Fundraiser night for my first feature!

As some of you already know, the next BIG project I'm tackling is my first feature film for which production will began in 2012. Awesome, no?

But, just like with any massive project, funding is essential. This is why the Mascara & Popcorn will festival graciously offered me a fundraiser night, which will be this coming Sunday, Nov. 20th at the Centre St-Ambroise (yes, the McAuslan brewery, so see nice beer! Now you can't say I'm inconsiderate!)

Centre St-Ambroise: 5080 St-Ambroise (corner St-Rémi), Montreal

During the evening, a retrospective of selected shorts will play and people, let me tell you, I had fun picking the shorts! Let's just say that for those who were intrigued by my non-horror work, it'll be a good occasion to check them out! 

Here's the schedule:
COMPLEX MODEL – 12 minutes
J'TE VEUX, MOI NON PLUS – 8 minutes
ELIZABETH – 4 minutes 
THE PORTRAIT – 10 minutes 
SNUFF – 4 minutes
REFLECTION – 12 minutes
Two surprise shorts including a very special cast&crew premiere! *hint, hint*
Q&A

Tickets are $5 and all proceeds will go to the production.  Doors open at 6PM, showtime is 6:30PM, so be there on time!

DVD compilations of my work will also be available for those wanting to donate a little extra.

And here's the Facebook event! :) See you there!

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! :)

RED in Puerto Rico!

The schedule is finally up! RED will be part of the Vamps, Zombs, and Beasts short program of the Puerto Rico Horror Film Festival!

The program will screen twice: on Friday Oct. 21st at 4:30PM and on Sunday Oct. 23rd at 9:30PM. You can check the full schedule HERE! :)

Check out the film's festival page!

The love for RED keeps coming!

It took a while to get the short off the ground, but it seems that RED is finally spreading its wings!

This week, I've had the pleasure to read another great review from Jude Felton over at The Lair of Filth, you can check it out HERE!

John Ginder from Horrorphilia also had really kind things to say about RED and yours truly, check it out HERE! 

I also just got the confirmation that RED will have its world premiere as part of the Puerto Rico Horror Film Festival! The exact date is still TBA, but in the meantime check out their super rad TV ad:

And, last but not least, RED will then play the third edition of the DOA Blood Bath Film Festival in Dallas, TX which is happening on November 5th and 6th at the Dallas Theatre!

I < 3 All Things Horror!

Chis Hallock and Mike Snoonian from All Things Horror are just downright amazing! Why, you ask? Not only are they organizing a super-awesome weekend of Viscera screenings this coming weekend, featuring the integral of the BLOODY BREASTS episodes released so far + most of my shorts, they just published the first RED review and it's several degrees of amazing!

Check out the review here! 

Check out the info for the Viscera event here! 

And yes, you guessed it, yours truly will be driving down for a Q&A. Come check it out if you're anywhere near Somerville, MA! :)

Favorite short films (Inspirational Fridays)

I tried the whole Follow Friday thing on Twitter and I get how great it is to gain new followers, but wouldn’t it be more exciting to actually know more about those people? To have more than just names you can click? As artists, we are constantly inspired by other works. I believe these inspirations should be shared with the rest of the world, so other people can discover them as well. This is why I’m starting this new blogging challenge: Inspirational Fridays. 

Every Friday, I’ll write about someone, something or films I find inspiring. Since I’ve mostly made shorts so far, what better way to start than:

Favorite (recent) short films

I tried my best to narrow down the selection, but even getting it down to 10 proved quite hard! Please note that most of these were made/released in the past 10-15 years because that's as far back as my brain can think right now. (I only included links when they were provided by the filmmakers themselves) 

Here they are:

10. When Sally Met Frank - Victoria Waghorn, 2007 

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwjDcCzYkeM)

Yes, I have an obsessive fascination with plastic surgery, so this film is right up my alley! I can’t say more, except watch it if you think you can stomach it! Definitely one of the highlights from the Viscera film fest! 

9. Laundromat - Drew Daywalt, 2010

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsHOLZxzN0E)

This one is everything a horror short should be: short & sweet with a nice ‘bang’ at the end.  

8. Fantasme/Fantasy - Izabel Grondin, 2009 

What can I say about Fantasy except that I found it exceptionally unsettling the first time I watched it; it is unarguably Izabel Grondin’s finest film and still makes me uncomfortable every time I watch it. You can read the review I wrote here. Available on the Viscera film festival DVD.

7. Wretched - Leslie Delano, 2007

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSKFk25PFM)

This film hits home in many different ways; I think it's the most personal of all my choices. I love the approach of the subject matter and there are some brave directorial choices in there. Just enough dark humour to balance things out.

6. La Dernière Voix/City Without Windows - Julien Fondrede & Karim Hussain, 2001

Beautiful, poetic, haunting... and one of the most interesting aesthetic I've seen. Sadly, people don't make short films like this anymore.  I don't know if it's been officially released, but you can find it floating somewhere...

5. Lipstick - Stacy Ponder & Shannon Lark, 2009

It takes real guts to tackle the theme of chronic masturbation seriously. Especially that of a female chronic masturbator. Ponder and Lark achieve this perfectly by offering a film that is nasty, twisted, unsettling, and totally great. Plus anyone who goes so far as to create what I call the 'cheese-grater dildo' scores major extra points.

4. God's Little Girl - Mitch Davis, 2006

There is something about this film... I still can't quite put my finger on it. Is it the haunting narration? Is it the main character's logic which somehow makes total sense? Is it the unexpected turn of the story? The stunning visuals?  Probably all of the above.  It makes me sad that Mitch Davis hasn't made another film since as it would have been really interesting to see what a feature from him would have been like. 

3. Side Effect - Liz Adams, 2009

Two words: GUILTY. PLEASURE. The ending makes it win the Audience Choice Award pretty much everywhere it plays. Don't let anyone spoil it for you and try to hunt it down to see it for yourself!

2. Beautiful As You Are - Doug Mallette, 2009

(http://vimeo.com/27461061)

This is a true little gem. You know, the kind of film that makes you say 'I wish I made that film'? Well, there you have it. The simple, yet creative story totally blew me away when I first saw it. Oh and I just LOVE the ending. Highly recommended.

1. Cutting Moments - Douglas Buck, 1997 

If you like your entertainment light, funny and enjoyable, I urge you, stay away from this film.  If, like me, you like it painful and raw, this is the film for you. It is quite simply a brilliant piece of cinema. I’m trying to write more about it, but I’m still speechless. This is a film that forever changed me, and if I was given the choice, I would watch it again for the first time. But be warned, this is NOT for everyone. I simply can’t think of any other film that would have a stronger impact on me and, as far as short films go, it’s pretty hard to surpass. Definitely a masterpiece, IMHO.  Available on the Family Portrait: A Trilogy of America DVD.

Honorable mention: Tous les hommes s'appellent Robert - Marc-Henri Boulier, 2010 which is currently touring the festival circuit.