CALENDAR

Dr. in Cinema Studies (University of Athens), has a Master’s Degree in Audiovisual & Cinema (Nouvelle Sorbonne Paris III), studied TV & Cinema Directing (Stavrakos Cinema School, Athens), English Literature (Aristotle University, Thessaloniki) and Interior Design (Dimitrelis School of Arts). So far, she created 4 short films as producer /director /screenwriter. Final Instance (2003, fiction), Inner Land (2015, fiction) (40 festivals & 20 international awards), With open wings (2017, documentary) (25 festivals & 5 international awards), Krisi (2019, experimental). She is a Sarajevo Film Festival talent alumni (2016) and her script “Hansel” was at the Pack & Pitch of the same year. In 2018, her script “Lost & Found” won the Greek Film Academy Award at the Short Film Fund competition. At the moment she is working at the University of Athens, and is in progress of her short animation “Lost & Found”.

Originally from Norman, Oklahoma, John received his MFA in Film & TV Production from USC and his BA from UCLA in Theatre Directing and Playwriting. John co-founded production company Shatterproof Films, which specializes in genre-based films with topical social messages. He screened his short film “Dembanger” at Screamfest in 2013 and “The Labyrinth” in 2015. “Initiation,” a remake of “Dembanger”, is a topical reinvention of the slasher genre for the social media generation. He couldn't be more excited to come back home to Screamfest for his directorial debut.

Finn Callan is an Irish filmmaker who specialises in transgressive, unusual and macabre subject matter. His work has been described as bleak, cacophonous, disturbing and at times incomprehensible. His feature length experimental film 'The Garden' was described as "the loudest silent movie ever made."

His work has also been recognised and showcased by various publications including Dread Central, NME and The Verge, as well as being screened by Picturehouse, The Horse Hospital Gallery in London and on Amazon Prime.

British born, award-winning international writer/director April Phillips has an acclaimed history of writing for theatre and radio and since completing her Masters Degree in Scriptwriting (International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington), she has focussed on film. She is one of the most licensed playwrights in New Zealand. April has garnered numerous international awards and nominations for both stage and screen works and highlights include the Special Jury award at the 53rd Worldfest, Houston and an increasing number of directing and writing awards in the horror/sci-fi/thriller genres. As the mother of a very precious and severely disabled daughter, “The Last Man on Earth” is a sci-fi thriller with a very personal message about the worth of people with disabilities. Being selected for Screamfest is a huge thrill for April whose favourite film is “Alien”. In addition to writing, April is also a stage and screen actress and a professional and recorded singer and she plays a cameo role in “The Last Man on Earth”. www.thelastmanonearthfilm.com www.aprilphillips.com [email protected]

Jason Cook is writer/director from Los Angeles. With a background in advertising that started in design and animation, and transcended into commercial directing, Jason has a unique approach to storytelling. His love of comedy led him to join forces with SUPERFUNNY, a live comedy variety show where he wears many hats as director, producer, and brand director. Jason's sensibility straddles the line between the everyday banality of life and the surreal. Pretty much, he's always down to get weird.

Fucking Ghosts was one idea that just wouldn't go away. An itch that needed scratching. A once in a lifetime opportunity to shoot a ghost orgy.

Mark Andrews is an Academy Award Winning director of Brave the 2012 Pixar animated film. He’s worked on numerous Pixar films as Head of Story, Incredibles, Ratatouille as well as being part of the Pixar senior creative team. He Co-directed and Co-wrote the live action blockbuster, John Carter of Mars for Disney Feature. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his short animated film One Man Band. He’s received an Emmy for his writing and storyboard work on Star Wars Clone Wars the Animated series, as well as an Annie award for storyboarding on Iron Giant. He is a versatile filmmaker, writer, director and visionary, lending his talents and skills on several other animated feature films and TV series like Samurai Jack, which he wrote and story boarded five episodes, and the New Adventures of Johnny Quest. He’s been a force of Nature in the Animation industry for twenty-six years working at the biggest studios in Animation and Live action. He graduated CALARTS in 1993 with a BFA in film.

Izzy Ezagui is the world’s only one-armed Special Forces sharpshooter. After losing his dominant arm in combat, he literally soldiered on.

