News

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– Cardiff Animation Nights will be returning to run a dedicated animation strand at Cardiff Independent Film Festival (C.I.F.F.) for a second year this May. This year’s animation strand at C.I.F.F. will comprise three programs of animated short films in competition for the Best Animation Award, as well as an Animated Family Shorts program curated by renowned Cardiff-based studio Cloth Cat Animation, networking events, and an Animation Quiz run by the team at Skwigly Animation Magazine.

The competition program features animated short films from across Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Australia, including Mikey Hill’s The Orchestra, Anete Melece’s Analysis Paralysis, Chris Shepherd’s Johnno’s Dead, Ross Hogg’s Life Cycles and Alois Di Leo’s Way of Giants.

In today's Horror Highlights, we have details on the fifth Stranger With My Face International Film Festival, a new clip and link to a featurette for Phoenix Forgotten, and two clips from Inner Demon.

Stranger With My Face International Film Festival: Press Release: "The 5th edition of Stranger With My Face International Film Festival will take place in Hobart from 4-7 May, with a line-up of feature films, a shorts program, a symposium, industry events and an art exhibition. Stranger With My Face focuses on women's perspectives in genre filmmaking with an emphasis on horror and related genres.

The 2017 program includes a retrospective of the celebrated New Zealand filmmaker Gaylene Preston; the Tasmanian premiere of the all-female horror anthology Xx with one of the filmmakers, Roxanne Benjamin, in person; and a screening of Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs with its cinematographer, Sandi Sissel Asc.

“Stranger With My Face...

Earlier this year we let you know the dates and submission info for Australia’s 2017 Stranger With My Face International Film Festival, and now we’re back with a few additional details on this year’s event, including the key titles and… Continue Reading →

The post Stranger With My Face Film Festival Announces Key 2017 Titles appeared first on Dread Central.

We have word for you today about two Southern Hemisphere film fests that have announced dates, revealed details, and are now open for submission. If you’re a budding filmmaker, this news is for you! Stranger With My Face International Film… Continue Reading →

The post Stranger With My Face and Monster Fest Film Festivals Now Open for Submissions! appeared first on Dread Central.

“Your soul for a sweet?” If you summon him, don’t take him up on his offer. The Man in the Rabbit Mask short film, an entry in the Storyhive contest, can be viewed in today’s Horror Highlights, which also includes The Room at the Top of the Stairs, Game of Thrones pens, The Field Guide to Evil, and the Famous Monsters Party in San Jose.

The Man in the Rabbit Mask Short Film: “A poem spoken over candlelight by two girls invites an unexpected visitor, offering a gift… for a price. As the allure of the ultimatum invokes their better judgement, the illusion of safety begins to fade in the presence of the masked stranger.

Director: Ariel Hansen

Actors: Iris Truong, Holly Burr, Chris Walters, Catherine Slingsby”

To learn more and to vote for The Man in the Rabbit Mask in the Storyhive competition, visit:

http://www.storyhive.

Two short films from friends of the ScreenAnarchy family rolled out on Shudder yesterday. Australian filmmaker Briony Kidd's The Room at the Top of the Stairs and American Gustavo Cooper's The Home.  Briony Kidd's short film, a modern gothic melodrama with a nod to 1970s horror flicks called The Room at the Top of the Stairs, is one of her earlier works from 2010. While she works on her feature film debut, a post apocalyptic psycho-biddy (not a spelling error) thriller she is the director of the Stranger With My Face International Film Festival and a mighty advocate for women filmmakers around the World.  We have been following Cooper's The Home for some time now. When it first emerged as a proof of concept for a feature...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The Stranger With My Face International Film Festival will be returning to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia for its fifth year. The film festival focuses on women filmmakers and female perspectives in genre film. In the current global political climate its presence is more important than ever. The festival announced this year's dates and is now open for submissions and there will be further announcements about this year's mentorship program, Attic Lab. Tasmania's Stranger With My Face International Film Festival will return for its fifth edition from May 4-7 2017. “Events like this are needed more than ever, with women’s rights under threat around the world,” says Festival Director Briony Kidd. “Women are angry, and they have a lot to say. Genre filmmaking is...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Australian female-focused genre fest offers new ‘The Attic Lab’ program. The 4th edition of Stranger With My Face International Film Festival begins in Tasmania, Australia this week (see the full list of feature films here) and includes a new feature this year in ‘The Attic Lab’, a program that offers an intensive mentoring program for…

