The Overlook Film Festival Announces 2018 Juried and Audience Award Winners

Daily Dead was proud to once again sponsor and experience this year's Overlook Film Festival, which took place in the historic (and quite possibly haunted) confines of New Orleans. With another year of immersive events, essential screenings, and live performances in the books, the Overlook Film Festival's 2018 audience and juried awards have been announced.

We have the official press release with full details on this year's winners below, and be sure to keep an eye on Overlook Film Festival's official website for more updates. We already can't wait for next year's festival!

Press Release: (NEW ORLEANS, LA) – As its second edition comes to a close, the Overlook Film Festival has the great pleasure of announcing its second year juried and audience awards. Culled from a stellar lineup of 41 films (23 features and 18 short films from 12 countries), the festival's features and short film juries deliberated over the course of the event, publicly revealing the winning selections at the festival’s closing night screening presentation of A24’s HEREDITARY.

The features jury consisted of the Los Angeles Times’s Jen Yamato, Toronto Intl. Film Festival Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky, and producer Toby Halbrooks (A GHOST STORY, PETE’S DRAGON). The jurors chose to honor director Joko Anwar's SATAN’S SLAVES from Indonesia with the Feature Film Jury Prize. Additionally, the jurors highlighted Véréna Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor's CANIBA, giving it the festival's scariest feature award.

Actress Barbara Crampton (RE-ANIMATOR, THE PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH), New Orleans Film Society Artistic Director Clint Bowie, and filmmaker Misty Talley (ZOMBIE SHARK) comprised the short film jury. The jury awarded their prize to Anna Roller’s PAN with an honorable mention going to Mariama Diallo for HAIR WOLF, and L. Gustavo Cooper’s AMY receiving the honor of scariest short film.

The Overlook Film Festival's Audience Award for 2018 went to WOLFMAN’S GOT NARDS: A Documentary directed by André Gower.

In addition to the film lineup, the Overlook showcased 6 live performances, 5 virtual reality experiences, 4 curated immersive theater productions, 3 panel presentations and 1 weekend long alternate reality game.

Discussing his experience at this year’s fest, The Overlook Film Festival’s 2018 Visionary award recipient Leigh Whannell said, “The Overlook Film Festival is a celebration of horror fandom, and I’ve been a horror fan for so long that to be recognized by the festival with an award is a complete honor. I’m happy just to be at this festival - hanging out with my fellow fans, watching amazing movies and taking part in the immersive games that are a staple of the weekend - that to take home a beautiful, shiny axe with my name engraved on it is merely the bloody cherry on top of it all.”

The Overlook Film Festival is sponsored by IFC Midnight, Fangoria, Shotgun Cinema, Kickstarter, Shudder, New Orleans Film Festival, A24, BH TILT, Skybound Entertainment, and Daily Dead.

# # #

To keep up with The Overlook Film Festival, visit http://www.overlookfilmfest.com/.

Follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/OverlookFilmFestival/), Twitter (@TheOverlookFest), and Instagram (@OverlookFilmFest). Join the conversation using this hashtag: #OverlookFilmFestival

The Overlook Film Festival
The Overlook Film Festival is a 4-day celebration of horror. In its second year, the fest ran from April 19-22, 2018, at historic & iconic venues throughout New Orleans.

Presenting superior film programming with an expanded focus on experiential events, the festival showcases exciting work in new and classic horror cinema alongside the latest in interactive and live shows for a fully immersive weekend. As a summer camp for genre fans, The Overlook is a community event bringing the best of horror in all its forms to an enthusiastic and appreciative audience within an intimate and inspirational environment.