Stranger With My Face and Monster Fest Film Festivals Now Open for Submissions!
Debi Moore
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We have word for you today about two Southern Hemisphere film fests that have announced dates, revealed details, and are now open for submission. If you’re a budding filmmaker, this news is for you!
Stranger With My Face International Film Festival
Tasmania’s Stranger With My Face International Film Festival will return for its fifth edition from May 4-7, 2017.
Named after the dark YA novel by Lois Duncan, Stranger With My Face focuses on female perspectives in genre film, with an emphasis on showcasing the work of women directors. Held over four days in Hobart, Tasmania’s picturesque capital city, the festival hosts screenings, conferences, workshops, and exhibitions as well as satellite events year-round.
Stranger With My Face has become a key platforms for genre film in Australia, and it is proudly connected to the larger women-in-horror movement worldwide.
The call for submissions is now open, with both feature-length and short films made after January 1, 2016, eligible for consideration. The festival takes a broad approach to horror with dark fantasy, Gothic melodrama, horror comedy, dystopian sci-fi, animation, documentary, and experimental hybrids all qualifying for the selective festival lineup.
While submissions are open to filmmakers of all genders, only films by those who identify as women are eligible for awards. Visit strangerwithmyface.com/submit for more information.
“Events like this are needed more than ever, with women’s rights under threat around the world,” says Festival Director Briony Kidd. “Women are angry, and they have a lot to say. Genre filmmaking is enriched by that sense of urgency and energy, and we’re seeing more and more extraordinary films directed by women emerging from the indie scene. But they’re often not as visible as they deserve to be, and that’s where Stranger With My Face comes in. Our mission is to celebrate these films and bring them to a broader audience.”
A new addition to the festival in 2016 was the Attic Lab, a program to mentored and support women directors, giving them an opportunity to pitch new projects at the festival. The Lab will return in 2017, with details to be announced soon.
Monster Fest
Monster Fest, Australia’s premier genre film festival celebrating cult, horror, and the fantastic, returns for its seventh edition November 22-26, 2017, at the Lido Cinemas in Melbourne, mounted with the support of Screen Australia. These dates include the festival’s industry component, The Swinburne University Media and Communication Monster Academy, which will kick off the festival November 22 and 23.
Submissions are now open for Features, Short Films, and Expanded Cinema Projects, with an Early Bird Deadline of April 21, a Regular Deadline of June 16, and a final, Extended Deadline of August 4, 2017.
Founded in 2011, Monster Fest is a genre film festival that showcases films and events that fall into the broadly-defined categories of horror, science fiction, action, crime, noir, animation, dark drama, black comedy, Gothic western, erotica, and more. Its programming is a mix of premieres, international festival favourites, challenging new discoveries, and curated repertory sidebars alongside industry-focused events such as panels and masterclasses with renowned international guests and a special emphasis on supporting emerging Australian genre film talent through the festival and beyond.
“We had a huge increase in submissions in 2016,” says Festival Director Kier-La Janisse, “and it really diversified our approach to programming. In addition to horror, which is always a staple at Monster Fest, we brought in more crime films, westerns, documentary, and animation than ever before; and our audience really went with it – we ended up having our most successful year to date.”
Submissions for Monster Fest 2017 can be processed via Film Freeway or Without a Box. Details and submission guidelines are available at monsterfest.com.au/submit.
What’s more, Sydney-based genre fans will get a taste of Monster Pictures’ annual Melbourne-based festival this March, thanks to a unique partnership with Australia’s largest cinema chain, Event Cinemas, to present The Monster Fest Travelling Sideshow, beginning at the prestigious George Street Cinema in Sydney March 9-11, 2017, with subsequent dates in Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.
The Monster Fest Travelling Sideshow will be a mix of horror-centric highlights from Monster Fest 2016 (see the archive of 2016 films and events HERE) and select premieres, including the Australian Premieres of Jordan Peele’s acclaimed racial horror GET OUT and the highly-anticipated all-female horror anthology XX (which is distributed in ANZ by Monster Fest parent company Monster Pictures) as well as the World Premiere of Nik Kacevski’s Sydney-made SKINFORD, with cast and crew in person for a hometown red carpet debut.
The 10-film touring satellite event will open on March 9th with the Sydney Premiere of Julia Ducournau’s controversial “Golden Monster”-winning feature debut RAW, about a young vegetarian whose dark urges are awakened after she is forced to undergo a carnivorous college hazing ritual. The fright-filled weekend will also include the hometown premiere of Sydney-made KILLING GROUND (fresh off raves at Sundance), Ben Wheatley’s explosively funny shootout actioner FREE FIRE, a new 4K restoration of Italo-horror maestro Dario Argento’s 1977 masterpiece SUSPIRIA, Sydney director Jai Love’s moving and morbid documentary DEAD HANDS DIG DEEP about the traumatized frontman of extreme metal band Kettle Cadaver, Nicholas Pesce’s Gothic Sundance midnighter THE EYES OF MY MOTHER (which Rolling Stone called “curdled Americana at its most gruesome and brilliant”), and André Øvredal’s award-winning THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE, recently praised by none other than Stephen King himself, who called it “visceral horror to rival ALIEN and early Cronenberg” and warned: “Watch it, but not alone.”
Monster Fest Director Kier-La Janisse says the Sydney weekender will be just the first of many ‘Monster Fest Presents’ events to be mounted by Monster Pictures over the coming year. “This touring sidebar is an incredibly exciting initiative for us,” she says. “It’s always been Monster Pictures’ goal to bring the most pioneering and challenging new genre cinema to fans all over the country, and to create a wider platform for its appreciation.”
Tickets for The Monster Fest Travelling Sideshow are on sale now here and here.
Event Cinemas George Street
505-525 George Street
Sydney, Australia
+61 (0)2 9273 7300
Single Session Tickets: Adult $21 / Concession $17.50
5-Film Multi-Pass: Adult $82.50 / Concession $71.50
10-Film VIP Pass: Adult $132 / Concession $110
Categorized:News
