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



 

HOLLYWOOD SKIN in Tokyo!

Yes, yes, you read right! (and yes, I'm still pinching myself!) Hollywood Skin will be playing in Tokyo, Japan as part of the ScreamQueen Film Fest!

The film is part of Program B - scheduled for Sunday October 27th at the Uplink Factory - and the program also includes two of my favorite shorts of recent years, Karen Lam's The Meeting and Doug Mallette's Beautiful As You Are. Needless to say, I wish I could go!!!

I am beyond thrilled and honoured to be included in such a rad festival in the country with the cinematic history that had the biggest influence on me and my work. Many thanks to the Viscera Film Festival Tour Department who helped make this possible and to the amazing Mai Nakanishi who organized the event!

Check out the film if you can and give this kickass event some love!

Here's the Facebook page and the FB event. :)

P.S.: Yes, I'm totally fangirl-geeking out about seeing the film description in Japanese.

A few thoughts on HOLLYWOOD SKIN, WiHM, feminism and horror movies

First off, HAPPY WOMEN IN HORROR MONTH everyone!

As I’m slowly settling back into my old routine (and waiting for hours of footage to be transcoded so I can start editing Dys-), I’m taking some time to reflect on the past few years and how they’ve had an influence on who I am as a person and what I do. 

When I first thought of the idea for what would become the Bloody Breasts documentary webseries, I didn’t see myself as being political or feminist; I was simply making the films I wanted to make. However, I was fascinated by the work of women horror filmmakers and I did want to fight for equality and for women to have more recognition, especially in the film industry. Yet, this negative, “anti-women and demeaning” stigma seemed to be the only thing people would focus on when talking about the horror genre – case in point, a classmate once told me that I was the embodiment of everything was wrong with women today because I was making horror movies. This is in part why I began my project: I really wanted to show how empowering horror could be for women filmmakers and how the horror genre was a valid medium to tackle important issues. And of course I also wanted to help straighten up misconceptions about gender and horror so that no other woman would be told she was “wrong” (by other feminists’ standards) for doing something that is (in)directly helping empower other women. 

See, there are different kinds and degrees of feminism that are as varied and unique as there are feminists. For some, the basic idea of gender equality is the essence of feminism; for others, someone needs to have a clear political agenda and dabble in activism in order to call herself a feminist. This is really a question of perception and I’m not there to say who’s right and who’s wrong; I wrote an entire thesis on the topic and I know it’s easy to get lost in these muddy waters. What I feel is important in the end is the result: are women empowered and/or is it helping women in general. If one of the answers is yes, I think this is pretty fucking awesome.  

I, myself, involuntarily made a feminist horror film. I say ‘involuntarily’ because I was not consciously trying to make a feminist film (according to the aforementioned description); I simply wanted to tackle a topic that was important for me as a woman. Now, if we fast forward three years after its first screening – Hollywood Skin premiered during the first ever Women in Horror Month – it has played in over 20 festivals around the world. Even if I sometimes wish people would give the same kind of attention to my most recent projects, I’m still extremely proud of this project because I know it has helped women. You have no idea how many women (and men!) came up to talk to me after screenings, thanking me for making the film and telling how touched they were by it. Not only did I feel empowered making the film, the film itself also helped other women in general and that, for me, is the best reason to be making movies. It’s one thing to make; it’s another to make art that resonates with people.

Of course, I could not have reached that big of an audience if it wasn’t for the first Womenin Horror Recognition Month which was created in 2010 to help promote women working in the horror industry and to shed some light on the idea of feminism being closely linked to horror. (After all, which other genre allows you to tackle virtually any theme you want in a way that will reach audiences and trigger a visceral reaction?) Not only did it help promote the film in parts of the world I would have never dreamed of, it also helped me feel like I was part of a community that welcomed me with open arms.  

Is the Women in Horror Recognition Month important? Abso-fucking-lutely! Why? Because it helps women around the globe, whether they’re filmmakers, writers, visual artists, etc, get their work out there and, most importantly, it helps inspire other women to pick up a camera/pen/whatever and to start creating/expressing their ideas. And it’s not just about women, it’s about gender equality. It’s about telling the guys “hey, we exist and we want to work with you”, NOT we want to push you aside. If one day we don’t need to have a WiHM anymore, great, that will be an awesome world to live in. But, that is not yet the case, so let’s keep supporting one another and inspire more women to take an active role in the industry. 

