A passel of great news!!

It's been a while, but I've got quite a bit of good news to share! First, the biggest news... When I feel that something is worth my time, I become dedicated to that thing. It doesn't replace any current passions, it tends to add to them. In this case, that thing would be the Viscera Organization, a non-profit based out of L.A. that works to support and encourage female genre filmmakers. Among their services is the Viscera Film Festival which has a carpet ceremony every July and then the current's year's selections go out on tour around the world. My film aftershock is one of the films in the library, as an official selection of the 2011 Carpet Ceremony and Tour.

I started working for them in April as the assistant to James Morgart, the guy who's in charge of the tour (his official title is now Director of Media and Distribution.) In July, after an offhand, but sincere, series of remarks, a lot of contemplation, and quite a bit of discussion, it was proposed that I take on a different task...that of the Director of Operations for the L.A. Carpet Ceremony. According to the list of duties, I'm essentially in charge of the weekend festivities for the Viscera Film Festival. It's a bit daunting, but I'm up for it!

Viscera is very important to me. For years, I've felt alone as a woman who directs horror films. On the rare occasion that I met other female filmmakers (before Viscera, that is) they tended to be snobbish and catty. I don't see the point in that kind of attitude. It's boring. And I expected the same treatment when I got to the carpet ceremony last year. While there are certainly those who think they're better than the rest of us (there always are), the majority of women I've met thanks to Viscera have been people I'm so happy to have met, some of whom I now call friends. I'm so happy and so honoured to be a part of something as meaningful as Viscera!

By the way, we're looking for volunteer staff members! If you want to help out an amazing film-oriented non-profit, head over to the contact page, look at the staff PDF and send us an email!



On the film side, Stella Buio has gotten its first two festival acceptances!! The lovely Miguel Rodriguez of the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival, who played my film JustUs last year, has accepted Stella Buio into their line-up and I've since learned that fellow Viscera staff member Maude Michaud's film Red and my soul-sister-in-horror Karen Lam's film The Stolen will also be playing there this year! This festival takes place November 10 and 11.

Stella Buio has also been accepted to the Buffalo Screams Horror Film Festival in Buffalo, New York! This festival takes place October 17-21.

But JustUs isn't dead...it was just accepted to the ShockerFest Horror Film Festival in Modesto, California! ShockerFest has morphed into a local access television film festival and JustUs will be screened on October 14 on KAZV-TV, channel 195 / broadcast channel 14.

And, finally...I GET TO SEE STEVIE NICKS IN CONCERT IN A FEW DAYS! That's not really career related, but whatever...

More Kimyoo Films screenings!

JUSTUS screens this week in Sarasota, Florida, at the Sarasota Film Festival, April 19 at 1:30 pm and April 22 at 11:45 am! AND I WILL BE THERE! :D I'd better be, I live there, dammit (Janet)!

JUSTUS also screens this week at the Bare Bones Film Festival in Muskogee, Oklahoma (I'm unsure about exact times and their website doesn't list the times independently.)

Next week, JUSTUS screens at the Motor City Nightmares Film Festival in Novi, Michigan, Saturday, April 28, in the 1:30 shorts block and Sunday, April 29, in the 11:30 am shorts block!

AFTERSHOCK plays in Toronto May 15 as part of the Viscera Film Festival and Fangoria's Fright Nights at the Projection Booth! My soul sister Karen Lam's feature film Stained plays first so if you're going to see the Viscera films, you should definitely go early enough to watch Stained, too!

Been some crazy busy times here at Kimyoo Aitch-Queue...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! You have no idea how grateful I am for pretty much everything, especially this past year and a half or so. So many things to be thankful for...

My silence of late was more because I had lots to talk about, but didn't want to say too much. I still have a lot of stuff going on that I can't talk about yet, but I can say this: it's official, Kimyoo Films is now Kimyoo Films, Inc.! Yep, I've taken a giant step forward. two of them, actually, because I've made a sister company for it: Nightbird Studios, Inc.!

Here's the distinction: Kimyoo Films is my baby. It's been with me since 1995 when I decided to name my company after the Japanese word for strange. But, by calling it "Films" I limit its scope, in a sense. Nightbird Studios is for everything else that I have interest in: podcasts / radio shows (I'm talking horror shows here, not awesome podcasts like what my friends Noel (his blog which lists every podcasts he's doing, zomg, Jaye and Tony (who have Zombie vs. Shark), and Miguel (who has Monster Island Resort) do,) comic books, novels, video games...stuff like that. The film festival, when I start it up again, will be under Nightbird Studios and not Kimyoo Films. Hallowscreen isn't about me, it's about the films so I don't even want it to look like it's going to be the "Kimyoo Films Show starring Kimyoo Films!"

