The Mary Shelley Symposium
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Thursday 14 April 1:00 Industry event - Festival Secrets 7:30 Red Carpet Drinks 8:00 SHORTS PROGRAM + Opening Night Party Friday 15 April 5:00 Industry event - The Attic Lab Pitch + Networking Drinks 8.00 Feature film - THE INVITATION + short film THE THINGS WE TAKE 10.00 Feature film - THE LOVE WITCH + short film INNSMOUTH Saturday 16 April 11:00 Symposium - Bad Dog! (Dominic Lennard) 12:00 Symposium - Old Age and Treachery (Erin Harrington) 1:00 Symposium - Spilling Her Guts (Alison Mann) 2:30 Industry event - Tasmanian Gothic Script Readings and Awards 3.00 Industry event - Horror Now Panel 4:00 Feature film - GIRL ASLEEP 7.00 Feature film - EVOLUTION 10.00 Feature film - MIDNIGHT SHOW Sunday 17 April 11.30 Feature film - FRANKENSTEIN 2:30 Symposium - Deidre Hall is the Devil (Jodi McAlister) 3:30 Symposium - Shock And Awe (Emma Valente) 4.30 Feature film - THE FORSAKEN + short film THORN 7.00 Feature film - CRUSHED 9:00 Farewell Drinks in the Festival Club + Horror Karaoke #swmfiff Well, we’re back. After a hiatus in 2015, Stranger With My Face Horror Film Festival returns for its 4th edition—and is now known as Stranger With My Face International Film Festival. Why the name change? Don’t worry, we’re still into horror. Personally, I did get sick of talking about the definition of it all the time though, or worrying about what could or couldn’t logically be screened under that label. Genre is only a label in the end, useful mainly for marketing. The most notable films tend not to entirely fit conventional definitions. Or, at least, they’re redefining the genre... which is kind of the point. Stranger With My Face is still about dark storytelling. And it’s primarily about highlighting the work of women directors (there are a few films from male directors, screening out of competition). But I hope you’ll agree that, within that framework, there’s a huge diversity to be found within the program this year. And while this festival is aimed at a genre audience, that’s not the end of the story. We also want to engage with people who say they ‘don’t like horror’ (and, to be fair, some don’t just say it, they actually mean it too!). My hot tips on that score: Girl Asleep and Evolution. But it’s not that simple. For the zombie fancier who can’t handle ghost stories or for the monster fan who doesn’t care for slasher killers, the broad idea of ‘horror’ is pretty unhelpful. So the symbols below should provide some guidance! At the same time, I recommend that you do step outside your comfort zone, at least a little, because that’s what film festivals are about. Buy a festival pass, see films by direc- tors you’ve never heard of, go to the Mary Shelley Symposium... surprise yourself. Stranger With My Face is intended to operate as a curated conversation: first, between the artists involved, and then between the artists and the audience. That’s you. Briony Kidd Festival Director EXTREME CULT OR WEIRD OCCULT SUPERNATURAL THEMES VIOLENCE ART HOUSE GORE This year we announce the Lia Award, honouring an influential and The Lia Award innovative figure in the field of genre storytelling. The 2016 Lia goes to our unofficial patron, Lois Duncan. The festival is named after one of Duncan’s most popular young adult novels, published in 1986. And the character of Lia - the ‘evil twin’ of that story - is our inspiration for this inaugural award. Lia represents the shadow self, the dark and mysterious side of life. She’s also just a great female villain. Lois Duncan’s career, spanning the 1950s to the 1990s, is truly an inspiring one. Her supernatural thrillers, aimed at teenage girls, have resonated worldwide. ‘Just because readers are girls doesn’t mean that all they want is sticky romance and they have no inter- est in excitement and intrigue,’ she says. Multiple adaptations of Duncan’s books have made it to the screen, but have generally failed to capture her distinctive tone or preference for down-to-earth, intelligent heroines. Duncan is known to a new generation for her non-fiction book, Who Killed My Daughter?, part of her crusade to solve the murder of her eighteen year old daughter, Kaitlyn. While 2016 recipient: unable to appear at Stranger With My Face in person, Duncan says she’s ‘thrilled’ to receive the award. ‘I’ve now reached an age where Lois Duncan I’m chalking up my successes and failures, and this—along with be- ing named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America—has to be one of my crowning successes in a very long career.’ FEATURE FILMS Crushed Evolution Australia | 2015 | 111 minutes France/Belgium/Spain | 2015 | 81 minutes directed by Megan Riakos directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović unclassified, no under 15s unless with an adult unclassified, no under 15s unless with an adult TASMANIAN PREMIERE AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE Crushed is the story of a young woman who “Put aside everything you know about the birds returns home to her family vineyard after her and the bees. Lucile Hadžihalilović’s Evolution father dies in an accident at the winery. But when proposes an entirely new paradigm to explain his death is ruled a murder and her mother where babies come from, burrowing into becomes the prime suspect she must uncover the young men’s subconscious anxieties about truth. those aspects of their biology that they can and cannot control — including fear of penetration Starring Sarah Bishop, Roxanne Wilson and Les and pregnancy — to create an unsettling Hill, Crushed was shot on location in the beautiful companion piece to her 2005 arthouse Australian wine region of Mudgee, New South provocation, Innocence. “—Variety Wales. A bold and visually stunning work from one of Megan Riakos’s short film The Shed screened at world cinema’s most original filmmakers. SWMF 2013. Crushed is her feature film debut. Megan Riakos will be present for a Q&A hosted Lucile Hadžihalilović will be available for a Q&A by the Australian Director’s Guild’s Rebecca via Skype after this screening. Thomson. 7 PM, SUNDAY 17 APRIL 7 PM, SATURDAY 16 APRIL PEACOCK THEATRE PEACOCK THEATRE TICKETS $16/$18 OR WITH FESTIVAL PASS TICKETS $16/$18 OR WITH FESTIVAL PASS FEATURE FILMS Evolution The Forsaken Frankenstein Spain (English language) | 2015 | 86 minutes USA | 2015 | 90 minutes directed by Yolanda Torres directed by Bernard Rose unclassified, no under 15s unless with an adult unclassified, under 18s not admitted AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE A band of criminals is hired to kidnap a wealthy Mary Shelley’s story reimagined in the modern businessman’s daughter, but the plan goes day and told from the perspective of the horribly wrong. monster, who’s been left for dead by a husband- and-wife team of eccentric scientists. A mysterious woman named Sara (Claudia Trujillo) propels us through this visceral twist on Xavier Samuel’s powerhouse performance the haunted house story. leads a stellar cast, including Carrie-Anne Moss, Danny Huston and Tony Todd. A production from Afilm International Film Workshops, made by students and teachers The acclaimed director of Candyman, Immortal from this film school located in Sitges. Beloved and Paperhouse captures the primal and uncompromising essence of a classic This film is preceded by the short film Thorn. tale, recontextualising its themes for the 21st Century. This flim is screening out of competition. Yolanda Torres will be available for a Q&A via Skype after this screening. 11.30 AM & 3 PM, SUNDAY 17 APRIL 3 PM, SATURDAY 24 APRIL 4.30 PM, SUNDAY 17 APRIL 3 PM, SUNDAY 24 APRIL PEACOCK THEATRE off-site at MONA MUSEUM TICKETS $16/$18 OR WITH FESTIVAL PASS TICKETS $16/$18 OR WITH FESTIVAL PASS FEATURE FILMS Girl Asleep The Invitation Australia | 2015 | 77 minutes USA | 2015 | 99 minutes directed by Rosemary Meyers directed by Karyn Kusama unclassified, general admittance unclassified, no under 15s unless with an adult TASMANIAN PREMIERE TASMANIAN PREMIERE Greta (Bethany Whitmore) can’t bear to leave her Will and Eden lost their son years ago. The childhood. She floats in a bubble of loserdom with tragedy affected their relationship irreversibly, her only friend Elliott (Harrison Feldmann), until to the point that she disappeared overnight. One her parents throw her a surprise 15th birthday day, Eden returns to the city; she’s married again party and she’s flung into a parallel place; a and something in her seems to have changed, world that’s weirdly erotic, a little bit violent and turning her into a disturbing presence, now thoroughly ludicrous – only there can she find unrecognizable even to Will. herself. Karyn Kusama is the acclaimed director of Based on the acclaimed production by Windmill Girlfight, Aeon Flux and Jennifer’s Body. The Theatre, Girl Asleep is a journey into the absurd, Invitation won the Jury Award at the Sitges scary and beautiful heart of the teenage mind. International Film Festival in 2015. “Girl Asleep is an exuberant example of “The shivers arrive early and often in “The imaginative filmmaking that takes its cues from Invitation,” a teasingly effective thriller that imagination and talent — with nary a focus group builds a remarkable level of tension...” in sight.”—Variety —Variety This film is preceded by the short film The Things We Take. The filmmakers will be in attendance for a Q&A. Rosemary Myers will be available for a Q&A via Skype after this screening. 4 PM, SATURDAY 16 APRIL 8 PM, FRIDAY 15 APRIL PEACOCK THEATRE PEACOCK THEATRE TICKETS $16/$18 OR WITH FESTIVAL PASS TICKETS $16/$18 OR WITH FESTIVAL PASS FEATURE FILMS The Invitation The Love Witch Midnight Show USA | 2016 | 120 minutes Indonesia (English subtitles) | 2016 | 97 minutes directed by Anna Biller directed by Ginanti Rona Tembang Asri unclassified, no under 15s unless with an adult unclassified, under 18s not admitted AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Elaine (Sarah Robinson) enchants men with The staff of a Jakarta movie theatre are her charms...