The 5th edition of Stranger With My Face International Film Festival wrapped up in Tasmania, Australia over the weekend, and the prize for Best Feature Film for Stranger With My Face 2017 was awarded to The Book of Birdie directed by Elizabeth E. Schuch (UK). The feature film award was voted on by the festival committee, who called The Book of Birdie “a highly original film, visually rich and with an unusual blend of tragic and comedic elements.”
“Thanks so much for having us at the festival and to these amazing filmmakers and audiences!” said Elizabeth E. Schuch, accepting the award amongst other women directors who were invited to be part of the Attic Lab program within the festival this year. “It’s been an inspiring week.”
Best Short Film for Stranger With My Face 2017 was awarded to The Man Who Caught a Mermaid, written and directed by Kaitlin Tinker (Australia).
The judges deemed Slapper (dir Luci Schroeder, Australia) as the runner-up, and also made special mention of the film Mouse (dir: Celine Held and Logan George, USA).
Also announced was the winner of the Lia Award, an annual award recognizing an influential and/or innovative figure in the field of genre storytelling.
The 2017 Lia goes to this year’s guest retrospective filmmaker, Gaylene Preston, for her off-beat contributions with Mr Wrong (1984) and Perfect Strangers (2003). These films, already approaching ‘cult’ status, will undoubtedly grow in reputation as time goes on. Both are examinations of gender-based tropes around romance, love and female identity. Preston uses the form of the thriller to challenge and deconstruct the role of women in society. Entertaining, original and bold, they represent exactly the kind of filmmaking Stranger With My Face most seeks to celebrate.
The festival also pays tribute to Preston for her ongoing efforts to advance the cause of gender equality in the film industry, and for her support of emerging filmmakers over her long career.
Preston, in turn, paid tribute to Stranger With My Face.
“What an invigorating discussion in the Hobart incubator. Grateful thanks to Briony Kidd and the festival for my Lia Award. She will take her place on the piano reminding me of my wild side.”
Stranger With My Face is named after one of Lois Duncan’s most popular young adult novels, published in 1986. And the character of Lia – the ‘evil twin’ of that story – is the inspiration for this Lia Award. Lia represents the shadow self, the dark and mysterious side of life.
This year’s trophies were designed by Bryony Geeves.Stranger With My Face International Film Festival
Stranger With My Face International Film Festival is based in Hobart, Tasmania. Deriving its name from the young adult novel by Lois Duncan, it explores the idea of ‘the horror within’ and promotes discussion around genre and gender, from ghost stories to gore, from art house to exploitation. SWMF has a focus on female directors working in horror and related genres and aims to highlight bold new work by independent filmmakers.
Stranger With My Face International Film Festival started in 2012 and takes place in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
-
THE BOOK OF BIRDIE and THE MAN WHO CAUGHT A MERMAID Win Top Awards at Stranger With My Face Film Festival
The 5th edition of Stranger With My Face International Film Festival wrapped up in Tasmania, Australia over the weekend, and the prize for Best Feature Film for Stranger With My Face 2017 was awarded to The Book of Birdie directed by Elizabeth E. Schuch (UK). The feature film award was voted on by the festival committee, who called The Book of Birdie “a highly original film, visually rich and with an unusual blend of tragic and comedic elements.”
“Thanks so much for having us at the festival and to these amazing filmmakers and audiences!” said Elizabeth E. Schuch, accepting the award amongst other women directors who were invited to be part of the Attic Lab program within the festival this year. “It’s been an inspiring week.”
Best Short Film for Stranger With My Face 2017 was awarded to The Man Who Caught a Mermaid, written and directed by Kaitlin Tinker (Australia).
The judges deemed Slapper (dir Luci Schroeder, Australia) as the runner-up, and also made special mention of the film Mouse (dir: Celine Held and Logan George, USA).
Also announced was the winner of the Lia Award, an annual award recognizing an influential and/or innovative figure in the field of genre storytelling.
The 2017 Lia goes to this year’s guest retrospective filmmaker, Gaylene Preston, for her off-beat contributions with Mr Wrong (1984) and Perfect Strangers (2003). These films, already approaching ‘cult’ status, will undoubtedly grow in reputation as time goes on. Both are examinations of gender-based tropes around romance, love and female identity. Preston uses the form of the thriller to challenge and deconstruct the role of women in society. Entertaining, original and bold, they represent exactly the kind of filmmaking Stranger With My Face most seeks to celebrate.
The festival also pays tribute to Preston for her ongoing efforts to advance the cause of gender equality in the film industry, and for her support of emerging filmmakers over her long career.
Preston, in turn, paid tribute to Stranger With My Face.
“What an invigorating discussion in the Hobart incubator. Grateful thanks to Briony Kidd and the festival for my Lia Award. She will take her place on the piano reminding me of my wild side.”
Stranger With My Face is named after one of Lois Duncan’s most popular young adult novels, published in 1986. And the character of Lia – the ‘evil twin’ of that story – is the inspiration for this Lia Award. Lia represents the shadow self, the dark and mysterious side of life.