This is the 4^th year in a row that there is a WiHM and it is no coincidence that it is picking up steam every year with more events and more discovered filmmakers; it’s confirming that it is achieving its goal and filling a void. Long live WiHM! 

P.S.: Of course, even more wonderful things can be said about the Viscera Organization/Viscera Film Festival, which also is the genesis of the women in horror movement (and the reason I came up with the idea for my thesis). But, since it's February, I wanted to give some love to WiHM, which now operates as part of the Viscera org. It's all part of the same big, happy family anyway!

HOLLYWOOD SKIN in Philly!

Yup, it's that time of the year again (WiHM) and I'm delighted to announce that Hollywood Skin will be playing as part of the Philly Loves Women in Horror event! Massive thanks to Ashlee Blackwell for programming the short!

The event is taking place this coming Thursday, February 7th, at 7:30pm at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut street, Philadelphia). All donation will go to the Lil' Filmmaker organization, a non-profit media and performing arts organization for youth and teens. 



So, you can do two good deeds at once by encouraging women horror filmmakers AND donating to an organization that directly helps teens.

Spread the word!

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!

Hollywood Skin in Dublin!

Thanks to the amazing ladies behind the Viscera Tour, Hollywood Skin will be playing in Dublin on May 17th!

Here's the Facebook for the event.

I'm so excited! :D

Upcoming screenings!!!

Or how I wish I could clone myself to be at three different places during the same weekend!


So, it looks like Feb. 25th-26th will be a very busy weekend! Here's why:

HOLLYWOOD SKIN is part of the Stiletto Film Festival selection and will screen on Sat. Feb. 25th in Boston, MA - more info here


RED and T IS FOR TOOTHPICK will have their Scotland premiere as part of the Jennifer's Bodies Film Festival (an official Women in Horror month event) on Sunday, Feb. 26th at the University of Dundee, Dundee, U.K.  - more info here

And last but not least,

RED will finally have it's premiere here, in Montreal, during the RVCQ (Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois) on Sat. Feb. 25th - more info here


I wish I could attend all three events, but alas, teleportation is yet a possibility. Unless anyone has a few trick up its sleeve?

If you can make it to any of those screenings, please do and let me know how it went! :)

P.S.: Mea culpa as I forgot to mention that HOLLYWOOD SKIN also played on Feb. 4th as part of the Viscera Tour during its special presentation at Penn State University and during Bad Granny's Bazaar in Oklahoma City on Jan. 26th.  Mega huge thank you to Heidi Martinuzzi and Shannon Lark! :)

I need your VOTE!

Some of you might already know, but I entered the ABCs of Death 26th Filmmaker contest. The concept is simple, I had to shoot a 4-minutes short featuring a death caused by something that begins with the letter 'T'. All the shorts were then uploaded on the website where people vote for their favorites and the winner will be featured in the anthology project!

The contest end on October 31st, so if you haven't done, please vote! :)

Here's the link to VOTE and here's the video:



In other news, tomorrow night, HOLLYWOOD SKIN will play as part of the Viscera lineup at the Ann Arbor Horror Film Festival. For more info, click here.  Thanks Shannon, Heidi and everyone at Viscera! :D

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!

Upcoming Montreal screening!

Hey folks,

In exactly two weeks, two of my shorts will play as part of the Mascara and Popcorn Film Festival!

On Wednesday, July 6th, 7PM at Mainline Theatre, the following two shorts will play along with 23 other local short films: 

Yes, for those who are curious to know what my work was like before I turned to horror, here is one of the rare chances to see COMPLEX MODEL, a quirky tale about unconventional relationships I shot in 2006!

25 shorts films for $5! Don't miss it!

It's all happening at:

Mainline Theatre

3997, boul Saint-Laurent (c. Duluth)

See website for more info! Hope to see you there! :)

For those who understand French...

Here's a write-up of the Festival des Maudits Films de Grenoble where I went in January to present a program of short horror films directed by women!

The reviewer mentions HOLLYWOOD SKIN:

"La deuxième sélection était consacrée à la scène horrifique féminine québécoise. Qualitativement au-dessus de la première sélection, nous avons pu découvrir HOLLYWOOD SKIN de Maude Michaud, un très beau film sur la folie d'une femme qui veut à tout pri x mincir pour pouvoir réussir des auditions en tant qu'actrice."

