An update on the last six months (and counting)

 *dusts off cobwebs*

It's been a while, huh? The Dys- post-production takes most of the blame and a family health emergency coupled with what I like to refer to as "the great crash of 2013" didn't help. But, I kept my head out of the water and I'm now back in full throttle! 

So let's catch up a bit, shall we? 

The Cutting Room Floor podcast

Remember that Casey Ryan podcast I told you about? Well, if you missed it, you can listen to it HERE.

Shawna Shea Independent Short Film Festival 

I was honoured to have Red screen as part of the official selection of the
Shawna Shea Independent Short Film Festival in the female horror filmmakers block. The screening took place on November 23rd 2013 at the Somerville Theatre, in Somerville, Massachussetts. Thanks to Skip Shea and Izzy Lee for programming the film! 
Check out the film fest page on Facebook. 
 

Lists, lists, lists!

What better way to begin the new year than being included on some super rad lists! I am honoured to be included on:
Char Hardin's 35 Hardest Working Women of Indie Horror 
That FITZ's Top Women of Horror Official Twitter List 2013
The Scribes' Director. Women. Genre Twitter List and Hollywomen Directors Pinterest Board
Thank you to all of you! I'm blowing kisses your way! 

Scream Queen Film Fest in Tokyo!

Mai Nakanishi is simply amazing! Not only was she kind enough to program Hollywood Skin in Tokyo - thus making one of my dreams of having my film play in Japan come true! - she then took it on tour in Nagoya (still in Japan) in February of this year and will be playing it again in Nagano in late August! Stay tuned for the updates!  
Scream Queen Film Fest on Facebook. 

World of Death compilation 

I'm also really excited to announce that two of my shorts, Toothpicks (formely T is for Toothpick) and Snuff, have been included on the World of Death compilation! The collection, which includes over 200 short films from 25 different countries, will be distributed as a DVD and Blu-Ray box set and on VOD in addition to being submitted to various festivals and conventions. On May 31st, a small sample of the WOD films, including mine, screened at the Thrillema in Halifax, Nova Scotia! This also marked my first Atlantic Canada screening! W00t! :D Stay tuned for more WOD-related news and info and, in the meantime, check out the project's social media pages: 
Official website
Facebook 
Twitter

 
Which, of course, brings us to Dys- which I'm happy to report is now 100% completed with a confirmed World Premiere coming up very, very soon! But, that's a whole other topic, which I'll be posting about soon. ;) 

Until then, stay wicked! 
M. xo



 

Awesome writeup about ALL my shorts

Seriously? Theron Neel fucking ROCKS! He told me he was preparing an article about my shorts, but I never expected it to be that extensive, thoughtful and downright amazing!

Go check it out HERE!

(also reposted on Planet Fury)

This man made my day week!

Tons of upcoming screenings!

November will be a busy month for yours truly! I'm excited to announce that, thanks to the wonderful Florence T and her Mascara & Popcorn festival, not only will my dream of bringing the wonderful Viscera shorts to Montreal will come true, but I will also be hosting the night! :D  

In addition to the Viscera goodness, she will also play a few of my older shorts and an excerpt from Bloody Breasts!

Plus, it will be great to finally play in Montreal! 

Here's the breakdown for the Mascara and Popcorn festival:

Nihilism night -- Tuesday, Nov. 17th -- 6PM -- Cabaret Playhouse (5656 Park Avenue) 

Screening of Recessed and Snuff

Viscera night -- Tuesday, Nov. 22nd -- 6PM -- Cabaret Playhouse (5656 Park Avenue) 

Some of my favorite Viscera shorts

Screening of Hollywood Skin and episodes 2 and 3 of Bloody Breasts

Plus, I will be hosting!

In addition to that, Jef Grenier's next A.Normale night will also screen one of my shorts: 

A. Normale vol. VI -- Friday, Nov. 11th -- 8PM -- Café Chaos (2031 St-Denis)

Screening of Hollywood Skin

And... last but not least, I have my screening date for the Texas DOA Bloodbath Film Festival:

Bloodbath Film Festival -- Sat. Nov. 5th -- 5:15PM -- Texas Theatre (231 W. Jefferson Blvd, Dallas, TX)

 Screening of Red

Woo! That's it for now! :)

Many thanks to the wonderful Char Hardin!

I first spoke to Char when she invited me to participate to Horrorphilia's first Girl's Night Out podcast with the Soska twins and Hannah Neurotica. Let me tell you I was immediately charmed by this incredibly kind, fun, and hilarious woman! In just a few minutes, she managed to put me at ease and I almost forgot we were recording a podcast! It was so fun, just like talking with a bunch of girl friends!

This week, she was kind enough to review three of my shorts and it is with great pleasure that I'm sharing these great reviews with you:

SNUFF

RECESSED

HOLLYWOOD SKIN 

...and to make everything even sweeter, we'll be recording episode three of Girl's Night Out podcast this Saturday! Stay tuned as I'll let you know when the episode is online.

In the meantime, check out episode 2!

Big news!