This year’s trophies were designed by Bryony Geeves.
-
Stranger With My Face Announces Attic Lab Filmmakers for 2017
The 5th edition of Stranger With My Face International Film Festival begins in Tasmania, Australia this week and includes the return of The Attic Lab.
An intensive mentoring program for women genre filmmakers, the lab is run by the festival in collaboration with guest mentors.
This year the three mentors are celebrated New Zealand filmmaker Gaylene Preston (Perfect Strangers, Mr Wrong), producer/director and screenwriter Roxanne Benjamin (XX, V/H/S, The Devil’s Candy), in person; and cinematographer Sandi Sissel ASC (The People Under the Stairs).
Featuring eleven filmmakers with a proven track record and interest in genre, the lab is designed for filmmakers developing feature length projects. It takes its name from the archetype of the ‘Madwoman in the Attic’, suggesting a place where violent and disruptive female impulses are hidden away, and yet grow more powerful.
The Attic Lab 2017 projects are:
Slammer Savages ~ horror ~ pitched by writer/director Caitlin Koller (Vic)
In pandemic-stricken Australia, an ex-soldier must escape prison or face being eaten by her cannibal cellmates.
Hidden Valley ~ thriller ~ pitched by writer/director Megan Riakos (NSW)
To celebrate turning 50 Addie plans a hike with her two best friends. But when her abusive ex-husband follows her, threatening her life and that of her friends, Addie must confront her fears.
Lost Gully Road ~ supernatural thriller ~ pitched by writer/director Donna McRae (Vic)
Lucy travels to a secluded cottage in the forest to wait for her sister, but somebody else may already be there.
Morgana ~ documentary ~ pitched by co-director/writer Isabel Peppard (Vic)
A lonely house-wife’s plan to commit suicide takes an unexpected turn when her last hurrah begins a radical journey of sexual exploration and personal re-invention.
Siti Rubiyah ~ supernatural horror ~ pitched by writer/director Katrina Irawati Graham (Qld)
To slay the tiger without we must first embrace the tiger within.
Dark Half ~ supernatural horror ~ pitched by writer/producer Marisa Brown (Vic)
When troubled young Thai-Australian woman realises that the haunting visions she’s been experiencing her whole life might be tied to a cursed twin sister she never knew existed, she embarks on a journey to Thailand bent on discovering the truth behind her own dark heritage.
Westermarck Effect ~ dark arthouse drama pitched by writer/director Saara Lamberg (Vic/Finland)
There is nothing like the love between a mother and a son. Sally gave Sam up for adoption 20 years ago. When they meet again, the pair fall in love with devastating consequences.
Proxy ~ drama/horror pitched by writer/director Kaitlin Tinker (WA)Proxy
Logline: An exotic dancer forces her male driver to physically assume a female identity in the wake of a violent incident.
Wet Girls ~ supernatural/horror/romance/comedy – pitched by writer Sonja Hammer (Vic/NZ)
The tide is up when Mer Girl meets Yabbie Girl! It’s a fishy tale about a love that is oceans apart.
Sightlines ~ thriller/black comedy pitched by co-writer/director Elizabeth E. Schuch (UK)
A series of accidents cripple a traveling circus struggling to stay afloat, forcing an overworked wardrobe girl to unravel the web of suspicions to discover the culprit. Expect surreal visuals and ridiculously flexible performers in a behind-the-curtain blur of death and sequins.
The Motel at the End of the World ~ psycho-biddy thriller ~ pitched by co-writer/producer Catherine Pettman (Tas)
A mother and daughter running a motel in post-apocalyptic suburbia are each other’s fiercest ally, until the arrival of a disturbed solider turns their relationship deadly.
The Attic Lab filmmakers will work privately with the mentors, culminating in a public pitch session that’s open to the public and to members of the film industry.
The Attic Lab Pitch takes place on Friday 5 May 2017 at 5.00pm in the Founders Room, Salamanca Arts Centre, followed by networking drinks.
-
Stranger With My Face International Film Festival Releases Poster and More Program Highlights
[caption id="attachment_16261" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
DEAREST SISTER[/caption]
The fifth edition of Stranger With My Face International Film Festival will take place in Hobart from May 4 to 7, 2017. Stranger With My Face focuses on women’s perspectives in genre filmmaking with an emphasis on horror and related genres.
The 2017 program includes the Australian premiere of Elizabeth E. Schuch’s debut film THE BOOK OF BIRDIE. Schuch is a London-based director and producer specializing in creative visuals and has contributed to many films, TV, and theatre productions in the art department as a production designer, matte painter or storyboard and concept artist (including Wonder Woman and Pacific Rim:Uprising).
“It’s a visually stunning piece, with a fascinating intensity and sense of its own style,” says Festival Director Briony Kidd. “I’ve no doubt Elizabeth is a filmmaker to watch.”
The film tells the story of a fragile teenage girl who’s placed in a gloomy convent to be looked after by nuns. Will her unusual obsessions become a mark of sainthood or a dark heresy?
