Film Festivals

The 2009 New York Horror Film Festival (November 18 thru 22) at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York City, USA has a great lineup of shorts and features directed and produced by women this year. The creepy spin on the Van Helsing tale Abraham's Boys (Dorothy Street), dark fairy-tale White Radishes (Christina Won), Together (Gigi Romero), award-winning short Death in Charge (Devi Snively) and claymation feminist horror short Barbee Butcher (Sophie Lagues) all follow feature film The Shadow Within by Silvana Zancolo.

Horror produced by women at the fest includes The Familiar (Jennifer Snick), Must Love Death (Anna Wendt), and Sweatshop (Katherine Banks, Kristi Boul and Laura Bryan.)

Director Silvana Zancolo's new horror film The Shadow Within is playing the 2009 New York City Horror Film Festival (NYCHFF) (November 18 thru 22) on Sat, Nov 21, 6:30PM at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York City.

The Shadow Within is a supernatural thriller about Maurice Dumont, a nine year-old with an enduring connection between this world and the next...

Sinister Six Must Be Destroyed is the fourth and final installment in the annual horror anthology film series, The Sinister Six, created by Bryan Enk.

This year, 12 short horror films by 12 directors will screen Saturday, October 31, 2009 and Sunday, November 1, 2009 in New York City. House Guest, by Rebecca Comtois, and The Procedure, by Jessica McVea, are in the lineup! Check it out...

Two-time Academy Award-winning actress Hilary Swank will be honored with the "Hollywood Actress Award" at the The 13th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards today, October 26th.

Swank stars in the 2010 thriller The Resident about a doctor who suspects she may not be alone in her Brooklyn loft, and learns that her landlord has formed a frightening obsession with her. Swank's other genre credits include Brian De Palma's real-life crime drama The Black Dahlia, opposite Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson, Sam Raimi's The Gift, with Cate Blanchett and Keanu Reeves, Christopher Nolan's Insomnia, opposite Al Pacino and Robin Williams, The Reaping, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

For those of you in the LA area, the 13th annual Hollywood Film Festival kicks off Oct. 23 and continues through the weekend with some promising horror programs at 9pm each evening.

First up on Friday is the Interplanetary (accompanied by short Attackazoids), a B-movie romp across the surface of Mars from Birmingham film-maker Chance Shirley, who shot on old-school 16mm “like it was still 1983”. Originally pitched as “Alien meets Office Space”, this is Shirley’s follow-up to 2004’s zombie comedy, Hide and Creep. Saturday’s line up is all about the walking dead and includes Spanish chaos-in-a-mall short, Zombies and Cigarettes, followed by zombie/serial-killer hybrid Die-ner.

Jane Campion's gothic romance Bright Star has been nominated for the "Hollywood World Awards" to be given at The Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards on October 26, 2009.

The story, set in 1818, chronicles the love affair between romantic poet John Keats and 18 year-old Fanny Brawne, and Keats's eventual death. The award is a key predictor of foreign films that are set to receive kudos in the year's awards season. Qualifying films must have had their world premieres between Oct. 1, 2008, and Oct. 1, 2009, encompassing this year's crop from all the major film festivals.

Cult indie filmmaker Lisa Hammer (Pox, The Venture Brothers) has a new feature film! The new James Merendino/Lisa Hammer feature The Invisible Life Of Thomas Lynch is screening at the CMJ Film Festival this Thursday in NYC!

The Invisible Life of Thomas Lynch is a dark comedy about a lonely smalltime hit man. Shot documentary style, the film reveals a pathetically empty and misguided man and the callousness of the film makers who just want to get the shots, unmoved by torture and murder. The contradiction between personal life and job, and the apathy of the people making the documentary reflects satirically the dispassion of the media. Directed by James Merendino (SLC Punk, Magicians) and Lisa Hammer (The Venture Brothers, Mors Syphilitica) Starring: Steve Stanulis as Thomas Lynch, James Merendino as himself, Lisa Hammer as herself, Levi Wilson as himself, Andrew Langton as Frank Ritchie, Christiane Seidel as Tina, and John Bianco as Lex.

Here is the info...

The 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will honor Anna Kendrick with the Rising Star Award for her performance in new film Up in the Air at the Festival’s annual Awards Gala. In 2008, Kendrick was seen in Twilight and will also star in the sequel, New Moon, which will be released to theatres nationwide on November 20, 2009. Currently, Kendrick is on location filming the third installment of the popular Twilight Saga, entitled Eclipse...

Elisabeth Fies's The Commune and Shannon Hile's The Intervention are two feature horror films at the La Femme Film Festival in Los Angeles, California Oct 15-18, 2009. They'll be joining the short thriller rePlay by Michaelin McDermott.

The Commune follows a teenager's unwilling descent into the insanity of her father's New Age commune, which culminates in terror. The Intervention is about a family seeking to rid their belowved Tom from his alcoholism, not knowing that he has far worse demons, literally, to get rid of first. Check out the trailers, then go see the films...

rePLAY, a tense short film thriller produced, written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Michaelin McDermott, will screen in Los Angeles as part of the 5th Annual LA Femme Film Festival, on October 15 at 12 pm. Most recently, it was awarded an Award of Merit for short film from the Accolade Competition.

The film chillingly portrays a terrifying encounter between a young woman, Kate Stewart, and two knife-wielding carjackers who want her vintage vehicle and maybe more. Kate has to rely on her own inborn strength to survive and escape her attackers. The story was based on a real life incident in McDermott's past...