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I CALL UPON THEE (AUSTRALIA)
SYNOPSIS: Two sisters from a broken family chant a summoning ritual in the hope it might improve their bleak lives, but they do not anticipate the irreversible consequences of what they summon.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Michael Anthony Kratochvil
GENRE: Horror, Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 3rd @ 5:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Michael Anthony Kratochvil is an award winning Writer and Director and first class honours graduate of the VCA School of Film & Television and alumnus of Edinburgh International Film Festival Talent Lab 2012 (Winner of ‘Best Pitch’) and Film Victoria Catapult Lab 2016. His feature scripts have been granted development funding through Film Victoria and Screen Australia. His short films have screened at multiple Academy and BAFTA accredited festivals worldwide, including Palm Springs, Slamdance and Edinburgh. His 2021 short films ‘SWEET MARY, WHERE DID YOU GO?’ and ‘I CALL UPON THEE’ are currently touring the festival circuit, with official selections including Fantastic Fest, Beyond Fest, Hollyshorts Film Festival and L’Étrange Festival.
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I’M NOT A ROBOT (USA)
SYNOPSIS: Desperate to find the perfect new employee during a job interview, a weary office manager discovers that his new recruit is not what he seems.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence
GENRE: Sci-Fi, Comedy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Saturday, Nov. 6th @ 11:00 AM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: BRIAN OLLIVER – Director, Writer Brian is an award-winning producer and director. His filmmaking career began in action sports, working with professional snowboarders and skateboarders to produce original content for Fox’s Fuel TV. Leveraging an expertise in outdoor and adventure stories, he developed youth-culture driven ad spots and branded content for clients like PepsiCo, 7Eleven and Toyota. His work has aired on Fox, NBC, Red Bull TV, Nickelodeon and countless digital platforms. Brian produced a feature documentary ‘Gorging’ – about the unique sport of canyoneering – and other short doc films. His latest film ‘Love of Place’ is touring the film festival circuit this year.
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IMAGINARY PORTRAIT (ARGENTINA)
SYNOPSIS: An artist seeking her mother’s help from beyond the grave to deal with two generations of harmful men.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Brief Nudity
DIRECTOR: Felipe Martinez Carbonell
GENRE: Horror, Fantasy, Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Nov. 4th @ 12:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Felipe Martinez Carbonell is an Argentine filmmaker, born on October 21, 1990 in Rosario, Santa Fe. He lived in Rosario until 2014, a city which is considered a benchmark of Argentine and Latin American art and culture. There, in the classrooms of the EPCTV (Rosario Provincial Film and TV School), he studied film and television production and, at just 20 years old, laid the foundations for Hemisferio Films, a film and content production studio that he now directs. He currently resides in Los Angeles, a city in which he expanded his academic career through a Bachelor of Film Production at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles).
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IN HOLLYWOODLAND (USA)
SYNOPSIS: Zodwa, a struggling actress, heads to an exciting, once-in-a lifetime audition and lands in a strange place reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s most famous work.
RATINGS GUIDE: Language, Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Jessica Sherif
GENRE: Fantasy, Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Friday, Nov. 5th @ 4:30 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Jessica Sherif is a Third Culture Kid – Algerian and French-Canadian, born in Spain and raised between the Mediterranean and Canada. She’s directed many narrative shorts, including the 80s SciFi Bitchin’ Glitchin’ (Best Film and Best Director nominee, 48HLAFP 2019) and the comedy Lady Parts (Best Narrative, Hollyshorts 2019 & Outstanding Narrative Short, Tallgrass 2019). Jessica currently has a documentary feature in post-production, an A&E docu-series in production, has directed branded videos for companies like Soul Pancake and ApparentlyJack, and recently shadowed directors on the shows How To Get Away With Murder, Fear The Walking Dead, and American Housewife.
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INCARNATION (JAPAN)
SYNOPSIS: A conversation play that unfolds in a coffee shop with a mysterious old woman who claims to be a vampire.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence, Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Noboru Suzuki
GENRE: Horror, Fantasy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Virtual Exclusive – Screening all dates Virtually via Sci-Fi & Fantasy Shorts Block
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Born in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, he completed his short film “Incarnation” in 2020. Participated as a producer in Hiroshi Shoji’s film “Tatsumi” to be released next year.
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INCH THICK, KNEE DEEP (USA)
SYNOPSIS: The heat gets turned up on a seething exchange between two women. There is Quinn, a haughty daydreamer, who is stewing over a heartbreaking situation with her soulmate; and Adrienne, the woman who’s caught his eye. Once brought to a boiling point, neither woman will leave tea time without peeling back the masks they’ve painted an inch thick and revealing who they are in the face of bitterness.