When it comes to channeling resilience and beating the odds, Izzy credits his appetite for the arts. After all, the stories we tell ourselves often serve as the fuel to keep us going.

Izzy's obsession with story began when he was a kid in Miami, consuming Animorphs, The Hardy Boys, and all of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld—probably all before he spoke to a girl.

Alexandre Singh is a Brooklyn based visual artist, born in Bordeaux, France, to Indian and French parents. He was brought up in Manchester, UK, before studying Fine Art at the University of Oxford, UK. Singh’s work is inspired by a love of imaginative storytelling. Encompassing such diverse practices as writing, collage, installation and performance, it often consists of absurdist fables. His work has been exhibited in venues throughout Europe and the United States, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; The Serpentine Gallery, London; and Witte de With, Rotterdam. In 2013, Singh’s theatre play, “The Humans”, was staged at the Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, before traveling to the Festival d’Avignon, France, in 2014. Singh’s work is represented in numerous private and public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and the Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris. He is the recipient of the 2011/12 Prix Meurice for contemporary art and the 2016 Feature Expanded: Distribution Award. “The Appointment” is his debut film.

LIZ FANIA WERNER
Director / Writer
Liz earned an MFA from the University of Southern California’s Writing for Screen and Television program.
She went on to work as a staff writer on the one-hour drama series RPM MIAMI, which aired on the Mun2 network, and to pen a feature adaptation of BABYLON SISTERS, a novel by Oprah Book Club selected author
Pearl Cleage. Most recently, her feature script, KIN, won the PAGE Award Silver Prize in the Horror-Thriller category. Liz lives in Los Angeles where she is currently working with co-director Carlos Montaner on the feature film version of Into the Uncanny Valley.

CARLOS MONTANER
Director / Cinematographer
Carlos was raised in Madrid and earned an MFA in cinematography at the American Film Institute. He has shot multiple independent films, including FRIENDS AND LOVERS starring Robert Downey Jr. for
Lionsgate. He has also photographed over a hundred commercial campaigns and has pitched, directed and
photographed many others, including the San Francisco Super Bowl spot for ESPN.

Ruwan Heggelman started making short films after experiencing the amazing Shaun of the Dead way back in 2004. At the age of 13 he finished his first zombie film and his journey to become a filmdirector had started. The dark side of humanity appeals to Heggelman, because it lives in everyone and it just needs the right incentives to wake up. It is one big playground for interesting themes, stories & characters. He graduated from the University of the Arts Utrecht as a writer & director with the Tuschinski film nominated short film Best Friends. Best Friends is a 30 minute buddy comedy, with a touch of horror, film and has been shown at 20+ film festivals and various movie theatres for a year and a half. After the succes of Best Friends he started focusing on other theme's and genre's. The short romantic comedy with a fantasy twist I Can Fly was born after experiencing a emotional abstract dream, that tried to process certain experiences. He took inspiration from the abstract dream and wrote the scenario together with Thij de Haan. He directed I Can Fly, with Remy Jesse Schepers as the producer at his side. Heggelman is constantly looking for interesting perspectives for telling a story, often with a mash-up of genre's, like his SCREAMFEST selected short film MIME. The film serves as a pilot for a full fledged (web) series or feature film. Heggelman and his team are currently looking for parties to collaborate.

Born in 1988, Tommie Geraedts is a director working from Amsterdam. With a background in design and visual effects he weaves the fabrics of these disciplines together with live action to tell his stories. He is increasingly interested in human stories that border the metaphysical but always grounded in todays world.
He has been commissioned to direct films for the van Gogh museum, Stedelijk Museum, T-mobile, Dell and Videoland amongst many others that went on to get millions of views. One time, many years ago, he even turned down Kanye to go travelling with his best mate (true story).

Niels Bourgonje (1980) is an award-winning short film and commercial director based in Amsterdam. Niels graduated with the short thriller BURN, which was selected for several international film festivals winning numerous awards. Since then, his short films have consistently been selected for Academy Award qualifying festivals like Palm Springs ShortFest, Seattle International Film Festival, HollyShorts International Film Festival, Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, Odense International Film Festival, Izmir International Short Film Festival, Brussels Short Film Festival and Leuven Kortfilm. His most recent films, TURN IT AROUND and SWIPE, garnered over one hundred film festival selections. Niels signed with WME after the premiere of his new short SWIPE. His latest films are WOODLAND CEMETERY and BARRIER. He is currently developing his feature debut.

