Nightmares Film Festival Launching “SHUT-IN SHORTS” Celebrating Films Made During the Pandemic
Nightmares Film Festival (Oct. 22-25) wants to expose you to the twisted fever dreams of entombed genre filmmakers through its new 2020 program, Shut-In Shorts.
The new category – unique to this year’s festival – is for horror, thriller and midnight shorts of five minutes or less shot under the restrictions of social distancing and shelter in place orders during this year’s COVID-19 pandemic.
“We created Shut-In Shorts in response to the indomitable spirit genre creators have shown throughout the pandemic,” said NFF Co-founder and Programmer Jason Tostevin. “We want to celebrate their ability to disturb and delight us by getting creative under remarkable constraints.”
Top films in the category will be official selections of Nightmares Film Festival, regularly ranked among the top genre fests in the world. They will also be rewarded with live online screenings by Bloody Disgusting’s digital showcase, World of Death, during which WOD founder and host Tony Wash and Nightmares directors will join the filmmaker for discussion and Q&A with the audience.
In addition, to honor many filmmakers’s challenging circumstances, Tostevin said the submission fee for Shut-In Shorts will be $5, and will not go up with future deadlines.
“Encouraging creativity and production among genre makers is a big part of why Nightmares exists,” said Tostevin. “So while traditional shoots are suspended, we wanted to give our film family an avenue to be recognized for continuing to tell stories even in very difficult times.”
Submissions for the new category, as well as all other Nightmares programs, are being accepted through FilmFreeway at https://filmfreeway.com/NightmaresFilmFest.
Regarding NFF 20, Tostevin and Chris Hamel, co-founders, have said they will make a determination at the end of the summer about whether “the most welcoming genre networking event in the world” (Film Coterie), will be held live this year.
Do you have a Shut-In Short for Nightmares Film Festival? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican.
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