After forcing myself to keep my lips sealed for over a month, I can finally announce it publicly:


The fantabulous Fies sisters will be showing a retrospective of my shorts at the April edition of their monthly Bleedfest festival! 


Yes, you read right, my first-ever retrospective! And this is all happening in L.A. to make things ever sweeter! I will be present for a Q & A after the retrospective which will show six of my twelve shorts, including the festival premiere of THE PORTRAIT.

The event will also present the premiere of I HATE L.A., the anthology project helmed by Elisabeth Fies, which includes my short HOLLYWOOD SKIN.

I will also be launching the first episode of my web-series BLOODY BREASTS during my retrospective! I'm working on a simultaneous fest/online launch, so I'll keep you posted as soon as I have more infos!

And... the retrospective will include a special, exclusive sneak peek at my upcoming short film RED!


It's all so exciting, no? If you can, try to be there! If you live in the area and wanna meet up, by all means shoot me a message and we'll arrange something.  :)

It'll be happening on:

Sunday, April 3rd 2011  

11am-4:00 pm 

CAP Theatre
13752 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

Quirk Films invades Fantasia!

I’m probably breaking a few bloging rules and etiquette by promoting events that are already past, so mea culpa and I promise many in-dept posts about what kept me so busy in a very near future!

But, in the meantime, let me just say that it is with great pleasure that I’m announcing that not one, not two, but THREE of my short films are playing as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival, here in Montreal! This is one of the biggest genre festival in North America (and my favorite!) so I’m psyched that my work is screening there!

First, there is REFLECTION (FRANKENSTEIN UNLIMITED) which screened last Sunday, July 18th at  in the De Sève theatre. Sadly, I had to miss the screening because I was in L.A. promoting HOLLYWOOD SKIN at the Viscera festival (more on this very soon!), but from what I’m been told, there was a good turnout and the film was well received.

Then, SNUFF and HOLLYWOOD SKIN will both be featured as part of the Fantastic Weekend of Québec Shorts which will take place at the Impérial Cinema this coming weekend! The Fantastic Weekend is a special Fantasia event which consists in three days of short film programming that aims to showcase the work of local filmmakers.

SNUFF will screen on Friday, July 23rd at 11:30 PM.

HOLLYWOOD SKIN will screen on Sunday, July 25th at 3:30 PM.

I hope to see you there!

Screening of SNUFF in San Francisco tomorrow night!

A Nightmare To Remember is a short film festival run by the amazing Reyna Young, aka Miss Misery from the Last Doorway Show. This year, festival goers will have a nightmare to remember because SNUFF is part of the official line-up of shorts!  ;)

Saddly, I can't go, but if you're in the area, please do check it out and cheer extra loud for me! 

Check out their nifty flyers for all the info:

P.S.: I've also seen two of the other shorts, DEATH IN CHARGE (which I love, love, love!) and HORROR OF OUR LOVE (which is one of the most refreshing take on the slasher subgenre I've seen in a while) and let me tell you that they're both worth checking out if you have the chance!

It's review week!

Over the weekend I've had the (nerve-wracking) pleasure of receiving three links to reviews of my work. As you may guess, this is both exciting AND terrifying (because let’s face it, no one likes getting negative reviews)! I was relieved to find that I worried for nothing. :)

First off, we got another great review for FRANKENSTEIN UNLIMITED from Cinema Crazed which includes an overall positive response to my segment, REFLECTION:

“Maude Michaud's "Reflection" is Frankenstein tale about the ugliness of the human soul and how vanity can ultimately be our own undoing. Anna is a young disfigured girl who is granted the gift of plastic surgery to correct a scar on her face. But when she achieves true perfection in her own eyes--like that old adage goes--a monster is created. Anna is then forced to sit and watch what havoc she's wrought on the people in her life who stuck by her when she was deformed and face her own self-destruction pondering how her beauty was within, and her ugliness was unleashed once she became a superficial beauty. Michaud's direction is detailed and his is a think piece that works as a dissection of our own views of what is most valuable in our lives even if we lack aesthetic value.”

You can check out the full review by Felix Vasquez Jr. HERE.

Then, Nick Perron over at Micro-Shock reviewed the A.Normale Horror Movie Night from last week (May 22nd), and includes a mention of SNUFF:

“The first was called Snuff, which was by Montreal filmmaker Maude Michaud. Powerful powerful short film. It starts off from the point of view of a Snuff filmmaker stalking his next victim, and in a twist of fate -- has the tables turned on him by his would be victim. Filmed in glorious 8 mm.”

Check out the full text HERE.

And of course, fresh off the press and acting as the cherry on top, Mike Snoonian from All Things Horror features yours truly and reviews my two latest, SNUFF and HOLLYWOOD SKIN, which will both play this week as part of their monthly horror night in Somerville, Massachusetts! And I will be there for a Q&A. :)

This piece is worth checking out in its entirety!

Thanks Mike and everyone else who reviewed my work!

Very special screening of SNUFF and HOLLYWOOD SKIN coming up next week!

