A Night of Horror International Film Festival

A Night of Horror International Film Festival is a genre specific film festival that is based in Sydney, Australia.

There seems to be some consensus that the event is Australia's premiere, and possibly only, horror film festival. In his monthly column in "Encore Magazine", columnist Harvey Shore referred to the festival as "Australia's first horror film festival [it] recognises the past and gives the horror genre a platform for the future." ["Encore Magazine", September 2007, p. 46] Similarly, "Horrorscope", an Australian horror news website, calls the festival "Sydney's first true horror film festival" [http://ozhorrorscope.blogspot.com/2007/03/news-night-of-horror.html] And in an article in Sydney's "Drum Media" magazine, journalist Liz Guiffre refers to the horror festival as "a one of a kind in our parts". [ ["Drum Media", April 1, no. 899, pg. 71] ]

Festival History

The festival was founded in 2006, by Dr. Dean Bertram, Lisa Mitchell, and Grant Bertram. [ ["Encore Magazine", June 2008, pg. 46] ] It was originally a short film festival, but has since expanded to include feature films and horror themed music videos. Indeed, now that the festival runs for a longer duration, the festival’s name, “A Night of Horror”, is actually something of a misnomer (the 2008 festival actually ran for ten days and nights). The principal screening venue for the 2008 festival was the Dendy Newtown Cinema. Additional special events included a horror filmmaking forum, a zombie walk, and a number of horror-themed parties. [ ["Drum Media", April 1, no. 899, pg. 71] ]

In addition to the principal annual event in Sydney, a “best of” program of films from the festival tours within Australia and internationally. Some of these screenings take place at other festivals under the “A Night of Horror” banner, and have included programs at: It Came From Lake Michigan Film Festival [http://www.itcamefromlakemichigan.com/icflm/?page_id=57] , Weekend de la Peur [http://www.weekenddelapeur.cs.cx/] , and Revelation Perth International Film Festival [http://www.revelationfilmfest.org/index.cfm?objectid=2641D882-65BF-EBC1-23FA4445EE0E8441&navid=D9761779-C09F-1F3C-C809B0FDEF313ED9]

In 2007, A Night of Horror International Film Festival also programmed a special selection of Canadian produced horror films for Possible Worlds: Sydney’s Canadian Film Festival (which took place at the Chauvel Cinema, Paddington). [http://www.possibleworlds.net.au/movies.htm&movie_id=9]

Festival Judges and Winning Films

The festival is competitive and films compete for several awards and prizes. A panel of judges decide these winners. Past judges have included film author and curator Jack Sargeant, "People" magazine editor Martin Vine, television and radio personalities Jaimie Leonarder and Aspasia Leonarder, and FBi Radio presenter and journalist Chris Ruhle.

2007 Winning films

Best of Fest: "The Ancient Rite Of Corey McGillis" (AUS)

Best Film: "Happy Birthday 2 You" (ESP)

Best Animation: "The Tell Tale Heart" (LUX/ESP/USA)

Best Lovecraft Film: "From Beyond" (USA)

Best Zombie Film: "Love is a Shotgun" (AUS)

Best Director: Paul Campion (film director), "Night Of The Hell Hamsters" (UK/NZ)

Best Performance: Emma Caulfield, "Hollow" (USA)

Best Scream Queen: Kaja Trøa, "The New Life" (AUS)

Best Special Effects: Stuart Rowsell, "The Ancient Rite Of Corey McGillis" (AUS)

Best Score: Milan Rusko, "Nazdravicko!" (SVK)

2008 Winning Films

Best Film: "Brain Dead" (USA)

Best Foreign Film: "La Antena" (ARG)

Best Short Film: "Pumpkin Hell" (USA)

Best Australian Film: "When Sally Met Frank" (AUS)

Best Lovecraft Film: "The Call of Cthulhu (film)" (USA)

Best Animation: "Egg Ghost" (KOR/USA)

Best Music Video: "Torture Device", featuring Dawn of Ashes (USA)

Best Director: Paco Limon, ("Doctor Infierno") (ESP)

Best Performance: Sammi Davis, "The Double Born" (USA)

Best Scream Queen: Tess McVicker, "Brain Dead" (USA)

Best Special Make-Up Effects: "Brain Dead" (USA)

Best Special Visual Effects: "Eel Girl" (NZ/UK)

Directors' Choice Award (Best Feature Film): "Murder Loves Killers Too" (USA)

Directors' Choice Award (Best Short Film): "Kirksdale" (USA)

2009 Festival

The 2009 Sydney festival is scheduled for March 25 to April 3, 2009.

On the 2nd of June 2008, the festival announced its call for entries for the 2009 festival. The festival accepts films in several different categories, including: feature films, short films, animations, films inspired by the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and horror-themed music videos.

It has also introduced a screenplay competition to take place in conjunction with the 2009 festival, and is calling for unproduced feature length and short horror scripts.

References

External links

* [http://www.anightofhorror.com A Night of Horror International Film Festival] website
* [http://www.revelationfilmfest.org/index.cfm?objectid=2641D882-65BF-EBC1-23FA4445EE0E8441&navid=D9761779-C09F-1F3C-C809B0FDEF313ED9 A Night of Horror at Revelation Perth International Film Festival]