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7th January 2012

Bold Film Festival Showcases the Horror of Female Filmmakers in Vancouver

curio mediaThe city of Vancouver, shining light of the land of sasquatches and angry ghosts, is no stranger to the disquieting and the bizarre. Now Curio Media also calls it home, a film and media company that supports female filmmakers and artists in the genres of horror, science fiction, and dark fantasy. Curio Media, with the assistance of IRL Events, is proud to announce its inaugural event: the Vancouver presentation of the 2012 Viscera Film Festival, showcasing short horror films created by female filmmakers on Friday, January 13th.
To the Norse, Friday is “Freyja’s Day,” devoted to the goddess of love and war, death and witchcraft, who scours the sky collecting the souls of slain warriors and hunting for secrets that have been lost. The number thirteen is the cursed number and the odd one out, the outsider who stares in at the group’s happy perfect dozen. It is appropriate then that next Friday the 13th, a cabal of outsiders and Freyja’s children will demonstrate their craft. Dare you, on this dark night, view the ghoulish cinematic creations of these witchy women?

The Viscera Film Festival has been a yearly event for the last three years that showcases the fearsome creations of female filmmakers from all over the world. The festival begins with a dedication ceremony in Los Angeles and then travels all around the world, appearing at both film festivals and specially curated events for museums and post-secondary academic institutions. Following the screening in Vancouver, this year’s Viscera films will travel to Penn State in the USA, where they will be to be discussed by academics as part of a new category of gender studies and cinema: “Feminist Response Horror.”

The Viscera Film Festival’s creations range from the gorgeously gory to the sinisterly cerebral. Some explore deep-set nightmares and the repressed corners of the psyche while others homage Japanese splatter films and B-movie flicks or spit-roast the sacred cows of pop culture. See the Easter Bunny commit murder, see an obsessive-compulsive confront what lurks behind the doors of his mind, see Little Bo Peep slaughter her sheep, see the shade of Edgar Allan Poe hunt for three versions of his lost love. There are ghosts and zombies, serial killers and lost hitchhikers, girls violently working out their daddy issues and women facing the dangers that lurk in their beds. See all of these and so much more saunter and scream for you on-screen. Horror fans of all stripes and species, prepare to be disturbed, disquieted, and thoroughly delighted.

Already the geek community can’t stop talking about this year’s Viscera Film Festival. The Daily Nightmare describes it as “a fresh and different kind of disturbing, and frankly, aren’t we getting a little bored with the same old kinds of revulsion? These – dare I call them ‘sick chick flicks?’ –  are quite inspiring because of the new vision they promise.” Bizarro Central adds “GO, VISCERA WOMEN! I’m behind you a trillion percent…. Keep making it so good that movie moguls finally figure it out, and realize how many of us in the audience-o-sphere are deeply hungering for your insights, talents, and skills.”

The special one-night Vancouver screening will be at the RIO Theatre, 1160 East Broadway, Vancouver. The show will last from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM, with doors opening at 7:30. It will be hosted by Urban Rush’s Fiona Forbes  and feature special guests, including filmmaker/actress Shannon Lark, founder of the Viscera Film Festival and former CEO of the Chainsaw Mafia, as well as Rachel Talalay, director of Tank Girl, Ghost in the Machine, and Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. Tickets are $13 at the door or available for advance purchase on the IRL and Rio Theatre websites.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 7th, 2012 at 7:58 am and is filed under Events, National News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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