Rhode Island Horror Film Fest Back For 13th Year
Friday, October 12, 2012
Feel a little spooked? You should. The 13th Annual RI International Horror Film Festival is coming up.
The 2012 festival will include an expanded focus featuring horror, thrillers and sci-fi programming plus screenings in Providence at three locations: Jamestown, Kingston, Bristol, and Newport at Fort Adams State Park.
The festival
The FLICKERS: RI International Horror Film Festival is an eerie-sistable salute to what is an often-overlooked genre that will include a bevy of World and U.S. Premiers of short, feature-length and documentary films. In all 63 films have been selected from 461 submissions and include works from 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Georgia and the United States. Many of the filmmakers will be in attendance, so audience members will have a chance to meet, ask questions, and even network with the next generation of horror-auteurs.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTGeneral Admission for screenings is $10.00 per person. Festival 6-packs available at $40 (good year round and at any RIIFF film event) can be purchased online here. Group Discounts can be arranged by calling the Festival office at (401) 861-4445. The full schedule for this year Festival can be found here.
Preview: From The Vault
The Festival kicks off unofficially with a preview screening called “FROM THE VAULT: RI HORROR FILM FESTIVAL CLASSICS.” Scheduled for Tuesday, October 23rd, 7:00 p.m., the screening will take place at Swan Hall on the University of Rhode Island campus in Kingston. Sponsored by the Harrington School of Communications and Media,the program will feature some of the best short films fro over the past several years that have played the Festival. Admission is free for this special event.
Behind the scenes view
On Thursday morning, October 25th, at 10:00 a.m. horror films fans will want to be at the Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, located at the University Library at Roger Williams University in Bristol. In a special behind-the-scenes forum, meet the movers and shakers in the Rhode Island film and horror production scene. Rhode Island has become known as the Independent state for film. Starting with the foundation provided by the film and media programs at our colleges and universities, and the unique talent base of creative artists who have made their homes here, the Ocean State has built a reputation as a one-stop film studio.
Among such notable filmmakers as Wes Anderson and the Farley Brothers, who have made their films within our state, the independent horror genre is steadily becoming an industry standard for RI’s film community. Meet Steven Feinberg, Executive Director of the RI Film & Television Office, the man behind the state’s high profile within the industry, and local horror filmmakers who have successfully made careers in Rhode Island: Richard Griffin of Scorpio Film Releasing, Director of “Exhumed”; Derek Dubois, Director of “Fallout”; and Ben Bornstein. Hosted by Shawn Quirk, RIIFF’s Programming Director and Nick Palermo, President of the RWU Film Production Club. This is a free event.
Opening Night Spooktacular
On Thursday, October 25th, 7:00 p.m. the focus will shift to the Bell Street Chapel Theatre, 5 Bell Street, Providence, for the annual Horror Festival Opening Night Spooktacular. This year, the program will feature a series of critically acclaimed international shorts featuring such well-known stars as Christopher Lloyd and Elijah Wood. The cinematic program includes “The Other Side,” directed by Oli and Alex Santoro (United Kingdom); “La Granja,” directed by Ignacio Lasierra (Spain); “The Narrative of Victor Karloch,” directed by Kevin McTurk (USA); “La Réparation,” directed by Julien Boustani & Cecilia Ramos (France); “She's Lost Control,” directed by Haritz Zubillaga (Spain); and “Eagle Walk,” directed by Rob Himebaugh (USA).
Scary afternoon at the PPL
On Friday October 26th, screenings begin in the afternoon at the Providence Public Library on Empire Street. The 1:00 p.m. program salutes Asian horror cinema with “Overflowed,” Directed by Joan Llabata, (China); and “Twisted” (Zhuang Gui), Directed by Yee-wei Chai, (Malaysia /Singapore). At 3:30 p.m., the focus shifts to literary adaptations with “Grey Matter,” directed by James B. Cox, based on a Stephen King short story; “The Soul Never Sleeps,” directed by Chris Peters; “Her Heart Still Beats,” directed by Christopher Di Nunzio, adapted from Edgar Allen Poe’s “A Tell Tale Heart;” and from Kuwait, “Wonderland, A True Story,” directed by Dana Al Mojil, based on Lewis Carroll's “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and through the Looking-Glass.” These screenings will be free to the general public.
Additional Friday screenings in Providence, Newport and Jamestown
The Jamestown Arts Center located at 18 Valley Street; Jamestown presents ten international short films in a program called RIIFF Eerie Shorts of Horror. From New Zealand zombies to fractured fairy tales, it’s non-stop horror starting at 7:00 p.m.
At the Bell Street Chapel Theatre, there will be two screenings. At 6:00 p.m., the critically acclaimed United Kingdom feature “Up There” directed by Zam Salim, takes a unique look at the afterlife. It’s paired with VP Doyle’s musical: “LIFELESS #BeingKindaDeadSortaSucks.” At 8:45 p.m. the programming turns to Dark Fantasy Shorts that include a look at a reluctant vampire working at a blood bank to new technology that allows people to live forever, but at a price.