The director says: “I’m absolutely thrilled to bring the mad, mystical world of The Book of Birdie to meet the perfect genre audience in Tasmania, and to meet the other filmmakers passionate about telling strange dark tales with a female eye.”
Also screening at Stranger With My Face 2017:
The Australian feature film INNUENDO, directed by Saara Lamberg, in a micro-budget spotlight;
The Laos feature film DEAREST SISTER, a ghost story with powerful social resonances from SWMF favorite Mattie Do;
And a line-up of short films including:
Blood Sisters (Australia, dirs. Caitlin Koller & Lachlan Smith)
Doll (Australia, director Jia He)
The Man Who Caught a Mermaid (Australia, director Kaitlin Tinker)
What Happened to Her (USA, Kristy Guevara-Flanagan)
Pendulum (UK, Lauren Cooney)
Gardening at Night (USA, Shayna Connelly)
Slapper (Australia, Luci Schroder)
And the following one-hour talks make up this year’s Mary Shelley Symposium:
Print-maker Jazmina Cininas talking about her ‘Girlie Werewolf Hall of Fame’ body of work around the mythology of the female werewolf in culture (her exhibition Blood Moon will also be opened as part of the festival);
Film academic Deb Verhoeven talking about the films of Gaylene Preston, SMWF’s featured retrospective for 2017;
Writer, researcher and artist Lauren Carroll-Harris reflecting on the screen culture in Australia, with a presentation entitled ‘Why do we fund Australian films but not the cinemas to screen them in?’;
And horror fan and broadcaster Chloe Black with ‘The Wolf in the Dress’, an exploration of transgender and transphobic representation in modern horror.
The 2017 poster is by Adelaide-based artist Amy Fairweather, who cites influenced including Robert Louis Stevenson’s DR JECKYLL AND MR HYDE, and the Jennnifer Kent film THE BABADOOK. “I had an image in mind of a Victorian-esque woman who’s in a trance-like state, her ‘darker’ side emerging in plumes of smoke.The monster is a representation of her tormented, malevolent and twisted self.”
The key international guests for 2017, and mentors for the Attic Lab program for filmmakers that takes place within the festival, are Gaylene Preston (the featured retrospective filmmaker of the festival with her films PERFECT STRANGERS and MR WRONG screening), producer/director Roxanne Benjamin (whose anthology feature film XX is screening) and cinematographer Sandi Sissel (who worked on Wes Craven’s THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS) will be showcased in a special screening.
-
Stranger With My Face International Film Festival Announces Key 2017 Titles and Guests
[caption id="attachment_21896" align="aligncenter" width="1118"]
XX, Roxanne Benjamin[/caption]
The 5th edition of Stranger With My Face International Film Festival will take place in Hobart, Tasmania, from May 4 to 7, 2017 , with a line-up of feature films, a shorts program, a symposium, industry events and an art exhibition. Stranger With My Face focuses on women’s perspectives in genre filmmaking with an emphasis on horror and related genres.
The 2017 program includes a retrospective of the celebrated New Zealand filmmaker Gaylene Preston; the Tasmanian premiere of the all-female horror anthology XX with one of the filmmakers, Roxanne Benjamin, in person; and a screening of Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs with its cinematographer, Sandi Sissel ASC.
“Stranger With My Face is a place for newcomers get their films seen and to meet like-minded artists,” says Festival Director Briony Kidd, “But it’s also very much about highlighting older work that’s ripe for rediscovery.”
In addition to appearing for Q&As after screenings of their work, Gaylene Preston and Roxanne Benjamin will take on the role of mentors for the festival’s filmmaker development program The Attic Lab, which returns after a successful first year in 2016.
Roxanne Benjamin is well-known as the producer of the V/H/S films, credited by many as kicking off the ongoing ‘revival’ of the horror anthology feature film. She recently produced, directed and wrote segments of two new anthologies, Southbound, which premiered at TIFF in 2015 and XX this year, which opens this year’s Stranger With My Face after premiering at Sundance
Gaylene Preston ONZM is one of New Zealand’s most highly regarded filmmakers, with a career spanning more than four decades. While primarily known for her work in documentary and factually inspired drama, Preston is influential genre circles with two films in particular, both of which will screen at Stranger With My Face 2017.
PERFECT STRANGERS (1991) is a “chilling romance” which stars Rachel Blake and Sam Neill, and the lesser known MR WRONG (1983) which has recently been championed by cult cinema connoisseur Quentin Tarantino, who said “I loved the woman who was the lead in it… she would never be the lead in the American version of that movie. And there was something so authentic about seeing her trapped into this supernatural story.”
Rounding out the The Attic Lab mentor team for is veteran cinematographer Sandi Sissel (CHICKEN RANCH, SALAAM BOMBAY, MASTER AND COMMANDER) who will be in attendance for a screening of THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, followed by an in-depth discussion around the artistic challenges involved in the 1991 Wes Craven production.