The post ‘Stranger With My Face’ Fest Announces ‘The Attic Lab’ Program appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Make your way to Hobart, Australia halfway through April if you want to see a great lineup of films directed by women (and one dude). The Stranger With My Face Film Festival has just announced its lineup for this year and it features some great films.    Festival favorites The Invitation and Frankenstein are joined by some other great titles including Midnight Show by Ginanti Rona Tembang Asri, who, as you will read below, has worked extensively in the Indonesian film industry on some films you may have heard of. The Raid. The Raid 2. Killers. Another hardcore horror film from Indonesia? Yes, please.    You will also read about some films below that we in the TwitchFilm family are particularily excited about.    Tickets...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Female-focused fright film festival announces full lineup for their 2016 program. Shock has been reporting on the various goings-on in Hobart, Australia for the 4th edition of the Stranger With My Face International Film Festival, an exciting genre-centric fest with a strong focus of femininity and female filmmaking. The festival will take place in Hobart…

The post Evolution, Midnight Show, The Love Witch and More at Australia’s 2016 Stranger With My Face Film Fest appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Horror fans the world over have more opportunities than ever to attend film festivals dedicated to the genre, and if you live in or near Hobart, the capital of the Australian island state of Tasmania, you have April’s Stranger With… Continue Reading →

The post Australia’s Stranger With My Face Film Fest Announces Lineup appeared first on Dread Central.

Dust off your laptops, tablets, notepads, paper and pens! The Tasmanian Gothic Short Script Challege is back, and wants your new screenplays! As part of Stranger With My Face Festival, the contest challenges you to write a short screenplay in 48 hours, with enough originality to impress the jury (which this year includes myself, Stephanie Trepanier of Snowfort Pictures, screenwriter and producer Simon Barrett, and festival director Briony Kidd). Past winners include Little Lamb by Heidi Lee Douglas, Mrs Chang's Perfect Teeth by Karen Lam, and The Life and Times of Teddy Whalley by Mike Wedderburn.The challenge is open to writers from around the world, both women and men. The script can be no more than 7 pages, with a prompt quote, an object, and...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

We here at Film School Rejects love film festivals of all kinds, but if pressed I’d gleefully admit that genre fests — ones that celebrate horror, action, dark fantasy/sci-fi, thrillers, and the absurd — are my festivals of choice. Austin’s Fantastic Fest is my favorite (and most-frequented), and Montreal’s sixteen-week-long Fantasia International Film Fest has quickly locked in second place, but the list of genre festivals I still hope to experience remains daunting — Sitges, PiFan, Brussels, Fantaspoa, Film4 Frightfest. Too many film fests, too little time, and now I have two more to add to the list! Both Tasmania’s Stranger With My Face and Australia’s Monster Fest are relatively young, but they’re making a name for themselves through a clear affection for genre cinema, filmmakers, and fans. They’re also making strides to highlight women in horror in different ways — the former is focused on female-centric stories and films directed by women...

Australian genre film fest announces 48 hour film challenge winners. Shock is proud to serve as one of the sponsors of Tasmania’s Stranger With My Face International Film Festival, an expansive, innovative genre film festival that celebrates filmmakers (with a focus on women filmmaker) from not just its native Australia, but from around the world.…

The post ‘Stranger With My Face’ Fest Announces ’48 Hour Tasploitation Film Challenge’ Winners appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Australian film festival opens press accreditation and launches screenplay contest. As we previously reported, Tasmania-based, female-centric, international horror film festival Stranger With My Face is returning April 14-17th. Named after the dark Ya novel by Lois Duncan, Stranger With My Face focuses on female perspectives in genre film, with an emphasis on showcasing the work…

The post Tasmania’s ‘Stranger With My Face’ Film Fest Opens Press Accreditation; Announces Screenwriting challenge appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Tasmania might bring to mind the image of a former violent penal colony or crazy cartoon characters, but it is also the home of Stranger With My Face International Film Festival. A home for horror and fantastic films with an emphasis on women directors and/or films with a woman-centric perspective, it's now in its fourth year and looking for features and shorts. Festival Director Briony Kidd is back at the helm, and she's added the juggernaut of fantastic film programming that is Kier-La Janisse, founder of Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, author and former programmer for Fantastic Fest.So, if you are or identify as a woman, or a filmmaker with a story about a woman, and have a feature or short that is strange, bloody, or...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Tasmania based female-centric film fest launches call for submissions. Lurking within the darkest corners of Tasmania, a gaggle of movie-minded cineastes are currently plotting and planning for the 2016 Stranger With My Face International Film Festival, an edgy horror fest that focuses primarily on films made by emerging female artists. Swmf derives its name from…

The post Australia’s 2016 ‘Stranger With My Face’ International Film Fest Now Accepting Submissions appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.