Sunday, June 8, 2008

Film Fest Friday - Fantasia and some other updates...

You know, we're loyal guys over here at Dead Harvey and we're always trying to help out. If we've covered a film or talked to a filmmaker, we tend to follow them to see what they're up to, check in once in a while and do what we can to support them. So, we checked in with Jason Noto, the guy behind "Butcher's Hill", to see how it was going. If you remember, they had shot a kick-ass short film that was to be entered in festivals and he planned to use that short to get financing for a feature, based on that short. Here's a link to our original post where you can read about it, check out the trailer and everything. It just screened at the Dead by Dawn festival to a packed theater and it's recently been picked up to be screened at the upcoming Fantasia festival, as well... so, this is actually going to work out as a great segue because I was planning on talking about Fantasia this week, anyhow. In any case, good work Jason and we look forward to seeing the feature...

Fantasia started in 1996 by screening Asian films and anime and they promptly expanded into genre films from around the world and, since then, have grown into one of North America's largest genre festivals, featuring many North American premeires. It's also a place where films may screen in pre-final-cut condition, just to be there, find distributors or build buzz. Unfortunately, they're no longer accepting submissions for the 2008 festival, but it's a great festival for networking and, well, just seeing some cool shit. It takes place July 3 - 21 this year and you can find more information on what it's all about at their website.

Also, I've got some new festivals to add to the listings and a few updates:

We've got the new dates for Shockerfest, which is entering its 4th year. It's going to be held October 3-5, 2008 at the Galaxy 12 Theatre in Riverbank, CA. They are currently accepting submissions in three genres: Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy and will take mini-shorts, shorts and features. Here's a link to the entry form on their site.

Not sure how this one snuck past us, but we just found out about Thriller! Chiller!, which takes place October 23rd - 26th at the Wealthy Street Theatre in Grand Rapids, MI. They are currently accepting submission, you can register through Withoutabox here. They give out awards such as: best feature, best short, best fx, best one-liner, best student film, best "thrill" and best "chill".

Lastly, because it's in the comment section, I'm going to add Sci-Fi-London, which will be taking place in April of 2009. Sorry, I just missed the last one... this is more exclusively sci-fi than it is horror, if you couldn't tell from it's name. However, sci-fi and horror are pretty closely linked, so we'll give it it's due. The festival started primarily because there wasn't anywhere for low-budget, interesting or foreign science fiction films. Its purpose is to show films that you're not likely to see in the UK at all, or that are going to be difficult to get hold of. They're not accepting submissions now, you've gotta wait until October...

No comments: