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SAM AND DOUG (UK)
SYNOPSIS: In a near-future where a virus has turned the population into rabid monsters, a desperate mother forms an unlikely friendship in order to return home and save her family.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence
DIRECTOR: Brendan Cleaves
GENRE: Horror, Fantasy
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Friday, Oct. 28th @ 5:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: After running around Camden with a camera shooting music videos for local bands’, I thought the only way to make a dent in the professional world of promo directing was to go off-piste and write the music as well. I got a guitar, learnt to play, and the music video I directed for that band got nominated for a UK MVA. After spending the next few years directing music videos, I then decided to follow my passion for writing genre films and wrote my first short ROGER a proof of concept for a feature film.
I shot Roger in 2016 staring John Bradley’ (Game of Thrones) and comedian Seann Walsh, it then went on to be screened at over fifty film festivals around the world, many BAFTA and Academy award qualifying, it was nominated and won various awards. My focus is on creating worlds and characters different from normality. My work is character-driven, sometimes weird, sometimes dark, but always fun and entertaining. My short film ‘The Dead Collectors’ stars Ivan Kaye (Vikings, Bubblegum Milkshake) and Elliot Langridge (Northern Soul) has been selected for many prestigious genre festivals worldwide, including BIFFF, Flickers Rhode Island, Frightfest, Screamfest LA, Abertoir, Trieste and FilmQuest.
My other short films include ‘Living Next Door to Alex’ starring Tom Bell (The Mash Report) and Richard Rycroft (Game of Thrones), ‘The Lawnmower Men’, ‘Coldplay’ and ‘The Wrong Swipe’, have all screened at festivals worldwide. My latest shorts ‘Sam and Doug’ a zombie thriller starring Craig Charles (Red Dwarf) and Karla Langly (Call the Midwife, Carnival Row) & ‘Knock Knock (Hell’s There)’, starring Tom Bell, and ‘Target Zero’ starring Ivan Kaye are currently on the world film festival circuit. The feature film script for the ‘Roger’ feature film made it to the semifinal of every major screenplay competition in the world, and was featured on the Hollywood Blacklist websites ‘Top Comedy scripts’. In 2022 I was nominated for the Méliès d’Argent twice.
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SCOOTER (USA)
SYNOPSIS: Abandoned by her boyfriend in the middle of the night, a woman is faced with an unthinkable choice when she discovers a woman trapped in the back of a van.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Mild Language
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Friday, Nov. 4th @ 8:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Chelsea Lupkin has a passion for short films and is a Senior Programmer and editorial writer for ‘Short of the Week’. She is also the Director of Photography and an original member of the Delish team, an award-winning Hearst food site, producing a number of reality food shows like Iconic Eats and Julia Tries Everything.Her short horror film “Lucy’s Tale” premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival in 2018 and was released online in the summer of 2019 on Gunpowder & Sky’s horror platform, ALTER, where it has been viewed over 5.4 million times.
She went on to make another short horror film called “Flagged” in collaboration with the Sundance Institute and Hulu, where it is now streaming. Her latest short, “Scooter”, also premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival in 2022 and will screen at SITGES and Beyond Fest within its festival line up.
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SEABORNE (USA)
SYNOPSIS: A seaside home invasion turns sinister when a young mother discovers her intruders have risen from the sea.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Dylan Ashton
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Sunday, Oct. 30th @ 7:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Dylan Ashton is a writer-director of over fifteen short films and music videos. His work has been featured in film festivals and online publications around the world, including those in Spain, Belgium, and France. In 2017, he collaborated on short film, CULDESAC, with music collective, BROCKHAMPTON, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. His sci-fi horror short, A SHOT IN THE DARK, premiered on Gunpowder & Sky’s ALTER horror platform in 2020.
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SHINY NEW WORLD (NETHERLANDS)
SYNOPSIS: Fifty-year-old Barry is a special kind of cleaner: he cleans crime scenes where demons have wreaked havoc. While making a corporate film about his work, a normal working day for Barry gets out of hand in a bloody way.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Jan van Gorkum
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Saturday, Oct. 29th @ 8:00 PM (w/ “#chadgetstheaxe”)
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Jan van Gorkum (1983) is a filmmaker and writer. In 2010 he graduated as a filmmaker from the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU). Jan has written and directed several award-winning short films, which have been screened at a large number of festivals around the world. He finds it interesting to combine genres in his films, but has a soft spot for dark humor, horror, fantasy and thriller. His first book was published in 2019: a quirky fantasy book titled Winged Darkness.
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SHUT (NETHERLANDS)
SYNOPSIS: When Jonas visits his father after a long time, he’s shocked to find him in a confused state. Has his father’s mental state badly deteriorated or is something more sinister going on?
RATINGS GUIDE: Adult Content, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Niels Bourgonje
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Monday, Oct. 30th @ 12:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Niels Bourgonje is a fiction / commercial director based in Amsterdam. Niels has directed a wide variety of productions, ranging from human-driven stories to epic food, sports and car films. This diversity can also be found in his fiction work, where Niels has directed drama, horror and comedy films. His films were selected for Academy Award and BAFTA qualifying festivals and have won more than 150 awards. Niels’ horror short film SWIPE is being adapted into a feature screenplay by Timur Bekmanbetov’s Bazelevs, and he is attached to direct Colin Bannon’s Black list horror screenplay, THE INTERVENTIONIST. He is repped by Sukee Chew at Sugar23.
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SLEEP (USA)
SYNOPSIS: “Wake up! I heard something. I think someone’s here.” A woman struggles with her lifelong fear of home invasion, in this three-and-a-half minute horror film told in a single shot.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Alexandra Pechman
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 2nd @ 5:00PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Alexandra Pechman is a writer and director living in Los Angeles. She wrote the psychological thriller TENTACLES, produced by Blumhouse for Hulu’s INTO THE DARK film series, and has written for the cult anthology series CHANNEL ZERO on Syfy. As a director, her debut short film, THUMB, premiered at the 2021 Fantasia Film Festival and was an official competition selection at the Oscar-qualifying 2021 Sitges Film Festival, among many others. Her second short film SLEEP was selected for a funding grant by The Future of Film is Female.
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SOLUS (UK)
SYNOPSIS: A lone astronaut aboard the ISS suddenly loses communication with Earth. He soon begins to experience a series of strange events that put him and the entire station at risk.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Imagery, All Audiences
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Brooks
GENRE: Sci-Fi
PREMIERE STATUS: International Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Nov. 3rd @ 6:30 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Jonathan Brooks is a multi-award winning British filmmaker. Brooks has worked within the film industry for over 10 years and works as creative director for United Magic Studios, a UK based production company which works with international brands.
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SPECIAL DELIVERY (USA)
SYNOPSIS: A young couple’s carefree life is ended by the delivery of bundle of horror.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Mild Language, Adult Content
DIRECTOR: Andrew Melzer
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Wednesday, Nov. 2nd @ 8:00 PM (w/ “Give Me an A”)
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Andrew Melzer is an award-winning writer and director of numerous independent comedy series films including the sci-fi comedy web series Greg PRIME, the urban fantasy spoof The Street Wizards Apprentice, and the Morph Bots: The Bots That Morph. His comedic essays have been published by McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies and RobotButt.com. As a writer and producer, he co-created and wrote The Magic Hour pilot for Nickelodeon.
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SPECTER OF WEEPING HILL (USA)
SYNOPSIS: A young woman returns to an abandoned cemetery that has haunted her since childhood to confront the recent loss of her sister.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Matthew Barber, Nathaniel Barber
GENRE: Horror, Fantasy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Sunday, Oct. 30th @ 7:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Twin brothers Matthew and Nathaniel Barber are writers and directors best known for their short horror films Go Back (2019), No One Is Coming (2020), and Specter of Weeping Hill (2021).
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SPELLBOUND (SWITZERLAND / UK)
SYNOPSIS: James’ dull daily routine is disrupted by a strange apparition that begins to haunt him in his waking moments and dreams alike. Suspecting who might be behind these disturbances, James sets out to confront the culprit.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Imagery
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: World Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Monday, Oct. 31st @ 9:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Robin is an award winning director who’s always had an interest in film making and a love for films. He was born in Switzerland and studied in London. His passion is to bring stories to life and to create strong visuals that stay on the audience’s mind. He enjoys working with new technology, familiarising himself with new methods and gear in the process.
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STANDING WOMAN (UK)
SYNOPSIS: “Standing Woman” is a dystopian drama with flourishes of body horror that depicts a near future where an authoritarian government turns those it deems criminals into trees as part of an insidious environmental campaign. Under this green dictatorship, a propaganda filmmaker wrestling with the recent ‘planting’ of his wife for making seditious comments, embarks on an emotional journey to say a final goodbye.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence, Strong Language, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Tony Hipwell
GENRE: Horror, Sci-Fi
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Monday, Oct. 31st @ 3:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Tony is a multi-award-winning filmmaker whose work has screened at Academy Award, Canadian Screen Award, BAFTA and BIFA qualifying festivals such as Fantasia & FrightFest. Their debut feature, Whoops! premiered at Raindance 2013 and was the only British film selected for the Raindance Tour 2014.
Since then, Tony has developed projects with the BBC and Searchlight Pictures, worked as the Video Producer for Young Thug Records in association with EMI Records and been selected for the inaugural Future of Film Incubator. Tony’s most recent project, an award-winning adaptation of ‘Standing Woman’ by internationally acclaimed author Yasutaka Tsutsui has screened in competition at Leeds International Film Festival and been acquired by ALTER
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STAY AT HOME (NEW ZEALAND)
SYNOPSIS: During the first outbreak of Covid-19 in New Zealand the entire country is forced into lockdown. A young woman who lives alone begins to see someone outside her house. Is it paranoia, or something more sinister?
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Violence, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Guy Pigden
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: North America Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Virtual Exclusive – Virtual Shorts Block #2
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Guy is a Writer/Director/Editor/Producer who recently completed his second feature film ‘Older’ distributed by Indie Rights it is currently available through Amazon, Tubi and Google Play. The film has been streamed over a million times worldwide and recently won best Oceanian Actor and the Septimius Awards in Amsterdam. His first feature film ‘I Survived A Zombie Holocaust’ (funded by the NZFC through the Escalator initiative), which he wrote and directed, enjoyed a successful international festival run premiering at London’s Frightfest and Sitges.
It won the Independent Spirit Award at Sydney’s Night of Horror International Film Festival. It was also nominated for best screenplay at the 2015 New Zealand Writers Guild awards. His latest work is the Documentary feature ‘Glimpses’ exploring the effects of M.S.A(Multiple System Atrophy) as seen through the prism of someone suffering from the illness. The film recently won exceptional merit at the Documentaries without Borders film festival and the Silver Award at the Spotlight Documentary film Awards.
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STEPMOTHER (FINLAND)
SYNOPSIS: This place has no memory of us. Here, the night sky is different.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence
DIRECTOR: Joakim Pusenius
GENRE: Sci-Fi
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Virtual Exclusive – Virtual Shorts Block #4
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Joakim Pusenius (b. 1984) graduated (BFA & MFA) from Finnish School of Fine Arts in 2014. Before the arts school Pusenius studied in University of Helsinki theoretical philosophy, aesthetics and tv- and media studies (BA). Pusenius works mainly with moving image, photography and installations. In his artistic practise he is focusing on the means of the audiovisual medium by developing new ways of using camera and storytelling.
He is interested in film making without a strict sense of storyline or the arch of drama. More likely he is interested in the dichotomy of the cinema: The possibility of cinemas metaphysical otherness and its capability of immersion. Eternal recurrence, existential solitude and disconnection by the modern technology are common themes in Pusenius’ works.