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Violence, Mild Language, Adult Content, Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Anatasha Blakely
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Friday, October 29th @ 9:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Anatasha Blakely is writer, director, and actor who was born in Orem, Utah. A diligent autodidact, Anatasha began her filmmaking journey stealing movies from her older brother’s shelf and testing her storytelling on stage. More formally she studied at Southern Utah University receiving a BFA in Classical Acting and is also an alumna of iO West, The School for Theatre Creators, and Clown Church LA. Anatasha is part of a comedy duo, Buddy Puzzle, and a Los Angeles based improv ensemble called Stormchaser which hosts the podcast The Stormchaser Improv Podcast Show. Ask her anything, she wants to talk shop.
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INFERNO (AUSTRALIA)
SYNOPSIS: When a family man tears down the remains of his burned-out childhood home in attempt to bury his family’s tragic past, he finds himself tormented by something sinister uncovered in the demolition.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Language, Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Katherine Chediak Putnam
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Virtual Exclusive – Screening all dates Virtually via Horror Shorts #2 Block
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Katherine Chediak Putnam is an emerging Brazilian director and one half of wife and husband writing team with Australian screenwriter Dean W Law. The couples’ films attempt to bring to life genre stories with personal relevance enriched by their multicultural experience. Their 2018 short Stray was nominated for an Australian Writers’ Guild Award before playing some of the world’s most celebrated genre festivals, including the Sitges Film Festival, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Monster Fest and San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival, where it was awarded Best Short Film. Katherine is also a lecturer at Griffith Film School and a Ph.D. student specialising in genre and women’s studies in the practice of screenwriting.
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INTO THE UNCANNY VALLEY (USA)
SYNOPSIS: When a woman takes a new drug meant to enhance assertiveness by blocking empathy, she ends up locked in a deadly power struggle with her dismissive husband.
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sensuality, Adult Content, Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Liz Fania Werner, Carlos Montaner
GENRE: Horror, Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE:Virtual Exclusive – Screening all dates Virtually via Fantastic Shorts Block
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Liz Fania Werner was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. She grew up watching the X-Files and reruns of the Twilight Zone with her family and has had a passion for genre storytelling ever since, in particular stories about powerful – and sometimes dangerous – women. Liz earned an MFA with distinction from the University of Southern California’s Writing for Screen and Television program where she was one of two students in her class to win an Annenberg Fellowship. She went on to work as a staff writer on the one-hour drama series RPM Miami which aired on the Mun2 network, a member of the NBC/Universal family, and to pen a feature adaptation of Babylon Sisters, a novel by Oprah Book Club selected author Pearl Cleage. She has also collaborated with screenwriter Joel Wyman (Fringe, The Mexican) and developed a horror feature project for DMG Entertainment (Looper, Iron Man 3). Her feature script, Kin, won the PAGE Award Silver Prize in the Horror-Thriller category. Liz lives in Los Angeles where she is currently in pre-production with co-director Carlos Montaner on a horror feature film to be shot in November 2021.
Carlos Montaner was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Madrid, Spain. He moved to New York to earn a BFA in film at the School of Visual Arts and later received his MFA in cinematography at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Mentored by the late D.P. Michael Ballhaus, Carlos went on to shoot multiple independent films such as Friends and Lovers starring Robert Downey Jr. for Lionsgate. He has also photographed over a hundred national, international and local commercial campaigns and has pitched, directed and photographed many others, including the San Francisco Super Bowl spot for ESPN. Carlos also has a passion for documentaries and has shot extensively for the History and Discovery channel. He directed his own documentary film on Cuba, The Grandchildren of the Cuban Revolution, which was an official selection of the Cincinnati Film Festival. He is a dedicated cinematographer and director with a passion for genre fiction. Carlos lives in Los Angeles, CA and is currently in pre-production with co-director Liz Fania Werner on a horror feature film to be shot in November 2021.
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IVAN MOODY’S DIRTY POETRY (USA)
SYNOPSIS: From the wonderfully twisted mind of the front man of Five Finger Death Punch; Ivan Moody’s Dirty Poetry is an animated short directly from the book of Ivan’s original poems.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Nick Peterson
GENRE: Horror, Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: World Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Saturday, Oct.30th @ 8:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Nick Peterson grew up watching MTV, Sci-Fi films, anime from Blockbuster Video, and playing video games. He graduated from the Experimental Animation program at CALARTS. After many years producing visual effects he transitioned into full time directing.
Nick’s films have been screened in festivals such as SUNDANCE, and SXSW. His award winning music videos have garnered over 500 hundred million views. And his Chrysler Commercial played during the Super Bowl. He currently lives in Los Angeles.
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JETTISON (USA)
SYNOPSIS: A restless young woman ships off to fight an interstellar war, only to struggle with the effects of being cut off from her home by both time and space.
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Language
DIRECTOR: JJ Pollack
GENRE: Sci-Fi
PREMIERE STATUS: North America Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Friday, Oct. 29th @ 6:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: JJ was born outside of Boston, MA, where he grew up watching cheesy 80s action movies and eating disturbing amounts of hummus. He graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in film, and is currently working as a freelance editor and director in Austin, TX. In 2017 he won the Other Worlds Film Festival O’Bannon Grant, for his short Jettison.
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KILLING SMALL ANIMALS (SWEDEN)
SYNOPSIS: A woman gets overwhelmed by anxiety and does something she never thought herself capable of and once she’s started, she can’t seem to stop..
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Adult Content, Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Marcus Svanberg
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Friday, Oct. 29th @ 9:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Marcus is a failed musician turned filmmaker who started out doing documentaries. He is an innovative director known for his ability to create beautifully crafted and heartfelt work that captures something real and authentic in every subject. From athletes and stars to real people, Marcus has a talent for cinematic storytelling. Marcus quickly became one of Sweden’s most renowned commercial directors, making films for global brands such as IKEA, EA Games, Nike, Coke Zero, UNICEF, Jaguar, Blackberry and Reebok. Marcus’s clever and insightful work has won him critical acclaim across the industry, including multiple Clios & Lions. Killing Small Animals is Marcus’ first short film.
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KILLING TIME (USA)
SYNOPSIS: When a woman attracts the attention of a mysterious figure who slips inside her isolated home and lies in wait, she must confront her past in this genre-bending horror/sci-fi/thriller short film with a twist.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence
DIRECTOR: P. Patrick Hogan
GENRE: Horror, Sci-Fi, Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Nov. 4th @ 5:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Patrick Hogan was born and raised on the island of Guam and attended Northwestern University and the graduate film program at USC, where his thesis film, “The Business Card” was an award- winning short that had the distinction of being the first student film ever sold to an airline for in-flight entertainment. “Pope Dreams”, Patrick’s feature debut, won 11 Best Film awards and aired on the Lifetime Network. His next 2 films, the romantic sci-fi short film “Virtually” and the genre-bending horror/sci-fi thriller short “Killing Time”, have combined to play at over 100 festivals, winning over 20 best film awards. In addition, Patrick is a highly accomplished supervising sound editor for television with 8 Emmy nominations and 3 Golden Reel Awards for his work. He is currently the supervising sound editor on CW’s “Roswell, New Mexico” and the Netflix shows “Umbrella Academy” and “Cobra Kai.”
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KILLJOY (USA)
SYNOPSIS: When JOY is granted a restraining order from SIMON, her friends pressure her to throw a party and celebrate her freedom. But as the party intensifies and her friends start acting strangely, Joy becomes convinced that Simon has found her – causing the night, and her psyche, to spiral out of control.
RATINGS GUIDE: Language
DIRECTOR: Ian Fisher
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Friday, Nov. 5th @ 7:30 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Ian is a writer, director, producer, who has worked in production on films ranging from ‘The LEGO Batman Movie’ to ‘Hotel Artemis’. He’s currently running creative development at Point of No Return Films on projects like the sci-fi courtroom drama ‘Dolly’ starring Florence Pugh
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KOREATOWN GHOST STORY (USA)
SYNOPSIS: In this supernatural horror tale based on a Korean ritual starring Margaret Cho and Lyrica Okano, a woman entertains a macabre marriage offer that would let her pursue her dreams, for better or for much much worse.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Adult Content, Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Minsun Park & Teddy Tenenbaum
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 3rd @ 5:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Minsun Park & Teddy Tenenbaum are a writing/directing team with combined experience in features and television, including pilot sales, staff writing, feature spec sales, and feature and television assignments. They have written separately and together, and currently write both as a team and as solo writers. They specialize in genre writing, including horror, thriller, and action, typically with a humorous edge. With Minsun’s background as an Asian-American woman born in Korea and Teddy’s experience as a white dude from Ohio, they cover a lot of bases.
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LA CIGUAPA SIEMPRE (USA)
SYNOPSIS: After finding out she is adopted, shy Milagro agrees to a camping getaway with her boyfriend Davis to help clear her mind. When Milagro starts to doubt Davis” faithfulness, she realizes the answer to who she is might be hiding deep within the woods.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence, Strong Language, Breif Nudity
DIRECTOR: Monica Moore-Suriyage
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Sunday, Oct. 31st @ 9:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Monica Moore-Suriyage is a biracial, blasian, Afro Latina whose directing/writing work features bold color, strong women, and sometimes blood. Moore – Suriyage’s first short film “Black in Red Out” screened multiple film festivals and led to her inclusion in Shudder’s “Horror Noire,” representing the next generation of Black horror filmmakers. She recently joined the all women horror team Fatale Collective, and is a founding member of Body Checker Productions. Displaying her signature use of color, the music videos and digital pieces she’s directed have amassed millions of views online.