Scott was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area where he was introduced to film-making at a very young age. Shooting movies on his parent's 8mm camera, Scott developed a love for classic monster films and creature features which broadened his understanding of what was possible in the world of cinema. In 2006 Scott received his B.A. in Political Science from St. Mary's College of California and subsequently realized he should have picked something else.

He is the founder and owner of Monster Tale Films and co-host of The Dad's Doomsday Guide Podcast.

Virat Pal is an Indian writer/director based in Los Angeles. A graduate in Advertising from Mumbai University, Virat began his career in marketing and sales working for Google, before making the transition to films.

After completing his education from UCLA where he did a professional program in Screenwriting and Cinematography, he wrote and directed his first short DOXPARA - a 14 min Science fiction film that premiered at FilmQuest Film Festival in Utah. Virat followed this short with his first feature - RECAPTURE - a micro budget noir thriller made on 16mm black and white film that he directed, wrote and produced. Virat's third film was a proof-of-concept horror short titled THE BELLS. The film went viral on YouTube last year and has since garnered more than 4 Million views.

FACELIFT is Virat’s fourth film in the last 4 years, the inception of which took place when he accidentally stumbled upon a commercial for a cosmetic product online.

Frank H. Woodward is an award-winning producer, director, and writer with over 30 years experience in film and television production.

His feature documentaries are fueled by a deep love of sci-fi, horror and fantasy. His first documentary was the award winning "Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown". This chronicle of the life, work and mind of author H.P. Lovecraft featured interviews with Neil Gaiman, John Carpenter and Guillermo Del Toro.

His other documentary work includes the critically acclaimed "Men In Suits", a look at the art of creature suits and the actors that bring those characters to life including Doug Jones, Tom Woodruff, Jr. and the original Godzilla, Haruo Nakajima.

As a screenwriter, Frank wrote the sequel "Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort" for Fox and the SyFy Original Movie "Black Forest". He was also an executive producer on the SyFy International film "Firequake".

In the world of short films, Frank has written and directed "Balloon" and "Pinata" (Parts One & Two of the unofficial Birthday Trilogy). He also collaborated with director Jack Bennett on the Jaws spoof, "Quint In '58" which was featured on Bite Size Horror.

Frank continues to explore new frontiers for independent filmmakers in these uncertain times through his podcast Film Sense (available on LibSyn and iTunes).

In addition to commissioned films (clips and films promotionnal), Baptiste Rouveure continues his work in fiction, where movement and body language remain his preferred approach. His short films (HASCHISCHIN, AND THE WINNER IS, FUGITIVE TRANSIENTS, ALTERA) have been selected more than seventy times in international festivals and have won 10 awards.
ANONYMOUS ANIMALS is his first feature. The film, without words, at the crossroads of fantastic and suspense kind, questions the place of animals in our societies. Actually, Baptiste Rouveure writes the second chapter of ANONYMOUS ANIMALS.

Damian Mc Carthy is an award winning filmmaker based in Cork City Ireland. He studied Film & TV Production for 3 years at St Johns College Cork where he received a Distinction in Scriptwriting and Directing. His films to date (He Dies At The End, Hatch, Hungry Hickory, Never Ever Open It, How Olin Lost His Eye) have screened in many prestigious film festivals worldwide including Film4 Frightfest in London, Screamfest in LA, The New York City Horror Film Festival and the San Sebastien Horror & Fantasy Film Festival. Damian is a two time winner of the Melies d’Argent Award for Best European Short Film, the Delta Film Award, the International Indie Short Film Award and the Cutting Edge Award for Best Emerging Horror Director, among other festivals prizes and audience awards. In early 2020 he completed post production on his first feature film ‘Caveat’. http://hediesattheend.com/

Shot entirely under quarantine. Starring the real-life children of horror-veteran Tiffany Shepis-Tretta (The Violent Kind, Victor Crowley) and written/directed by husband, Sean Tretta (writer/producer, FX’s Mayans MC and Syfy’s 12 Monkeys). Featuring socially distant cameos by Dee Wallace (E.T.), Cerina Vincent (Cabin Fever), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Parry Shen (Victor Crowley), and Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead).

Day 14 began as a creative family project during COVID-19 lockdown, but quickly escalated into something more. Star, Mia Tretta, was wounded in the Saugus High School shooting in November of 2019 and just as life started to return to normal for Mia, COVID-19 hit. Under the intense isolation of lockdown, this emotional and Amblin-esque film emerged about the strength of family during dark and uncertain times.

John Willner

John is a video producer who graduated from Cal. State Northridge with a BA in Film Production. During his time at CSUN, his interest grew to many other aspects of filmmaking, which include video/sound editing, developing skills in motion graphics, animation and VFX.

David Willner

David earned his undergraduate in Psychology at CSUN while making short videos with his brother (John) and friends. He is currently working towards his MFA in Film Production at USC. Outside the world of film, he enjoys traveling, food, cooking, languages, reading, writing and just being around good company.

Danilo Bećković graduated in Film and TV directing from Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts, as well as in Comparative Literature from Belgrade Faculty of Philology.

He directed two of the greatest blockbusters of Serbian cinema of the last decade: a black comedy LITTLE BUDDHO and a martial arts - romantic comedy mixture THE SAMURAI IN AUTUMN.

Danilo is currently preparing two new features: TRIALS OF CHUL is an action comedy, designed as a Serbian-South Korean-German co-production, while MONTE ZOMBIE is a zom com set in Balkan highlands.

Dusty Brown is a filmmaker, actor and musician. Most recently he co-wrote a pilot for SHOWTIME with Glenn Kessler and currently has a project in development with Tony Hale attached to star. His short film "The Nobodies" (Vimeo Staff Pick, Funny or Die Staff Pick, Short of the Week Staff Pick) featured Jim Gaffigan, Tony Hale, Jack McBrayer, Ellie Kemper and Sutton Foster and is being developed into a feature. As a songwriter, Dusty's first album was developed into a play called "The Ballad of Rusty and Roy" which premiered at the New York City Fringe Festival and won the top honor for musical composition.

Juan Pablo Arias Muñoz is a Chilean writer-director based in Los Angeles, California where he received an MFA in Directing from the AFI Conservatory. He is a Fulbright Scholarship Award recipient and winner of the 2020 HBOAccess Directing Fellowship for diverse emerging directors. His short films and music videos have been presented at dozens of film festivals around the globe, including the New York Film Festival, the Stockholm International Film Festival, and the Seattle International Film Festival. Juan Pablo has also won various international prizes including Best Director, Best Iberoamerican Short Film, and the prestigious Prix Courtoujours at Cinélatino Rencontres de Toulouse, a French festival dedicated to the best of Latin American cinema. Aspiring to tell stories that are both entertaining and thought-provoking, Juan Pablo is developing several television series and features that dissect morally-conflicted characters through elevated genre and magical realism.

Esteban Garcia Vernaza is a Colombian filmmaker based in New York. His films usually revolve around suspense and horror. After working in Colombia as a freelance editor, Esteban moved to New York City to pursue an MFA in Film Directing at Columbia University. Esteban’s Thesis Film Silento was awarded a production grant from the Colombian Film Fund, received Jury Honors, an IFP Audience Award and the National Board of Review Student Production Grant during the past Columbia University Film Festival.

Elwood Quincy Walker is a horror film director & writer living in Los Angeles. As a child his love for halloween & Blockbuster Video led to his passion for horror filmmaking. Since then he has gone on to work as a professional commercial director at age 13, making spots for Disney & TEDx, intern at Blumhouse Productions, & make several short films that have screened & received accolades around the world. After a successful run on the festival circuit, his short film “Kissed” recently premiered online on ALTER.
Elwood’s latest film “The Rule Of Three” is currently making it’s way on the festival circuit & he is developing it into a feature length script.