At the Paff Auditorium at the URI Feinstein Campus, 80 Washington Street, Providence programming starts at 4:00 p.m. with “Attack of the Brain Suckers” from Canada, “Cadaver” from the United States with Christopher Lloyd and Kathy Bates; plus the feature, “A Little Bit Zombie,” directed by Casey Walker from Canada. At 6:15 p.m. the short “Plush” from the United States introduces “247º”, directed by Levan Bakhia from Georgia (in the former Soviet Union.) At 8:30 p.m., the focus is on Rhode Island filmmakers with screenings of Derek Dubois’ short film “Fallout,” and Richard Griffin’s feature “Exhumed.”
In Newport at Fort Adams State Park, the Horror Festival partners with the “Fortress Of Nightmares” for special evening programming, Friday through Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Each night a program of spooky international short films will be screened inside the barracks of the former military fort.
More Weekend of Frights
Saturday, October 27th, the Festival’s Weekend of Frights will continue with screenings in Providence and Newport.
Screenings at The Bell Street Chapel Theatre take off at 1:00, 3:00, 7:00 and 9:15 p.m. will focus on how the genre is seen internationally including, “Nightmare Factory,” directed by Donna Davies (Canada), delves inside the high-stakes world of special FX make-up and creature design through the eyes of one of the industry’s key players. Greg Nicotero, co-executive producer and special make-up effects designer on AMC’s monster hit, “The Walking Dead”; “Foxes,” directed by Lorcan Finnegan (Ireland), a young couple trapped in a remote estate of empty houses and shrieking foxes are beckoned from their isolation into a twilight world; “Modern Family,” directed by Kwang Bin Kim (South Korea), a mysterious phone call leads to unexpected family complications; “Towers” directed by Jet Wintzer (USA), a post apocalyptic indie rock fantasy; “Beyond the Grave” directed by Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro (Brazil), set in a devastated world where the rules of reality are transformed by magic and madness; and “Quinkin” directed by Michael Wannenmacher (Australia), deals with a future where it has not rained in living memory, Paul and Vox are hunters intent on capturing a Quinkin – a deadly shadow creature from the Aboriginal Dream Time.
Date Night of HORROR at the Paff
In true horror-style, the Festival will be “slashing” its Saturday-night prices when it presents a date night of terror. The night’s line-up will begin at 7:30 p.m. with the short horror film “Vadim” directed by Peter Hengl (Austria) about a young couple discovering what really is inside a mysterious box they discover, and in a special arrangement with Anchor Bay Entertainment, the exclusive screening of “The Barrens,” a twisted new chiller from writer/director Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, Mother’s Day)
The story concerns the legend of the Jersey Devil, the winged beast spawned 400 years ago by Satan himself. Some say this creature still inhabits the dense pine forests of southern New Jersey, where Richard Vineyard (Stephen Moyer) takes his family for a rustic weekend camping trip. As the Vineyard family ventures further into the woods in search of the perfect campsite, Richard teeters on the edge of sanity.
College students, members of the military and seniors (over age 65) with valid IDs receive half-price admission of $5 per person/$7.00 per couple for the evening of horrors. Those who come in costume will be eligible for a special drawing of “The Barrens” DVDs, DVD’s from master of terror Charles Band, and tickets to the 2013 RIIFF!
SUNDAY: H.P. Lovecraft Walking Tour & FILM SCREENING
On Sunday, October 28th, at 1:00 p.m, the Festival presents its popular annual H.P. Lovecraft Walking Tour in collaboration with the RI Historical Society.
The life and work of Providence's best-known fantasy and horror author, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, provide the backdrop for this walking tour. Acknowledged genius of occult and horror fiction, Lovecraft's Providence Stories (written between 1924 and 1935) provide the basis for this walk. Lovecraft wrote eloquently, and in great detail, about such landmarks as Prospect Terrace, the First Baptist Church, and Benefit Street houses. See the site of his former home, as well as the sights mentioned in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Haunter of the Dark, The Shunned House, and The Call of Cthulhu. Lovecraft's own words offer a most amazing literary, historical, and architectural walking tour.
The tour departs from the John Brown House at 52 Power Street, Providence and lasts 90 minutes.
Tickets are $18 per person, can be purchased online, and include a ticket to the final screenings of the 2012 Horror Festival. The Walking Tour can be purchased in advance by calling the RIIFF offices at 401.861.4445 or ordered directly online here.
Lovecraft to close
At 2:30 p.m. the Festival final screenings are two films inspired by H.P. Lovecraft screened at the Providence Public Library Theatre, 150 Empire Street, Providence: “Shadow of the Unnamable,” Directed by Sascha Alexander Renninger (Germany) and the feature, “The Thing on the Doorstep,” Directed by Tom Gliserman (USA). Admission is $10 for the screening only at the Library.
The FLICKERS: RI International Horror Film Festival is sponsored by Amtrak, Fort Adams State Park, The Providence Phoenix, RISCA, Cox on Demand, The Rhode Island Film & Television Office, The Harrington School of Communications and Media at the University of Rhode Island, The URI College of Arts & Sciences, The Film Media Program, and the URI Feinstein College of Continuing Education, Roger Williams University and the RWU Film Production Club.
General Admission for screenings is $10.00 per person. The full schedule for this year Festival can be found here.