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LAST CHANCE (USA)
SYNOPSIS: It’s Los Angeles, 1987. Three girlfriends determined to have a wild weekend run out of booze and decide to break into their neighbor’s house, quickly realizing they might be in over their heads.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Content, Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Anthony Fanelli
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
PREMIERE STATUS: World Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Sunday, Oct. 31st @ 5:30 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Anthony is the producer/director of the award winning PG rated feature film documentary, “The Akron Holy War” which captures the storied (high school football) rivalry between two Akron, OH parochial schools. He is also writer/director/editor of the award winning short dramatic horror film “The Carducci Talent Show” (currently available on Amazon Prime Video), along with being the writer/director/editor and star of the award winning “1 take” short film “Juncture”, and the creator and star of “The Next Steps,” the short form comedy series that won an “Amazon Video Direct Star” award for 11 straight months for being one of the most viewed independent titles on Amazon. Previously his horror series “Chapters of Horror” was purchased by Blumhouse and Crypt TV, and his yet-to-produced comedic mystery screenplay “Skokie Stakeout” has won several writing contests over the past year. www.anthony-fanelli.com and www.aphotic-productions.com for more!
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LETHALOGICA (USA)
SYNOPSIS: The key to a long relationship is a short memory.
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Violence, Strong Language
DIRECTOR: Tony Reames
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Saturday, Nov. 6th @ 11:00 AM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Tony Reames has directed short films, music videos, and feature films that have won numerous awards and been seen on MTV, BET, TvOne, and VH1. From standing ovations at the Apollo Theater, premiering his film at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood to being a filmmaker panelist at San Diego’s Comicon, Tony has been able to travel all over to share his work.
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LILY IN THE MAZE (USA)
SYNOPSIS: Will, a quiet introvert, deals with a change in his routine on the same day a woman from his past appears. His self-control is put to the test as he struggles to harness his instincts during a confrontation that ends in a surreal mirror maze.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Langauge, Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Alexandra Emmons and Andrew Juhl
GENRE: Horror, Fantasy, Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Nov. 4th @ 12:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Alexandra Emmons and Andrew Juhl are first time directors. They co-wrote and co-directed Lily in the Maze. Alexandra is an artist and stylist, with many years of experience working in costume design in film and TV production. Andrew is a photographer who has been working as a camera assistant in film production for nearly 10 years. Together they make a great creative team, interested in telling stories about the strange and unusual things among us.
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LITTLE BROTHER (USA)
SYNOPSIS: A white teacher goes to a strange South L.A. block to investigate a gifted student’s absence from school, but underestimates the boy’s powerful grandmother.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence, Language, Intense Images
DIRECTOR: Dikega Hadnot
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 3rd @ 8:00 PM
DIRECTOR’SBIO: Dikega Hadnot is a Los Angeles born writer/director, who began his journey in film as an assistant to Terrence Malick on Tree of Life. Following Malick’s advice to pursue his own path as a filmmaker, Dikega returned to Los Angeles where he co-founded commercial production company, Latebloom Entertainment and writing/directing partnership, GONZOGRIOT. With a life-long passion of B-movies, ritual and everyday folk, his films are subversive meditations on humanity, transcendence, and conflict.
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LOGAN LEE & THE RISE OF THE PURPLE DAWN (USA)
SYNOPSIS: Turntablist Logan Lee is in love with his best friend, Beatrice Pan, and tonight, she’s throwing a party! Now if only he wasn’t so nervous. But not to fear, Auntie Bobbie is here with some of the rarest weed she’s ever laid lungs on, Purple Dawn. Unfortunately, Logan soon discovers there’s much more to this strain than its soothing effects.
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Language, Adult Content
DIRECTOR: Raymond C. Lai
GENRE: Horror, Sci-Fi, Comedy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Nov. 4th @ 11:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Raymond C. Lai is an award-winning writer and director. His keen eye, and ear, for blending character driven comedy, genre storytelling and emotional pathos has resulted in festival screenings around the world, captivating audiences across several languages. Raymond earned his MFA from the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts, and since then, has been selected for several highly competitive fellowships, including Film Independent’s Project: Involve and Visual Communication’s Armed with a Camera. His first feature, the horror/comedy Dying to Kill, was acquired for distribution by Comedy Dynamics, the largest independent comedy distribution company in the country, and is currently available on Amazon Prime and many other VOD platforms. On top of developing a feature length version of his award-winning short film Logan Lee & the Rise of the Purple Dawn, Raymond is currently writing and scoring a sci-fi/comedy webcomic, as well as developing a hybrid stop-motion/live-action comedy series entitled Grumby and Me.
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