so than if we are simply watching a movie and that this particular experience could potentially trigger PTSD in someone who had in fact experienced it. As a fan of theatrics, I thought the whole spiel was a nice touch, but did not expect anything too intense. As I made myself comfortable on the aforementioned gurney, I was told that I would be experiencing the true first hand account of a woman who had had a near death experience, and would be led through it, in her own words. I do not want to spoil the experience for anyone who might undergo it in the future, but I will say that it was a pleasant surprise. Although the images I was seeing were no more intense than your average video game, my body was noticeably reacting to what I was seeing. The whole experience was a lot of fun and made me really excited (and a little afraid) for the future of virtual reality. Birth.Movies.Death writer Brian Collins, sharing his vintage Friday the 13th magazne with the legendary Kane Hodder after the screening of the documentary To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story. To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story is an incredibly moving peak into the life of a genre legend. As a long time fan of Hodder’s, it was fascinating to delve deeper into his extraordinary journey. This doc is a must see for any Hodder fans, any horror fans, or really anyone who can appreciate a meaningful and authentic story. Sean Decker and Cabin Fever star Cerina Vincent teamed up to present our closing night awards, held in the historic (and historically haunted) Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd. Filmmaker Holy Fatma not only won Best Short for her film Please Love Me Forever, she also won Best Reaction to Receiving an Award. We love you Holy! Congrats and thank you for your formidable rendition of “The Way You Make Me Feel”. Behind most great filmmakers, is a great producer. One who recognizes and supports their vision and is willing and able to move mountains to make it a reality. For our dearly departed legend, Wes Craven, that producer was Marianne Maddalena. Ever since 1989’s Shocker, Maddalena worked alongside Wes and is responsible for some of the genre’s best films ever made. Because of her illustrious career, Maddalena was awarded the Career Achievement Award for the night. For a full list of Screamfest 2017 Awards and Winners, check them out here. Ain’t no party like a Screamfest party, cause a Screamfest party has KARAOKE. I just want to say thank you to everyone that came out to the 2017 Screamfest Horror Festival. We had some amazing films and guests this year, and if it weren’t for all the love and support from the fans and filmmakers alike, we would not have this amazing festival. See you all in 2018! CHECK OUT THE OPENING NIGHT VIDEO: SEE MORE FESTIVAL PHOTOS: |