To see more of his work & to keep up with him check out his website & instagram:

https://www.elwoodqwalker.com

@elwoodw

Brandon Laventure is a filmmaker who finds inspiration in the struggle we all share: to do right by each other in a dangerous world. While working the graveyard shift in a Michigan auto parts factory, he wrote, produced, and directed six independent films with his sister Cameron and a close team of friends, before moving on to a dual MBA/MFA program at New York University.

Cameron Laventure is an award-winning writer/director who aims to use classical narrative to tell radical stories. As a trans woman on the autism spectrum, she has a personal interest in celebrating underdogs and the marginalized. Today, she lives and works in Los Angeles with her brother.

The Laventure siblings’ work is informed by their shared past, from their low-income childhood to their recession-era balancing act of filmmaking and survival. These experiences led them from rural Michigan to the top film program in the world, culminating in their thesis film: the period horror, Out of Order.

Andreas Thelander is a Swedish film director based in Los Angeles. He is a fourth-year Graduate MFA Director at UCLA and is in postproduction with his first feature film Just like me he wrote and directed.
 2002-2003 he went to Stockholm Film School and his short film “Old in Sweden” was screened on the Swedish film channel TV1000 for almost 1,5 years. In 2010 he was part of the location team of David Fincher’s Girl with the dragon tattoo. 
Andreas has written and directed over ten short films, and in 2004, he directed his first commercial for SF Bio, which is Sweden’s largest cinema chain. He has been awarded The Charles & Lucille King Family Foundation Fellowship (2019), The Motion Picture Association of America Award (2018), The UCLA TFT Executive Board Scholarship (2019), and The Paulson Award three times (2019, 2018, 2017). 


Nicole Ihasz is a Writer/Director/Producer, and co-founder of Raptor Films, a boutique film-finance and production company. Through Raptor Films, Nicole has executive produced numerous films including OTHER PEOPLE, POMS, THE REVIVAL, FREAK SHOW, and EATING OUR WAY TO EXTINCTION (coming soon).

In 2019, Raptor Films shifted focus to developing original, independent content. The company currently has a variety of features and television series under development, several of which are written by Nicole. The 2020 short horror film, BECKY is Nicole’s directorial debut.

While Nicole continues to pursue her entrepreneurial endeavors, she is heavily focused on executive producing her first horror feature.

Dinh Thai is an Asian-American writer/director by way of commercial directing based in Los Angeles. Born in Vietnam, fled to France, and finally settling in Los Angeles, the 80s and 90s nurtured a fascinating cultural mix that strongly informs Dinh’s filmic approach and aesthetic. He brings a youthful, multi-cultural viewpoint to his creative and energetic productions. His work blends visual style with realism, focusing on social media influencers, dialogue, comedy, celebrities, and storytelling — all with strong musical influences. His commercial clients include Adidas, T-Mobile, Toyota, and the US Navy.

Dinh’s narrative work has aired on HBO and Cinemax. Specifically, MONDAY, a short film he wrote and directed has garnished over 50 festival awards and nominations, including first place in the inaugural HBO Asian Pacific American Visionaries competition, Outstanding Director, Outstanding Actor and Next Generation Filmmaker Award at the prestigious NBCU Shorts Festival, Best Direction at the New York Television Festival and The One Screen Festival, Best Short Film at CATALYST, and Best New Filmmaker of the Year at NFMLA.

Along with being in the Disney|ABC Director Program, Dinh has shadowed on American Horror Story (Ryan Murphy's Half-Initiative), MAYANS M.C. (Fox 21 TV), and directed an episode of New Amsterdam (218 ‘Matter of Seconds”) through NBC’s Emerging Director Program. He is also actively pursuing film and TV directing assignments as well as developing a show based on his short film and other multicultural ideas.

Lauren Brown is a filmmaker and film lover from Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated from Columbia University and started her career as a producer at Turner Classic Movies & FilmStruck. Lauren moved to Los Angeles in 2017 to pursue a directing career. She worked for Franklin Leonard at The Black List and Jill Soloway at Topple, developing pitches and navigating the realities of the industry. Currently, she is producing a film podcast for the Exactly Right Podcast Network and creating video content for TCM. Lauren wrote and directed her short film, A WAKE, in 2019 and she continues to build her career as a writer and movie director. Her work combines the influence of classic horror movies and deep research into the cultural origins of monsters to create horror stories about women and the fears that haunt them.