Thanks to Mike Snoonian who saw SNUFF and sought me out, my two latest shorts will play at the next monthly All Things Horror screening, in Somerville, near Boston, MA!

It's gonna be a special edition of their monthly event that will spotlight women horror filmmakers and will feature, in addition to the aforementionned shorts, THE COMMUNE (an awesome feature by the totally kick-ass Lis Fies), FANTASY (an amazing short film by fellow Montrealer Izabel Grondin) and GIMME (which I haven't seen yet) by Monica Puller.

And I am delighted to announce that I will be going to the screening, which means, potential Q&A! :D 

In the meantime, check out their kind words on my films:

"Finally, we’re extremely luck to show a pair of short films from Montreal director Maude Michaud (Quirk Films). Her new b/w short Snuff reverses the power dynamics of a standard horror film when a pervy stalker meets his match. Her latest work Hollywood Skin, tells the tragic story of how far a person will go to fit the perception of how a starlet should look."

All Things Horror presents the Women in Horror program

June 2nd, 2010, 7PM - Somerville Theatre, Somerville, MA

 Stay tuned for other exciting news and an real blog post coming very soon!

Upcoming Montreal screening of SNUFF!

Montrealers will be happy to know that my short film SNUFF, which has been relatively successful in the U.S. festival circuit so far, will have it's first Montreal screening since its premiere in November 2009.

Here is more information:

Soirée d'horreur A.normale

May 22nd, 2010 (8PM) - Bar Katacombes, Montréal, Québec

See you there!

Another upcoming screening for SNUFF!

Those of you in the Chicago area will be able to check out my short film SNUFF which will play as part of the Women of Horror 2 film festival organized by Horror Society! 

Women of Horror 2 Film Festival – presented by Horror Society

May 1^st, 2010 – Chicago, Illinois

Needless to say, I’m ecstatic to have my film listed as part of such a great lineup (including two of my favorite female filmmakers, Devi Snively and Katherine Bigelow)! 

That’s it for now, I’ll be back soon with more exciting news!

Quirk update

I’m taking a very short break from filmmaking. Do not panic, I’m not stopping altogether, but rather taking a temporary break from writing/directing/shooting to finish editing projects that should have been done a long time ago (which will result in brand new shorts – YAY!) I’ll also take advantage of this hiatus to submit SNUFF and HOLLYWOOD SKIN to more film festivals, design the official Quirk Films website and create the posters/DVD sleeves for the films – activities that are quite time-consuming, but need to be done (oh if only I could afford a personal assistant!)


Also at the top of my to-do list: my documentary! According to my original plans, it was supposed to be completed by now… which is not at all the reality of things. When I started, little did I know that I would meet amazing and influential people who would help give a boost to my own short films career and that there would be a ‘Women in Horror Month’ along the way! I got sidetracked from the doc, but took an important step toward the future which is and has always been my #1 priority. All this to say that I pondered a lot about the constant evolution of the doc and I’m in the process of reshaping it altogether to make sure it gets maximum visibility and has the possibility to expand. I’m not saying more right now, just stay tuned for updates!

I should announce my next short film project at some point in June. Last fall I fell in love with an idea and I’m currently in the process of making it as good as it can be, if not perfect, and assembling the dream team to work on it. But in order to do it correctly, I need to complete the pending works which are sucking my energy and focus. Hence the hiatus.

Why Lis Fies is awesome...

Check out her nice mention of yours truly on her blog:
Kid Sis in Hollywood

:D

Also,

Here are two blurbs about SNUFF from the Ghouls on Film event that went down last weekend in the U.K.:

"...and then a film that couldn't be more different in tone, Snuff. Snuff, directed by Maude Michaud, uses a super 8 camera to show the making of a snuff movie - but who will kill whom?"

Mention of the film from Flowers of Flesh and Blood

and

"Snuff (directed by Maude Michaud)
The first offering of the day to provoke some real chills, this film gives us a look through the lens of a snuff filmmaker, stalking his next would-be victim – until the tables are turned. A silent film in stark black and white with an oppressive electronic score, aesthetically it brings to mind Darren Aronofsky’s Pi, and in content it clearly embodies the female empowerment theme at the heart of Ghouls On Film."

Review by Ben Bussey from Brutal as Hell: Horror without Mercy

Interview with yours truly!

I was interviewed by Sarah Jahier from Fatally Yours as part of the Women in Horror recognition month!

You can read/check out the interview HERE.

Also, a quick reminder that SNUFF will play this coming Saturday as part of the Women in Horror Film Festival in Athens, Georgia and that HOLLYWOOD SKIN will play the same night as part of the Pretty/Scary Bloodbath Film Festival in Addison, Texas.

:D

Upcoming U.K. and U.S. screenings for SNUFF!

My short film SNUFF will screen as part of the two following events:

Ghouls on Film 

February 20th, 2010 - Birmingham, UK

  Women in Horror Film Festival 

February 27th, 2010 - Athens, GA 

Stay tuned for more upcoming screenings! 

P.S.: Hurray for the Women in Horror month events!