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SUBMITTAN (USA)
SYNOPSIS: In the future city of Submittan, people over 80 years old are forced into ‘retirement’ to a remote mountain area, as the city deals with increased population. The burden falls on the shoulder of an immigrant artist, who is tasked to design a propaganda poster to convince citizens of this new registration.
RATINGS GUIDE: All Audiences
DIRECTOR: Susumu Kimura
GENRE: Sci-Fi
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Friday, Nov. 4th @ 2:00PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Born and raised in outskirts of Tokyo, Susumu grew up watching Jackie Chan movies and drawing Mangas. It was a VHS viewing of Brian De Palma’s “The Untouchables” at age 13, however, that forever etched in his heart the yearning to tell a story. While studying at Emerson College in Boston, Susumu discovered his love of film editing and decided to make it a career. After few years of editing commercials in Japan, the passion to work in the film – along with a green card – brought him back to the U.S.
He has since gone on to edit movies, television shows, promos and pretty much anything he can get his hands on. Clients include Netflix, NBCUniversal, MLB, and Disney Plus. Susumu became a Film Independent’s Project Involve editing fellow in 2012, which led to new passion for writing and directing own materials. He won Armed With a Camera Fellowship to write/direct his short “Yakuza No. 2” which garnered festival recognition and sold for online streaming. His other short films was recognized in Vancouver, Seattle, and Los Angeles. The most recent shot “Home/Town” won and award at NewFilmmakersLA. Submittan will be his 5th short film. Susumu now lives in the outskirts of Los Angeles with his wife and a son who looks just like him.
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SUCKER (UK)
SYNOPSIS: In a twisted story of co-dependence, two sisters are pitted against each other by a giant, abhorrent leech creature that uses its mind-controlling influence to puppeteer them from the inside out.
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Violence, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Alix Austin
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Tuesday, Nov. 1st @ 5:00 PM (W/ “Influencer”)
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Alix is a British/Swiss Director and Creative Producer – she has a big passion for practical creature effects, lethal sound design & killer soundtracks. Most recently she co-directed the London segment of Horror Anthology Feature ISOLATION (2021) with Keir Siewert, alongside Dennie Gordon and Larry Fessenden (Wendigo, The Last Winter). The film celebrated premieres at Frightfest & Screamfest LA.
The project was featured on Variety, Rue Morgue, Dread Central and Bloody Disgusting. She previously co-created and produced horror short RETCH, which has screened at over 30 festivals, including the London Short Film Festival, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival and won Best Horror Short at Cinefantasy Film Festival. Other genre experience includes 2nd Unit directing for ‘Followers’ (2021) director Marcus Harben, whose memory Sucker is dedicated to. He was a huge horror fan and was a dear friend to the Switchblade Cinema team, but sadly lost his battle with cancer last year.
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SYLVAIN’S HUNT (USA)
SYNOPSIS: Sylvain’s Hunt is a surreal depiction of something familiar. Miniatures, prosthetics, sightless driving mountain shots, puppets, gore effects, all serve to make a traditional Son and Father rite-of-passage hunting trip into an uncanny vision of maturation and masculinity.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Theo Cohn & Peter Issac Alexander
GENRE: The Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Monday, Oct. 31st@ 9:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Theo Cohn has spent his life in pursuit of anything put to celluloid and nearly a decade in the art department picking up the practical aspects of filmmaking. Sylvain’s Hunt, his directorial debut, employs old methods to access modern experience.
Peter Issac Alexander is a Portland-based director, producer, and writer. He is co-creator of The Cloaked Realm animated series. Peter Issac has been interviewed by various newspapers and publications, including the Wall Street Journal, for his expertise in high-definition. In recent years, he has been a prolific ghostwriter and consultant on numerous scripts and other projects. He holds an B.A. in Creative Writing, a Master’s degree in Education, and a Master’s Degree in History. He is currently working on Season 2 of The Cloaked Realm.
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