7:30 – Opening Film: Carver (Local Horror Feature) with director Emily DiPrimio in attendance for a Q and A
In the tradition of the past returning to haunt the present, Carver features a group of teens who regret a despicable act they committed years earlier. Their actions had left three dead, and now, on the anniversary of the crimes, an ominous carved pumpkin is found at each of their homes. Revenge may come in human or nonhuman form in this suspenseful tale of dread by a fresh new voice in filmmaking.
10:30 – Children of the Night (Horror, Argentina, Subtitled)
Alice, a reporter, is invited to investigate Limbo, where children live with the mysterious disease, Transylvirus, in this new dark thriller from Argentina written and directed by Iván Noel (originally titled Limbo). At first, not sure what to believe, Alice carefully traipses around Limbo with caution, speaking with Erda, the children's caretaker, and observing the children's unique habits. Siegfried, "a sinner with an angel's face" is much too interested in Alice, even knowing some disturbing truths about her pasts. Although Alice wants to leave Limbo, she can't, and she soon finds out the truth about what keeps the children grounded there and inspired their disturbing behavior.
11am – Subterranea (Science Fiction)
In this powerful and suspenseful thriller, a man known simply as “The Captive” is released into society from a dark cell where he has spent his entire life. He eventually discovers what occurred during his mysterious past as he confronts people and clues to the puzzle that have been been part of his enigmatic existence. Inspired by an album by British progressive rock band IQ, this stylish and creepy film stars Bug Hall, William Katt, Nicholas Turturro and Lily Gladstone, and was stylishly directed by newcomer Mathew Miller and produced by South Jersey's Eric D. Wilkinson (Jerome Bixby’s The Man from Earth, Mischief Night, which he also co-wrote).
Subterreana was just awarded the Grand Prize at this year's Vortex Sci-Fi and Fantasy Awards.
Black Cat Whiskey – In a small rural town hit hard by the Depression, a gal bumps off her bootlegging husband when she begins to receive inopportune visits by his old business partners about a large shipment of moonshine in her possession.
Jason Schwartzman co-stars with his dog Arrow, Tunde Adebimpe (from the band “TV on the Radio”), Olympia Dukakis, and Stephen Root in this 2015 SXSW film making its local premiere. Schwartzman is Larry, an inebriated sad sack who rides a tide of booze onto the shores of an undiscriminating Quick-Lube. The only bright spot is probably his boss, Lupe (Eleanore Pienta). Will Larry keep it together long enough to win the girl, provide for his French bulldog, laze about with his friend Major (Adebimpe), and do his cantankerous grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) proud? Writer-director Bob Byington’s comedy sports irreverence at its best.
This series will feature our second annual selection of short films based on the work of Stephen King. Known as "Dollar Babies" since King charges a mere dollar for the non-exclusive rights to adapt his work for educational and festival screenings, these rarely seen adaptations will be presented along with other independent horror shorts both in and out of competition.
Orson Welles' brilliant but largely unseen film restructures Shakespeare by using both parts of Henry IV, with pieces of Richard II and Henry V and reinterpreting the famous character of Falstaff, one of Shakespeare's greatest comic characters (and a father figure to the future King of England). With Falstaff as the central figure, this tragic-comic story of friendship and inevitable betrayal displays wonderful performances and Welles’ cinematic virtuosity. The intense and dazzlingly edited battle sequence influenced countless films from Braveheart to Saving Private Ryan.
“I can't think of any other intentional comedies of recent years that have given me so many, or so many varied, big laughs in the space of 30 minutes. It makes what has basically been a dead art form for the past 50 years feel vital once again.”—Tim Lucas, Video Watchdog
The movie that sets comedy back 80 years--to when it was, y'know, actually funny. Those merry madcaps of mayhem, Biffle & Shooster, star in an all-new made-in-1938 short (in B&W, of course) that finds them landing jobs in an art gallery--on the very day a priceless painting has been delivered. You can figure out what happens next. Renowned classic film distributor and independent producer Michael Schlesinger pours his love of Old Hollywood into an authentic-as-possible recreation of the glory days of comedy teams, replete with snappy dialogue, grievous puns, plenty of slapstick, familiar-seeming character actors and even impressions--plus a plot twist or two. Who says they can’t make ‘em like they used to?
(2013, B&W, 1.33:1, 28 min.)
Scr/Prod/Dir: Michael Schlesinger
Cast: Nick Santa Maria, Will Ryan, Daniel Roebuck, Robert Picardo, Andrew Parks, Alison Martin, Sybil Darrow
Short Films in Competition
Disco Zal by Sean McKnight
The Joke’s on You by Adrian Colon
Bleeding Black and Yellow by Justin Clayton
Privy by David Finkelstein
Revolving Child by Franciso Cabrera
Sliver by Melissa Rillera
#10-32:Drowning by Yuyeol Chun
Encounters with Hope in Cambodia by Chae Yoon Jang and Chae Youn Jang
Klaus by Daniel Scarpati
Lily by Eric Henry
Flower by Lucas Ruderman
Step One: The Esoteric by Dennis Paullin
Spirit from the Meadow by Joant Ubeda
The Distinguished by William Martinko
The Emotional Dimensions of the James River by Michelle Marquez
Short Films will be separated into groups to be played before selected feature films throughout the festival. The times will be listed soon...















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