A professional creature effects artist, cinematographer, model maker, and puppeteer, Kevin McTurk has been working in the effects industry for over 20 years. A graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Production, Kevin moved to Los Angeles in 1992 and began his career in special make-up effects at Stan Winston Studios, working on Batman Returns, Interview with a Vampire, and the Jurassic Park films. He has worked for many effects companies over the years, including the Jim Henson Creature Shop, Amalgamated Dynamics, and Spectral Motion. Kevin also worked at New Deal Studios, where he was involved on the miniature effects shots for the Martin Scorcese films The Aviator, Shutter Island, and Hugo.
In 2004, Kevin was contacted by Weta Workshop in New Zealand and moved to Wellington to work on the films King Kong,The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and the gory comedy Black Sheep (in which he also played the Weresheep creature).
In 2011, Kevin received a Project Grant from The Jim Henson Foundation to make his first puppet short film "The Narrative of Victor Karloch." The film played in over twenty international festivals, and won the 2012 Best Animated Film Award at the DragonCon Film Festival. His follow-up film, "The Mill at Calder's End" was the result of a highly successful Kickstarter campaign and played in film festivals around the world. This film has won several awards including the Grand Jury Award for Best Animated Short at Seattle International Film Festival, the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Short Film.

Flynn Falcone hails from southern Illinois and has a degree in political science from the University of Chicago. An LA-based actor, screenwriter, and novelist, Flynn enjoys drinking craft beer, practicing yoga and kung fu, barbecuing with friends, and traversing space. He also wrote the explosive political thriller The Pegasus Project.

"The Infiltration" thrillingly exposes the same cult methodology and psychology poisoning our real life culture and institutions by employing a unique and compelling narrative approach. "They say" that truth is stranger than fiction, but can we really tell the difference anymore?...

Director/Writer: Gordon Shoemaker is a very tall human (6'5") from a lovely farm in Malvern, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2014 and currently lives in New York City with his producer, fiancé, and creative partner, Elizabeth Barchi.

In 2018, Gordon's first independent short film, “Lara,” screened at the Garden State Film Festival in New Jersey, the Soho International Film Festival in NYC, and six other festivals, including the PA Indie Short Film Festival where he won the award for Best Local Director. Also, in September 2018, “Lara” won five awards at the Independent Shorts Awards, including Gold for Best First Time Director.

Producer/Co-Director: Dr. Elizabeth Barchi is a dance medicine specialist working at NYU Essex Crossing in Manhattan. Elizabeth has brought her passion for choreography to Gordon's sets, where she plays a major role in setting and sculpting the action. Her skills and experiences from life and death situations in medicine have translated well to the insanity of film production. Elizabeth is also Assistant Company Doctor for legendary dance company Alvin Ailey and Assistant Director of the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries.

Merlin Camozzi is a filmmaker creating work both independently and on behalf of global brands such as Sprite, Coca-Cola, Uber, Morgan Stanley and ARRI. Merlin’s work has been featured in publications including Vice, Out Magazine, Booooooom, Flaunt Magazine, and Director’s Notes, and his short films have shown at festivals around the world. Awards received include the Cirque du Soleil Emerging Artist Fellowship and the MPAA Directing Award. Recently, Merlin was selected as a directing fellow for the Kyoto Filmmakers Lab, wrote and directed a package of digital shorts for Eli Roth’s Crypt TV, and created a promo spot and related content for a Coca-Cola project featuring Olivia Wilde. Merlin holds an MFA in film directing from UCLA.

Gavin Williams début feature as a screenwriter, AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS, was released in 2018. The film was a Critic’s Pick in the New York Times and is currently available to stream on Netflix world-wide. His short, SLEEPWORKING, won eight awards and played at over sixty festivals, including Screamfest LA. Mark Lediard has over 20 years experience directing commercials, promos and shorts. His music videos feature promos for US metal-core band ‘Of Mice & Men’ - which have been viewed over 10 million times on YouTube - ‘Greywind’, ‘Clint Lowery’, and UK art punks ‘Glitter Machine’. In 2017 Mark and Gavin Williams established Feature Creep Films, and their first short, CHROMOPHOBIA, premièred at the Trieste Science+Fiction Film Festival in 2019. THE MIME was commissioned by Fox Digital Studios, and will screen on Disney family channels/ streaming platforms later in 2020/21.

