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 is a place for newcomers get their films seen and to meet like-minded artists,” says Festival Director Briony Kidd, “But it’s also very much about highlighting older work that’s ripe for rediscovery.”
In addition to appearing for Q&As after screenings of their work, Gaylene Preston and Roxanne Benjamin will take on the role of mentors for the festival's filmmaker development program The Attic Lab, which returns after a successful first year in 2016.
Roxanne Benjamin is well-known as the producer of the V/H/S films, credited by many as kicking off the ongoing 'revival' of the horror anthology feature film. She recently produced, directed and wrote segments of two new anthologies, Southbound, which premiered at TIFF in 2015 and XX this year, which opens this year’s Stranger With My Face after premiering at Sundance
Gaylene Preston ONZM is one of New Zealand's most highly regarded filmmakers, with a career spanning more than four decades. While primarily known for her work in documentary and factually inspired drama, Preston is influential genre circles with two films in particular, both of which will screen at Stranger With My Face 2017.
PERFECT STRANGERS (1991) is a “chilling romance” which stars Rachel Blake and Sam Neill, and the lesser known MR WRONG (1983) which has recently been championed by cult cinema connoisseur Quentin Tarantino, who said "I loved the woman who was the lead in it... she would never be the lead in the American version of that movie. And there was something so authentic about seeing her trapped into this supernatural story."
Rounding out the The Attic Lab mentor team for is veteran cinematographer Sandi Sissel (CHICKEN RANCH, SALAAM BOMBAY, MASTER AND COMMANDER) who will be in attendance for a screening of THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, followed by an in-depth discussion around the artistic challenges involved in the 1991 Wes Craven production.
More information on the Attic Lab, including this year’s filmmakers and featured projects, will be announced on April 24th. Last year's inaugural intake included Donna McRae (JOHNNY GHOST), whose project KATE KELLY was picked up by producer Stephanie Trepanier of Snowfort Pictures and pitched at Fantasia’s Frontières Market, Natalie James, whose project RELIC was funded for development through Screen Australia Brilliant Stories Initiative and Indonesian filmmaker Ginanti Rona Tembang Asri, whose debut feature MIDNIGHT SHOW had its international premiere at the festival.
Festival Passes are now available to purchase at an Early Bird rate. The full program, including the shorts program, the Mary Shelley Symposium and industry events, will be announced next week at www.strangerwithmyface.com, with individual tickets then available to purchase online and Festival Passes at standard rates."
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Phoenix Forgotten Clip & Featurette: "PHOENIX FORGOTTEN was produced by RIDLEY SCOTT (The Martian, Alien, Blade Runner), WES BALL (The Maze Runner franchise) and T.S. NOWLIN (Pacific Rim: Uprising, The Maze Runner franchise) who also wrote the film.
Based on the shocking, true events of March 13th, 1997, when several mysterious lights appeared over Phoenix, Arizona. This unprecedented and inexplicable phenomenon became known as “The Phoenix Lights”, and remains the most famous and widely viewed UFO sighting in history.
PHOENIX FORGOTTEN tells the story of three teens who went into the desert shortly after the incident, hoping to document the strange events occurring in their town. They disappeared that night, and were never seen again. Now, on the twentieth anniversary of their disappearance, unseen footage has finally been discovered, chronicling the final hours of their fateful expedition. For the first time ever, the truth will be revealed..."
Directed by Justin Barber from a screenplay he wrote with T.S. Nowlin, Phoenix Forgotten stars Florence Hartigan, Chelsea Lopez, Justin Matthews, and Luke Spencer Roberts. Cinelou Films will release Phoenix Forgotten in theaters on April 21st. Check out the new clip below, and visit Collider to watch a special featurette with Ridley Scott.
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Watch Clips from Inner Demon: Press Release: "LOS ANGELES, CA (April 12, 2017) Terror Films is set to release INNER DEMON across multiple digital platforms on Friday, April 21. The film’s official poster and trailer will debut next week. However, the genre distributor has released two exclusive clips for the fans titled: “Knock, Knock, Knock” and “Good Girl.”
Ursula Dabrowsky’s INNER DEMON tells the tale of teenager Sam (Sarah Jeavons) who manages to escape with her young sister from a deranged serial killer couple (Kerry Anne Reid and Andreas Sobick). Unfortunately, a cabin in the woods, that she hoped would be a safe house, turns out to be even more harrowing and dangerous than her initial entrapment by her captors.
Shot in Australia, Dabrowsky chose the perfect setting in the city of Adelaide where a real-life string of serial killers and demented murders earned it the nickname “the murder capital of Australia.” She also proves, with this disturbingly crafted indie film, that dark and twisted thoughts can flow as eloquently from the minds of female filmmakers, too.
Distributed by Terror Films, INNER DEMON played at A Night of Horror International Film Festival winning “Best Australian Feature”, “Best Australian Director” for Ursula Dabrowsky and “Best Female Performance” for Sarah Jeavons.
As part of their new World Wide digital release model, Terror Films will make the film available in the U.S., Canada and Australia as well as multiple territories throughout: Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Ireland, Israel, U.K. and Pan Russia with plans to expand based on the film’s success. The film will be available on iTunes, Amazon Instant, Google Play/You Tube, Sony PSN, X-Box, Vudu, Steam, Vimeo On Demand, Roku (Free Flix Tonight, 24 Hour Movie Channel, Free Grindhouse Flix Tonight), I Bleed Indie and Tubi TV. At a later date the film will also be released on iFlix expanding the film’s reach into countries such as Latin America and Pacific Islands."
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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