Nothing says Halloween like Horror-Fest and The Guerilla Shorts Showcase
Another Horror-Fest is in the books. This southern Utah tradition celebrated in style with the 10th anniversary of The Guerilla Shorts Showcase, a platform dedicated to the nurturing and encouraging of local filmmaking talent. This year’s showcase saw several creative storytelling teams putting together 5-minute short films in a limited amount of time. Given that Halloween is right around the corner, the majority of the films were of the horror variety, but nothing too extreme.
On Saturday, Oct. 24, at Megaplex’s Red Cliff Cinema, an enthusiastic packed house roared with approval as they had an opportunity to experience these short films on the big screen. There were 11 films in competition with an additional 7 films screening out of competition. Of course, the evening wasn’t really about awards. Everyone who completed a project should be incredibly proud of themselves. Making a film, even on an amateur level, can be a daunting task, and it’s clear that all of these dedicated individuals were up to the challenge. In fact, this may be the strongest collection of shorts a Guerilla Challenge has ever produced, and that’s saying a lot.
In addition to a grand evening of Halloween-inspired cinematic entertainment, Horror-Fest 2015 also managed to raise a little bit of money for the All-Abilities Park in Tonaquint.
Have a look at the 2015 Horror-Fest Guerilla Short entries here:
BEST FILM
3RD PLACE-“SETTLE” Directed by Don Baruss and Alysha Aldred
2ND PLACE-“ROAD OF LIFE” Directed by Kipp Howard
1ST PLACE-“THE DEMISE OF DR. FRANKENSTEIN” Directed by Rebekah Jackson
AUDIENCE CHOICE-“BROUGHT TO YOU BY CARL’S JR.” Directed by Lonie Black and Brandon Tippetts
BEST WRITING-HONORABLE MENTION-“DEADLY AMBITIONS” Written by Liz Baxter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k8MBS9_9lA&feature=share
BEST WRITING-“DARK IS A FOUR LETTER WORD” Written by Dan Bringhurst
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDDdodS8eCw&feature=youtu.be
SPECIAL ACTING AWARD-Xavier Manchester for “ROAD OF LIFE”
THE BEST OF THE REST
“OBSEQUY” Directed by Caleb Hatton
“MISFORTUNE” Directed by Jordan Hurd
“NEW NEIGHBORS” Directed by Derek Solberg
“THERAPY” Directed by Mike Wiest and Phil Sargant
“THE DARE” Directed by Sandi Catten
“DELIGHTFUL FALLS” Directed by John and Briana Pugh
THE LOCAL FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
“IRON…IC HORROR 12” Directed by Shaun Labrecque
“THE TELL-TALE HEART” Directed by Caleb Hatton
Hatton and crew plan on taking their adaptation of this iconic Edgar Allan Poe story on the festival circuit. We’ll keep you updated once we have more information on where you can see this beautifully crafted short.
As you can see, local filmmaking is alive and well in southern Utah. Guerilla will continue to strive to give underground filmmakers a place to hone their skills so that they might take that next big storytelling leap in the future.
Watch for an announcement regarding “The Holiday Edition of the Guerilla Filmmaking Challenge” on Nov. 2.
Have a look at our “2015 Horror-Fest Guerilla Showcase” photo gallery.
