Exclusives
The Etheria Film Festival Unveils 10th Anniversary Lineup, Dates, and Pays Tribute to Actress Brinke Stevens [Exclusive]
The Etheria Film Festival, a showcase of new horror, science fiction, and fantasy films directed by women, turns 10 this year, and they’re celebrating accordingly. And Bloody Disgusting can exclusively unveil what’s in store for this year’s fest, along with a sneak peek trailer.
The annual festivities will kick off with a live event in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday, July 1, 2023, at the Screenland Armour Theater with filmmakers and special guests in person for an onstage Q and A followed by an official afterparty. If you’re not able to attend in person, don’t worry; Etheria reteams with Shudder this year, and the official festival lineup will stream exclusively on the streaming service from July 2 through July 31, 2023.
Horror actress and director Brinke Stevens (Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama 1 & 2, Nightmare Sisters, The Slumber Party Massacre) will receive the 2023 Etheria Inspiration Award from special guest presenters in person at the event.
“These films are so good your eyes will melt out of your brain,” says Etheria, Director of Programming Heidi Honeycutt. “This is our fourth year airing on Shudder, so I hope all their viewers’ eyes melt, too!”
“Sharing these incredible films with Shudder audiences is such a thrill because we love them so much we want EVERYONE to see them,” says Etheria Festival Director Stacy Pippi Hammon. “I am also thrilled that Screenland Armour has partnered with us to co-host our 10th-anniversary kick-off event so we can share some KC hospitality with fantastic filmmakers and guests.”
Past Etheria Film Festival official selections have included films from directors Yoko Nakamura (Unseen), Mercedes Bryce Morgan (Spoonful of Sugar), Chloe Okuno (Watcher), Mariama Diallo (Master), Axelle Carolyn (The Mayfair Witches), Roseanne Liang (Shadow in the Cloud), Natalie Erika James (Relic), Anna Biller (The Love Witch), Prano Bailey-Bond (Censor), Jill Gevargizian (The Stylist), Gigi Saul Guerrero (Into the Dark: Culture Shock) and Bridget Savage Cole (Blow the Man Down).
The 2023 Etheria Film Festival Short Film Lineup includes:
NO OVERNIGHT PARKING
Directed by Meg Swertlow (8 min) (Horror) (USA)
A woman fleeing her abusive husband gets locked in an underground parking garage with a masked killer.
AUTOPILOT
Directed by Jennifer Zhang (16 min) (Science Fiction/Thriller) (USA)
A lone pilot on a homebound space vessel finds herself trapped in a waking nightmare when her holographic “virtual companion” begins to defy his programming.
SUCKER
Directed by Alix Austin (8 min) (Horror) (UK)
To her horror, Sam discovers her sister Caitlin has been infested by a monstrous leech creature slowly sucking her life force dry.
THE ERL KING
Directed by Genevieve Kertesz (16 min) (Fantasy/Horror) (USA)
Leora runs away from her strict, religious village into the loving arms of an ancient woodland god called the Erl King, but Leora realizes that he’s had sinister plans for her all along.
INCOMPLETE
Directed by Zoey Martinson (10 min) (Horror) (USA)
Evan is on house arrest in a haunted house. Or so he thinks?
BORDER
Directed by Mai Nakashimi (5 min) (Horror) (Korea/Japan)
A young woman turns on the tv to watch her favorite Korean romantic drama but realizes, to her horror, that she may be the one being watched.
SLEEP STUDY
Directed by Natalie Metzger (10 min) (Horror) (USA)
A restless new mother confronts a dangerous terror whenever she tries to sleep.
ANGELS
Directed by Samantha Aldana (7 min) (Science Fiction/Horror) (USA)
Beulah has almost given up hope on her mother recovering from a deadly illness until a meteor containing a mysterious being falls from the sky and lands in their fields.
GO TO BED RAYMOND
Directed by Nikki Taylor-Roberts (7 min) (Horror) (USA)
You should listen when your kid tells you someone is in their room.
MAKE THE CALL
Directed by Chelsea Gonzalez (15 min) (Horror) (USA)
Two former best friends reunite in a changed world, finally confronting the demons that ripped them apart.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Etheria Film Festival is also launching its 50 / 50 Travel Scholarship campaign. The scholarship aims to raise funds for fifty $1,000 travel awards to female genre filmmakers that are accepted into genre and mainstream film festivals and need assistance with travel costs. Donations can be accepted on the Etheria website, here.
“We are thrilled at the increase in women-directed festival selections over the last ten years. Now that they are invited to a seat at the table, we want to help get them there to enjoy the benefits of in-person attendance at these events,” says Hammon. “We are excited to announce that KC’s own Panic Fest is the first contributor to this fund and look forward to new supporters joining us in this cause.”
Fundraising for the 50/50 Scholarship has launched at etheriafilmnight.com in coordination with fiscal sponsor Women of Color Unite. All donations are tax-deductible. Scholarship applications will open in July 2023.
Director Sébastien Vaniček has been set to helm the next Evil Dead movie, but up first from the filmmaker is the creepy crawly spider horror movie Infested. An exclusive new clip gives a discomfiting closer look at the spider terror, and it’ll make you intensely afraid of all bathroom drains and fixtures.
Infested will induce a new wave of arachnophobia this week; the spider horror film arrives on Shudder on April 26, 2024.
If you’re brave enough to face your fears, watch the new clip below to get a feel for the unrelenting wave of spiders that the characters (and the audience) will face in the film.
In the film, “An underprivileged suburb has been thrown into chaos following an invasion of venomous spiders. Ordered to be placed in quarantine, the project sees inhabitants living on lockdown alongside terrifying spiders that are becoming bigger and bigger.
“The story revolves around Kaleb, who’s about to turn 30 and has never been lonelier. He’s fighting with his sister over a matter of inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend.
“Passionate about exotic animals, he comes home one day with a venomous spider and accidentally lets it slip away.”
Théo Christine (“Suprêmes”), Finnegan Oldfield (“Final Cut”), Jérôme Niel (“Smoking Causes Coughing”), Sofia Lesaffre (“Les Misérables”) and Lisa Nyarko star.
Florent Bernard co-wrote the script.
In his review out of Fantastic Fest last year, Bloody Disgusting’s Trace Thurman raved that Infested (aka Vermines) is “one of the best spider attack movies in years,” noting in his 4-star review that the creature feature uses practical spiders – REAL SPIDERS – as much as possible. Thurman also wrote that the spider horror movie is “full of moments that will get under your skin (I kicked my legs up more than a few times in my screening).”
The spiders will be everywhere in Infested, are you ready?
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