I have lots and lots of plans and lots and lots of ideas, but filmmaking comes first and first up is the short film I promised to the Fies sisters for I Hate L.A., Too. This film is slightly more complicated than my past stuff in that I want to film in a business that no one I know owns or even works there. Do to that safely for all parties requires insurance. Well, if I'm going to go through all that, I should be able to get a permit...and if I'm going to get a permit, I might as well go ahead and make Kimyoo Films a corporate reality. It took a lot longer than I had anticipated because I wanted to have the film done a couple of months ago. Ah well, you live and learn. After that film is shot, cut, and on the circuit, I plan on shooting at least one or two more shorts as I prepare for my first feature. I'm hoping to spend half of December and all of January writing another draft of the feature in order to shoot it late next year.

On a side note, it's always easier to ask for funding if you have a fully legal, operating corporation! :D

As I move forward on these projects, I'll be posting more when I CAN post.

And now, to round off this post, some great news! JustUs was accepted to the Little Terrors Film Festival in Toronto for their December edition (date and time to follow) and aftershock has been accepted to Bad Granny's Bazaar's Free Film Night in Oklahoma City on January 26, 2012 as part of Viscera!

New short film!

I've been so busy that I haven't been able to post about anything, much less the fact that I was making a new short film! Those posts will be coming before I head back out to L.A. this weekend for the Viscera Film Festival where my short film aftershock will be playing alongside some of the best female directors in the genre!

AHHH!

So here's the teaser, I hope y'all enjoy!!

Film festival announcement!

I received an email a few minutes ago that I've been waiting for. It was the go ahead to announce that the Viscera Film Festival in L.A. has chosen "aftershock" as an Official Selection for their Los Angeles event and for their tour! They're planning on updating the website tonight or tomorrow so you may still see some of last year's information up.

It's a fantastic festival and I'm so honoured to be counted amongst such talented women in this genre! The event will happen on July 17 at the Silent Movie Theatre in L.A. I'll be there for that one, but I will not be touring with my flick to whichever festivals it plays as part of the tour. Too much strain on Ye Olde Finances.

Apparently, it's unprofessional or something to be so excited when one is lucky enough to receive an acceptance letter for their flick...but I can't help it! *chairdances*

BleedFest

Now is a pretty exciting time to be a woman in horror, by the looks of things. We've got FangirlTastic, formerly Pretty/Scary, which seems to be kicking thing up a notch, and the wonderful Viscera Film Festival. Now, there's BleedFest, a monthly festival for female genre filmmakers! How great is THAT?! Both Viscera and BleedFest are free to submit and they're both in California and 2011 will mark the second year of the Women in Horror movement started by Hannah Neurotica of AxWound Magazine!

Hmm...I'm not sure I have enough links in this post yet so here's one more for good measure: I Am Nancy because, duh, I'm super excited for this documentary and it totally fits in with my previous topic since the creative team locked picture and have started that torturous process: festival submission!

I'm seeing a lot more women being recognized for their work in the genre and even more coming out of the woodwork, as it were, to make genre pictures. Our work is never done, but at least I, and others like me, won't feel so alone now!

In other news, I'm in pre-production on another short film! I plan on shooting it early next year, depending on funding and all of that. I've got the script locked, which is always a good thing, and I plan on starting the storyboards tomorrow! I also just finished the first draft of a new script. It's almost feature length, but I know the areas I need to address in the next draft which will put it into feature length territory. This particular story is one I've been trying to write for years and I'd love for it to be my first feature. If I were to have my way, I already know who I would cast for the four major roles, but I'm getting ahead of myself, which I tend to do when I get overly excited. :D

I've also got two more music videos to work on for World Collision, one to promote the Nosferatu soundtrack they recorded and one for their next album! I'm very excited for both of them! I've gotten to listen to bits and pieces of the studio version of the Nosferatu soundtrack and, I've gotta tell you, it's pretty fabulous!

Hopefully, I'll be back to my babbling self on this blog soon! Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was fantastic!!