Xia Magnus is an award-winning writer, producer, and director. His music videos have been featured by Dazed, American Songwriter, and Paper Magazine, as well as screened at Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans. His short films have been programmed on Public Television and screened at numerous festivals worldwide, including Hunter which was an official selection of the 2017 Austin Film Festival. Xia’s first feature, Sanzaru, was selected to participate in the IFP Completion Lab, U.S. in Progress at the Champs-Élysées Film Festival, and the Torino Film Lab Extended program. Sanzaru premiered at Slamdance 2020. He splits his time between New York and Los Angeles.

Austin Rourke is a Los Angeles-based writer/director currently in pre-production on his sixth short film, WITHOUT ADDRESS. His American Film Institute short film, A STRANGE CALM, is an official selection at a number of festivals around the country, and has been awarded Best Director, Best Short Film, and Best Thriller by Indie Short Fest in Los Angeles. Most recently, Austin was hired as 2nd Unit Director by Palme d’Or-nominated director, Michael Spiccia, based on the strength of his film work. A Greater Boston Area native, Austin holds a BA in Journalism & Cinema Studies from Rutgers University and an MFA in Directing from the American Film Institute.

Explore more of his work at www.austinrourke.com

Julia Bailey Johnson was born and raised in Southern California. She received a B.A. in Film from Vassar College, and has worked in a variety of roles in commercial and independent film production since, from performing blood spatter tests as an art PA to catching wayward pixels as a post house creative producer. In addition to filmmaking projects like KALLEY’S LAST REVIEW, Julia also writes short stories. She is looking forward to adapting one of them for her next short film, this time with a cast & crew larger than 2. More can be found at www.juliabaileyjohnson.com.

Alison was one of five directors chosen by Lena Waithe for AT&T's 2019 Hello Lab Mentorship Program. She received her BA in film production from Emerson College and MFA in directing from AFI. She was hired as the first female staff producer/director at media company, All Def Digital, and has been featured in publications including Vanity Fair, Deadline, and Free the Bid, which highlights female filmmakers. In addition to a number of nominations on its festival run, her short film, YOU'LL ONLY HAVE EACH OTHER, won the Women in Horror Film Festival Night Mare award at the 2018 Nightmares Film Festival as well as Best Director (Short) at the 2019 Austin Revolution Film Festival and Best Foreign Student Short at the 2019 Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase. She is continuing to develop various projects that utilize horror as a means to explore character.

Chris Lofing & Travis Cluff | Writers, Directors, Producers, Co-Owners; TREMENDUM PICTURES

Born and raised in a small Nebraska farm town, Chris Lofing’s filmmaking aspirations began when he
was 13. Immediately after graduating high school, Chris moved to Los Angeles to attend The New York
Film Academy.

Around the same time, Travis Cluff, living in Fresno, California found himself suddenly laid off when the
market crashed in 2008. Determined to turn things around, Travis decided to try out for ABC’s obstacle
course game show WIPEOUT. He won his episode and took home the $50,000 grand prize!

The pair met by chance and realized they had a shared passion for movies. Travis’ marketing and business
background was a perfect compliment to Chris’ film and technical experience, and the two immediately
formed Tremendum Pictures. Determined to break new ground in the ultra-low budget space, the pair
used Chris’ room in their 1000sq ft. condo (where Travis’ family of 5 also lived) as a production office and
co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced the micro-budget horror film, THE GALLOWS for $100,000.
The duo caught the attention of mega-horror producer Jason Blum and struck a deal with New Line
Cinema & Warner Bros. The film became New Line’s first acquisition in 8 years and went on to gross
over $42million at the box-office becoming the lowest budgeted movie in modern history to go straight
to a worldwide theatrical release and earning a spot among the top most profitable movies of all time
based on ROI. The sequel, THE GALLOWS ACT II, was released by Lionsgate during Halloween,
2019. The duo also produced PREY alongside Blumhouse & HydePark Ent. which released through
Cinedigm in September 2019, and also BEHIND YOU through Vertical Entertainment this past April.
They are currently gearing up to sell their latest suspense thriller HELD, and are working on a slate of
new projects in various stages of development. Chris and Travis are represented by Ziffren Brittenham.

