Australian film festival opens press accreditation and launches screenplay contest.
As we previously reported, Tasmania-based, female-centric, international horror film festival Stranger With My Face is returning April 14-17th.
Named after the dark YA novel by Lois Duncan, Stranger With My Face focuses on female perspectives in genre film, with an emphasis on showcasing the work of women directors. Held over four days in Hobart, Tasmanias picturesque capital city, the festival hosts screenings, lectures, workshops and exhibits, as well as satellite events year-round.
The event taps into the state’s evolving artistic tradition of Tasmanian Gothic, a product of its dark history and isolation from mainland Australia. Initiated as a grassroots event to celebrate Women in Horror Month in 2012, the event has grown rapidly to become a key event for those looking to genre filmmaking for new ideas and voices. Past special guests have included Jennifer Lynch and Penny Vozniak for Despite the Gods and Chained, pioneering Laotian horror filmmaker Mattie Do with Chanthaly, a presentation by horror scholar and author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical History) and Aussie vet Ann Turner, who opened the festival with her 1989 cult classic CELIA in 2014.
Stranger With My Face also has a strong focus on production initiatives, as is evidenced by the success of its two annual filmmaking challenges the Tasmanian Gothic Short Script Challenge and the 48-Hour Tasploitation Challenge. Winning projects from these competitions have gone on to enjoy industry success, in some cases acting as a catalyst for a career change into the area of genre production.
The Tasmanian Gothic Short Script Challenge is open internationally to participants who wish to write a 6-page script in 48 hours, to be assessed and awarded by a panel of judges including Simon Barrett (writer of Youre Next and The Guest), Stephanie Trepanier (Producer of Turbo Kid and Director of Development for Snowfort Pictures) and Dr. Shelagh Rowan-Legg (Film critic for Sight and Sound, Twitch and programmer for Film4 FrightFest). The winning script of the inaugural Script Challenge in 2012, Heidi Lee Douglas Little Lamb, went into production and screened internationally as a festival hit. The Challenge welcomes both experienced and novice screenwriters, as well as writers from other disciplines such as playwriting and fiction. Applications open Monday February 1, 2016 – please visit www.strangerwithmyface.com for registration and contest details.
Stranger With My Face is also proud to support local production by offering the annual 48-hour Tasploitation Challenge, which takes place this weekend, January 22nd -24th with a screening of the finished films on Monday the 25th. This year the jury is led by veteran producer Julie Corman, with Mark Hartley (NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO), Sean Byrne (THE LOVED ONES, THE DEVIL’S CANDY) and more. More information can be found here.
