As Halo-8 president Matt Pizzolo explains in his blog Hollywood 2.0, “We weren’t ripping them off, we were mocking them. I don’t think trademark law is intended to prevent people from making fun of you. I tend to assume our audience is pretty smart, so it never occurred to me they might think we were actually part of that festival … I wouldn’t want to cause confusion and accidentally tarnish our reputation.” *insert cat fight noises here* Pizzolo goes on to say, “I suppose it wasn’t the cleverest name in the world, but no less clever than Slamdance… or Tromeo & Juliet for that matter.”
Semantics aside, there certainly should be room enough for these two fests to co-exist since indie filmmakers need all the outlets they can get!
As a reminder, Halo-8: Films That Kill runs from Thursday, October 23rd, through Wednesday, October 29th, at The Engine Theater in Hollywood. The program includes Gimme Skelter, The Devil’s Muse (which I just reviewed here), and Pink Eye. For the full schedule and more info, click the Engine Theater and/or Halo-8 links above.