Read the full article here. 

Merci Alexandre Thevenot et Sueurs Froides.fr! :)

I HATE L.A. movie update

As the premiere of I HATE L.A. (which includes HOLLYWOOD SKIN) draws closer, the official trailer is now available online and we have a first write-up by Big Daddy Horror Reviews!

Here's the trailer:

Don't forget to come check it out (along with a retrospective of my horror shorts!) next Sunday, April 3rd 2011 at the Bleedfest Festival in L.A.!

...and the love just keeps coming!

This time it's from the lovely Jennifer Cooper in the UK! :)

She kindly included HOLLYWOOD SKIN as part of the WiH event Jennifer's Bodies AND she just interviewed yours truly for her blog.

Check it out here!

Also, speaking of:

 

The new website for I HATE L.A., the anthology project it was made for, is now up and running! :) 

http://ihatelamovie.com/

If you're in or around L.A. on April 3rd, make sure to check out the premiere and come say 'hi' to me!

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

Because everyone loves to see a pretty woman butcher herself...

I am pleased to announce that HOLLYWOOD SKIN continues its successful festival circuit! 

Thanks to the Viscera Festival and the amazing Shannon Lark and Heidi Martinuzzi (I love you, ladies!), HOLLYWOOD SKIN was screened as part of a special Viscera showcase during the following past events (which I sadly forgot to mention, mea culpa!):

- The 2010 Sacramento Sci-Fi/Horror Show (during the Sci-Fi/Horror Film Festival portion of the convention) on September 25th 2010

- A special screening of the winners from the Viscera Film Festival in Athens, GA in honor of Women in Horror Month on February 5th 2011

- I'd also like to give a big shout-out to the fabulous Jennifer Cooper who gave HOLLYWOOD SKIN its Scotland premiere as part of her WiH month event Jennifer's Bodies on February 28th 2011. Also, a HUGE thank you to Lis Fies for helping to make this possible! You both rock!

Coming up: 

- HOLLYWOOD SKIN will be screened on March 12th 2011 at the Plea for Peace Center. Again, thank you Shannon and Viscera!

and

- Thanks to the wonderful Heidi Martinuzzi, my short will also be screened at the California State University in Northridge as part of a Feminist Horror Film Festival hosted by the Women's Research and Resource Center on March 28th!

If you can, be there to the screenings and stay tuned for another BIG screening announcement coming very soon!

It's that wonderful time of the year again...

...and thanks to all the wonderful women involved in the cause, it promises to be even bigger this year! 

As you might guess, this makes me extremely happy, but what gets me even MORE ecstatic is the fact that the lovely Soska twins (fellow Canuks, YAY!) over at Twisted Twins Productions asked me to participate in their massive blood drive PSA in honor of the Women in Horror month! 

It is truly an honor to be featured in such a fun video starring some of the coolest ladies of horror I've had the pleasure of meeting for such an awesome cause! Not only am I in it, but you can also see excerpts from my short HOLLYWOOD SKIN and from the upcoming RED! If you haven't seen it yet, make sure to check it out (you'll even understand where my pic comes from!):

 

Also, I kept my lips sealed, but now that the Women in Horror Month is here, you can expect a lot of fun updates and big announcements throughout February! Woohoo! Yes, I'm a bloody tease, but the month is only beginning ladies and gents!

Until next time, bleed for me, bleed for all the women actively working in horror and bleed for everyone who needs it! There can never be too many blood donations, so take an hour of your life to help someone in need!

Bloody kisses,

M.

Public apology

Earlier this year, I released a short film titled HOLLYWOOD SKIN that has been quite successful critically and on the festival circuit.

However, it has just been brought to my attention that I omitted to include in the end credit that it was developed and made as part of the I HATE L.A. anthology project. This project was started by my friend Elisabeth Fies in order to showcase the work of female genre filmmakers by challenging us to come up with a short film depicting a negative aspect of life in L.A.  You can learn more about the project on the official website. 

I apologize for this omission and for any inconvenience it might have caused. The correction will be made on future screener copies, so please, if you plan to talk about or review the film, I would appreciate your collaboration in appropriately contextualizing the short.

Thank you for your attention!

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!

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!