Patrick Kennelly is a Los Angeles based director, editor, producer whose body of work spans film and video, theater, live events and the visual arts. He met “Hammurabi” collaborator Bethany Orr working on his debut feature EXCESS FLESH, which toured the worldwide festival circuit in 2015. Essentially a horror film about food, it was called  "the most twisted movie at SXSW—and of the year” by The Daily Beast. In addition to developing his own projects, Patrick serves as Artistic Director at renowned experimental arts center Highways Performance Space & Gallery, in its 31st year. 

Joanna Tsanis is an award-winning writer, producer, and filmmaker. Her directorial debut Imagine a World (2019), a satirical horror short, premiered at Toronto After Dark Film Festival in 2019 and screened in multiple festivals around the world including Mórbido Film Fest in Mexico City and Nightmares Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio where she won the award for ‘Best Director, Short’.

Joanna wrote and produced Eleftheromania (2018), a WWII-era short film starring Academy Award Winner Olympia Dukakis. The film screened at several festivals worldwide, including Raindance Film Festival. Joanna won the award for ‘Best Short Screenplay’ at Mindfield Film Festival, and the award for ‘Best Drama’ at Toronto Shorts International Film Festival.

Joanna recently directed the dramatic horror short Mourn, starring Lynne Griffin of the cult classic Black Christmas (1974). The film will screen at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival in Los Angeles, the largest and longest running horror festival in the United States.

Formerly a comic book critic for the Toronto Standard, Joanna has a varied history with storytelling. She has produced numerous branded videos, both animated and live-action. Her branded documentary short Girls Helping Girls screened at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the 2017 Gabby Awards.

In addition to freelance producing, Joanna also works at the award-winning film studio Landed Entertainments where she produces both short and long-form content including a documentary on job recruitment in the United States, eight genre shorts, and a feature-length horror anthology film (currently filming).

Joanna actively lends her production experience to student filmmakers at Ryerson University where she ran an alumni film festival and managed a grant and mentorship program for film students in continuing education.

Pia Thrasher is an actor, filmmaker and visual artist originally from Germany, where she studied the arts at the E.T.A. Hoffman Gymnasium. She majored in English and graduated from the Euro Sprachschule Bamberg as a Foreign Language Correspondent. Pia's acting experience started around 5th grade in school theatre and several small stage productions in her hometown in Germany. Soon after immigrating to the U.S. she tasted 'movie blood' while working on several film sets as an extra, including James Cameron's 'Titanic'. Wanting to learn more about the craft, she began training in earnest and enrolled in acting classes and showcases. Once she started auditioning, student films offered her opportunities to play speaking parts, adding experience and confidence to win her supporting and leading roles in shorts and independent films.
Pia eventually branched out and also started working on indie film sets behind the scenes, gaining more knowledge and skills as a filmmaker. The dark comedy short 'The Appointment' was Pia's directorial debut in 2015. Her follow up is the short film 'Things We Dig', a horror comedy, which she wrote, directed and stars in as the character Kuni von Stechen.

Brendan is a Colorado native, but has called Los Angeles home since 2009. He is a working commercial director specializing in performance heavy, cinematic and stylized comedy, dark comedy and horror. Narrative remains his main creative passion so he shoots short films in between commercial gigs.

He's making a concerted effort to transition into film/TV so he is currently pitching several feature screenplays that he also plans on directing. "THE LOOKOUT", his most recent screenplay, is a tense and contained horror thriller taking place In the shadow of a looming nuclear threat. A disenfranchised young woman attempts to escape modern society by taking a job at a remote fire lookout tower. In her newfound solitude, chilling events force her to question her own sanity and reality itself. See a teaser for the script here - https://vimeo.com/357413743

Brendan currently lives in Santa Monica with his newborn son (and future horror fan), wife and dog. When he's not directing, he can be found beating the drums or scrambling around the mountains and deserts of California.

www.BrendanBeachman.com