10th MidWest WeirdFest Awards – ‘Variations On Violence’ Wins Best Film

Variations on Violence from Zachary Nicols captured the prestigious Best Film award at the 10th annual MidWest WeirdFest in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

The feature debut from Zachary Nicols, sculptor and once collaborator with the late David Lynch, is drawn from interviews with real U.S. military drone pilots living with PTSD.

“I’m honored that Variations On Violence received the Best Film award,” says Nichols. “MidWest WeirdFest brought together an audience genuinely open to strange, challenging cinema and created a rare space where films like this really shine. Seeing the film connect with that audience was deeply rewarding.”

This year, MidWest WeirdFest introduced a new feature award category, Best of the MidWest, which went to Tim Connery’s horror anthology feature The Driftless.

The fest’s Palmer d’Or Award was awarded to Thomas Eliot for his feature debut, The Philip Experiment. Inspired by a parapsychology experiment from 1972, this found footage gem blurs the lines between real paranormal history and edge-of-your-seat terror. MidWest WeirdFest instituted the Palmer d’Or award in 2023 to honor the memory of Wisconsin sci-fi and Fortean pioneer, Raymond A. Palmer, and to recognize excellence in the field today.

Best Director went to Nick Funess’ The Hedonist, starring Funess as the film’s titular character, a young man who hires an escort to take care of him for a week, following his work-related meltdown.

Best Documentary was awarded to Elijah Sullivan’s The Hole Story, following a deep and unsettling mystery on California’s Mount Shasta, where fringe beliefs and criminality intersect.

Best International Film was awarded to the Romanian found-footage film, We Put the World to Sleep, directed by Adrian Țofei (Be My Cat: A Film for Anne), and produced by Țofei and Duru Yücel. The film also stars this real-life married couple, playing themselves in a reality-bending sci-fi, part chilling horror, part domestic drama.

Best Horror Film was awarded to writer/director/producer Alex Cherney’s The Mid-night Driver, Best Sci-Fi Film was awarded to Personhood, from writer/director/producer Richard Jordan, and Incubation from fest alumni Joshua Land and Victor Fink was awarded Best Thriller Film.

Peeping Todd, from writer/director Josh Munds, producers Alexander Jeffery and Melissa Munds, and writer Chris Alan Evans, captured the fest’s Best Comedy Film award, and Best Horror Comedy was awarded to The Demonatrix from Aurelio Voltaire and Jeff Ferrell.

MidWest WeirdFest’s Independent Spirit Award was won by the indie thriller Waking State from writer/director Andrew Salerno.

Best Actor was awarded to Max E. Williams for his intense portrayal of Doug Clark, one-half of a real-life, serial-killer couple, in Chad Ferrin’s Sunset Strip Killers, and Susan Prior took Best Actress for her terrifying yet sympathetic portrayal of “Carol Bundy”, the other member of that film’s notorious duo.

Horror legend Doug Bradley (Hellraiser, Nightbreed) won Best Supporting Actor for his role as a demonologist in The Demonatrix, and Rosie McDonald’s portrayal of a missing sister, in Zeshaan Younus’ I’ve Seen All I Need to See, won Best Supporting Actress.

Best Short Film was awarded to Mary and Veronica Pomilla’s Kristen, and Best Director – Short Film went to Virginia de Witt for her lo-fi sc-fi short E.D.G.A.R: Enhanced Data Gathering Analysis Robot.

The Girl in the Street from Miles August and Chris Paicely, won Best of the MidWest short, Best Short Documentary short was won by Sympathetic Fluids from Matthew Pagoaga, Damsel in Geekstress from French writer/director Renaud Parra, took Best International Short, Steven Schloss’s Gimme was awarded Best Horror Short, Carter Amelia Davis’ Homemade Gatorade captured Best Animated Short, and Methuselah from Nathan Sellers, won Best Experimental Film.

While Hivemind Deluxe, an alien abduction film from Chris Alan Evans, who also co-wrote and starred in this year’s “Best Comedy Film” Peeping Todd, won Best Sci-Fi Short.

Best Fantasy Film was awarded to Margaret the Brave, from director Danny Chandia and producer Rachel Johnson, Alex Geffen, and Cass Huckabay’s Clean Slate won Best Thriller Short, Status: Active from Bob Morley won Best Comedy Short, and Blossom Needs a Ride Home, from Eau Claire’s own Tim Schwagel, was awarded Best Horror Comedy Short.

3 To Die, from Mitch Yapko and Allen Rueckert, won Best TV/New Media, and Best Music Video went to the powerful and catchy Phantasmagoria, from filmmaker and recording artist Anthony Ruptak (co-directed with Cole Naylor).

Best Actor – Short Film was awarded to Caleb Fullen for his performance in Wenzler Powers’ Drink Up, and Gabriela Lopez won Best Actress – Short Film for her performance in the experimental horror short Sovereign. The film was also written, directed, and produced by Lopez.

MidWest WeirdFest also hosts both a feature and a short screenplay competition.

The winning feature screenplay Devil’s Disciple: The Night Stalker was written by Chad Ferrin, Eric Silvera and Sean Kenealy’s Reject took the 1st Runner-up spot, and 2nd Runner-up was awarded to Ryan Jackson for his screenplay Night Games.

The short screenplay competition went to Phil Bucci for The Stain, with 1st Runner-up going to Eye of the Beholder, written by Aidan Jones, and 2nd Kevin Hosey’s Death Imminent was awarded 2nd Runner-up.