Tuesday, December 1, 2015

WeirdFilm another success

A full house braved the cold to attend Weird Film III at the Winery, with a program of short horror and fantasy films from many countries.
The wine and mead flowed, and the plans for Weird Film IV will soon be revealed. Look for us again in the spring!

weirdfilmfest.blogspot.com




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Friday, October 2, 2015

Tips from a film festival programmer

I'm involved with Weird Film at the Winery (weirdfilmfest.blogspot.com), a short 'genre' film series. It's for horror, fantasy, sci-fi, or otherwise Weird film, geared to a general audience (sometimes children).  That doesn't mean cheery and squeaky-clean, but not it's not Saw.

Guidelines: http://filmfreeway.com/festival/WeirdFilmattheWinery

Many entries are outside the genre(s), way too long, or have poor sound quality. Help your chances thus:
- meet or stick close to the length limit
- submit something in the genre(s)
- provide a short synopsis; trailers are nice too
- plan production sound carefully - it's sad to turn down a good story because of uneven levels, poorly articulated dialog and unplanned echoey-ness
- have the rights to music in your film
- keep credits short 
- submit earlier rather than later (this is less important than the bits above)
 
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Monday, August 31, 2015

The Bunny Man at Fargo Fantastic Film Festival


The Fargo Fantastic Film Festival will screen my short film The Bunny Man.

This is their third acceptance of my work and my gratitude endures.

FFFF is a sister event to Valley Con, which features Tony Todd as a guest this year!
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My short film Shelter will screen at the Rome International Film Festival - Rome, Georgia, y'all.
Rome the city in Georgia the U.S. state.
Gratitude!
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Saturday, August 1, 2015

Shelter visits Tokyo again

"Shelter" has another outing in Tokyo, courtesy of the Scream Queen herself, Mai Nakanishi.



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"Shelter" goes to the Rome International Film Festival

Rome, Georgia, that is!

The legend of Derek lives on... anchored by the wonderful acting of Sylvia Kratins as The Wife, the harassed charm of Thomas Cokenias, and the weary manliness of M (for Mysterious) Jennings.





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"Bunny Man" goes to Horrible Imaginings in September

"The Bunny Man" has been accepted by Horrible Imaginings Film Festival in San Diego :)

It's part of the horror-comedy short film block on Saturday Sept. 12:

http://www.hifilmfest.com/2015/07/29/2015-horrible-imaginings-short-film-the-bunny-man/


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Sunday, June 28, 2015

Frank Tuttle reviews The Bunny Man

What a delight to see Frank Tuttle's generous review of The Bunny Man!
Frank is a very fine writer of fantasy noir, the creator of The Markhat Chronicles (think a somewhat kinder, yet quite dangerous Sam Spade with trolls).
I have all his books and his warm reception means a lot.
Frank also wrote the script for "The Embalming", a curious tale of the undertaker's profession:
https://vimeo.com/78071809
If you like your horror with a snifter of Jim Beam, a really good score, clever editing and terrific cinematography, watch The Embalming. 

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Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Where does half a year go?

Busy busy -  highlights/lowlights were adapting my play "Scamoramaland" into a screenplay (submitted to the Nicholls competition), and losing over a month to a stupid injury (note to self: don't viciously sprain ankle again, it's surprisingly draining and inconvenient, everything's more annoying on crutches).

Adapting "Scamoramaland" was big fun -- once I freed myself from thinking of it in theatrical terms, it took off and became as weird as I felt like letting it be. To paraphrase myself in the play, reality is just a crutch for people without a pen.

Spent a fine weekend in LA at the Etheria film festival, where Jane Espenson received a richly-deserved Inspiration award.
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Monday, June 15, 2015

Etheria Film Night 2015 - horrifically good!

I had the pleasure of revisiting Etheria Film Night on June 13.

Etheria is a yearly festival for women who make horror, and more broadly, 'genre' films (sci-fi, fantasy, suspense). They took a film of mine in 2013 so I feel loyal and am glad to go back.

It's a great event for women filmmakers, whatever your specialty, and for men who like them! There are extra social events, and it's a morale booster to hang out with other women in film.

Once again it was beautifully organized, with screenings and red carpet event at the lovely Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. The people who pull this together - notably Stacy Pippi Hammon,  Kayley Viteo and Heidi Honeycutt, & also many volunteers and crew, do a wonderful job.

This year Jane Espenson received the inspiration award. On the way out of the theater, five different people mistook me for her; and two others the next day. I admire her, so this was nice, but in retrospect I could have had more fun just going with it!

You can follow Jane here:
https://twitter.com/@janeespenson
and through her less-active but still interesting web site:
http://janeespenson.com

You can follow me right here.
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Thursday, April 2, 2015

WeirdFilm II was a blast!

Weird Film at the Winery returned to Urbano Cellars and was sold out - looks like this has legs.
Aided by consumption of wine and mead, and a solid program of short horror, fantasy and otherwise Weird Films from around the world, fun was had!
There was a Q&A with filmmakers, and the winner of the Trivia Question won a poster of "Chomp", Lynne Hansen's zombie short that asks the question, how convincing do you really want your costume to be?

Many thanks to veteran sound engineer Michael "Bink" Knowles, who took a break from running big corporate shows to show us how to set up a neat and tidy sound system for our venue.

Feast your eyes on the programs from Weird Films I & II .
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Friday, March 6, 2015

Monday, February 2, 2015

WeirdFilm at the Winery!

WeirdFilm I was a success, so it's happening again!
WeirdFilm II is March 18 at Urbano Cellars in Berkeley, California.
Short horror and fantasy films from around the world for the discerning wine drinker.

The program: weirdfilmfest.blogspot.com

The tickets:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/weird-film-fest-returns-tickets-15624985753



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Saturday, January 24, 2015

James Udom in Tamburlaine

In December I made my way to Theater for a New Audience in Brooklyn, where James Udom was acting in a rare production of Tamburlaine.

James is a marvelous actor who - lucky me! - played the lead role of "Freddy" in the premiere of my play Scamoramaland and is now being kept busy playing classical parts in New York City. It was  satisfying to see him on a big stage, where he deserves to be seen.

He plays the oldest son of the manic Tamburlaine, who is bent on conquering everything and everybody. Daddy loves him until he loses his taste for war.

The production uses minimal staging, and a percussionist.  It's long and grueling and absorbing, with many piercingly well-played characters and striking stage effects.

John Douglas Thompson - Tamburlaine - is an actor of huge energy,  completely convincing as a volatile warlord with the world's biggest chip on his shoulder, a man whose reality distortion field makes friends or lovers of all who submit, as long as they submit, or until he decides to throw them away. In modern society he might be called manic-depressive. In his world he's simply a force of nature.



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