PRLog (Press Release) - Jan 16, 2012 -
VANCOUVER –CANADA— Friday the 13th has come and gone, and though this inauspicious day may have inflicted bad luck on others, it gave nothing but good fortune to the Rio Theatre. There Curio Media, with the assistance of IRL Events, delivered a showing of the 2012 Viscera Film Festival, an eerie extravaganza of short horror films created by female filmmakers. And the results were impressive. Here are the awards for the Vancouver showing of the 2012 Viscera Film Festival.

The festival was hosted by special guest Fiona Forbes of Urban Rush and sponsored by Super Channel and PacBlue Printing, with prominent appearances by two of the talented filmmakers featured in the festival – Karen Lam and Lori Bowen. The films themselves were judged by Bill Hurst, Telefilm Canada Executive, and Rachel Talalay, director of such films as Tank Girl, Ghost in the Machine, and Freddy’s Dead: the Final Nightmare.

Though each of the films at Viscera was a unique and chilling display of its particular artists’ vision, a few of them stood out in particular ways and were acknowledged as follows:

Best Creature – The disquieting zombie-esque figure who haunted Marichelle Daywalt’s “The Many Doors of Albert Whale.”

Best Blood Bath – The blood flowed fast in “Adventure Girls” by Dara Jade Moats, Dan Emery, and Jon Deitcher, a tribute to Japanese splatter films.

Best Cinematography – The juxtaposition of picture-book narration and ghoulish visuals in Helen Komini Olsen’s “Daddy’s Girl.”

Best Film Title – The adorably alliterative “Blood Bunny,” Molly Madfis’s cut-out animated tale of the Easter Bunny’s bloody vengeance.

Best Performance (Male) – David Lewis, whose serial killer suffered a very bad day in Karen Lam’s “Doll Parts.”

Best Performance (Female) – Victoria Winge, who starred as the sweet, naïve young murderess in Helen Komini Olsen’s “Daddy’s Girl.”

Best Screenplay – Emily Carmichael’s “The Ghost and Us,” a comedic exploration of a time when dead love just wouldn’t stay dead.

Best Director – Nikki Wall for “Box,” the story of a pregnancy delivered from a dark source and the horrifying abortion that resulted from it.

Honorable mention was given to Briony Kidd for “The Room at the Top of the Stairs,” where a young artist moved into a new house and becomes obsessed with the strange young woman who used to rent her room.

And last, but certainly not least….

Best Film – Laura Whyte’s “Nursery Crimes,” a mixed-media animated short about the crimes an insane Bo Peep committed against the inhabitants of the Land of Mother Goose, all told through charming rhyme.

Honorable mention was given to Mae Catt’s “12/15/1996,” where two serial killers worked-out their emotional issues in their own darkly dysfunctional fashion.

As that night’s event proved, the bar has been raised for indie films, and women filmmakers deserve a place at the horror genre’s bloodstained table as much as their male counterparts do. The female mind often has a freshly different perspective from the male one, but a perspective no less open to tales of terror. The horror genre deserves new blood and new ideals, provided by new voices with new visions.  Such blood was amply demonstrated on Friday the 13th, with Viscera’s truly “visceral”extravaganza.

About Viscera Film Festival
Viscera is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization committed to expanding opportunities for contemporary female horror filmmakers and educating the public by raising awareness of the changing roles for women in the film industry. http://www.viscerafilmfestival.com.

About Curio Media
Curio Media is a digital media and entertainment company that promotes and distributes carefully curated film, television, art and web series created by female filmmakers and artists focusing primarily on horror, sci-fi, and dark fantasy genres. http://www.curio-media.com.

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For more information about this event, such as press materials or to request an interview, contact AdaPia d’Errico of Curio Media at adapia@curio-media.com.

Curio Media is a digital media and entertainment company that promotes and distributes carefully curated film, television, art and web series created by female filmmakers and artists focusing primarily on horror, sci-fi, and dark fantasy genres.