Drafthouse Films, Timpson Films and Magnet Releasing have announced their partnership for a project called The ABCs of Death, bringing together 26 different directors to create short films, each based on a letter of the alphabet.
Alamo Drafthouse CEO/Founder Tim League and Timpson Films CEO Ant Timpson are set to co-produce with production beginning next month and completion slated for January 2012, six months, six weeks and six days later.
Of the directors, 25 will be previously established and one will be chosen as the result of an international contest. From that point on, each will be tasked with constructing a film based on an assigned letter.
The current list of confirmed participating directors includes:
Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter, Alone)
Angela Bettis (Roman)
Adrian Garcia Bogliano (Cold Sweat)
Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun)
Ernesto Diaz Espinoza (Mirageman)
Bruno Forzani and Héléne Cattet (Amer)
Gadi Harel (DeadGirl)
Thomas Malling (Norwegian Ninja)
Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police; Frankenstein Girl Vs. Vampire Girl)
Simon Rumley (The Living and the Dead; Red, White and Blue)
Tak Sakaguchi and Yuji Shimomura (Yakuza Weapon)
Marcel Sarmiento (DeadGirl)
Srdjan Spasojevic (A Serbian Film)
Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre)
Andrew Traucki (Black Water, The Reef)
Nacho Vigalando (TimeCrimes)
Jake West (Doghouse, Evil Aliens)
Ti West (The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers)
Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace, Kill List)
Adam Wingard (Pop Skull, A Horrible Way To Die)
“Helming Fantastic Fest for the past seven years has brought us in touch with an amazing community of filmmaking talent,” says League, “‘The ABCs of Death’ offers us a chance to work closely with a large number of visionary filmmakers to create a film with more jaw-dropping moments than a whole summer of blockbusters.
“This project was inspired by my young sons being introduced to the world through their ABCs books,” adds Timpson, “The idea of subverting that format to reveal a study in all the dastardly and humorous ways a person can leave this world appealed on multiple levels. And it was somewhat fitting to learn that the earliest forms of the ABCs books actually did use fear of punishment to teach the young.
“I got to the letter A and said yes, said Magnet SVP Tom Quinn, Were super excited to be working with a familiar cast of Magnet directors as well as Tim League and Ant Timpson.
Check out the preliminary poster design for the project below and click on it to visit the official site!
