NIGHTSTREAM 2021 Announces Audience Awards, THIS IS GWAR Wins Top Honors

Following the last night of NIGHTSTREAM 2021, which ran from October 7-13th virtually all across the U.S., the festival is proud to announce the Audience Award winners for the second edition, topped by Scott Barber’s THIS IS GWAR doc taking top honours for features.

 

“This film was an absolute honor to be a part of,” says Barber on the Audience Award, “now, on top of that, to win this award at a festival like NIGHTSTREAM is just amazing. I got to work with an incredibly talented team on this film, and we are all so very grateful to everyone who watched it at the festival! Thank you so much! Hail GWAR!"

 

GWAR lead vocalist Berserker Blóthar also shared his thanks for the win, adding “I’ve got a night stream for ya. I’m working with a prostate the size of a Hyundai Elantra. But seriously, we are honored to have the audience award. Screw the critics. It’s the people that matter. That’s why we do what we do. After all, they’re the ones with the money and the drugs.”

 

Runner-up features for the Audience Award are Kier-La Janisse’s doc, WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR and Junta Yamaguchi’s BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES.

 

The short film Audience Award was a tie between Joe Cappa’s GHOST DOGS and Chris McInroy’s GUTS.

 

“Ghost Dogs was a very long passion project. It was my first animated short and I had no idea if the thing was going to make sense, or if anyone would get what I was trying to do. It’s nice to know there are other perverts out there just like me who see the value in a group of humanoid dogs masturbating,” says Cappa on the accolade for GHOST DOGS. 

 

“The NIGHTSTREAM audience is my kind of audience. Thank you so much to the festival for playing it. A bonus of a streaming festival is when you watch something like GUTS you’re probably pretty close to a bathroom if you need to hurl,” says McInroy on the split win for GUTS

 

The runner-up Audience Award in the shorts category goes to Sonny Calvento’s EXCUSE ME, MISS, MISS, MISS.

 

NIGHTSTREAM 2021, which presented 31 feature films, 4 short blocks, and 14 events, was accessed by audiences across 48 U.S. states and territories. Proceeds from the event will once again go to filmmakers and artists involved, and further allocated toward important charity causes, the National Alliance To End Homelessness and climate change advocacy group the Sunrise Movement.

 

Highlights from the festival’s slate of events include a duo of panels presented by Shudder featuring Creepshow director Greg Nicotero and HORROR NOIRE writers Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, a new The Future of Film Is Female panel, presented by Daily Dead, with guests A.K. Espada (THE IS OUR HOME), Samantha Aldana (SHAPELESS), Kate Robertson (Liverpool University Press’ Devil’s Advocates: Trouble Every Day), Ashlee Blackwell (Graveyard Shift Sisters), Lisa Dreyer (Fantastic Fest), and a very special Anniversary Party Presented By FANGORIA featuring special guests Karyn Kusama, Bryan Fuller, David Dastmalchian, Ernest Dickerson, Paul Scheer, Natalie Erika James, Sean Baker, Joe R. Lansdale, and Stephen Graham Jones, among others, discussing some of their favorite horror films celebrating monumental anniversaries this year.  

 

Further highlights of the festival include our duo of celebrated World Premieres, Jefferson Moneo’s COSMIC DAWN and Scott Friend’s feature debut TO THE MOON, artists talks with David Lowery, Akela Cooper, and Don Mancini, and a deep-dive panel on the industry of indie filmmaking from Divide/Conquer co-founders and producers Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath.  

 

AUDIENCE AWARDS

 

AUDIENCE AWARD - FEATURE: This is GWAR, dir. Scott Barber

 

AUDIENCE AWARD RUNNER-UP - FEATURE: Woodlands Darks and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, dir. Kier-La Janisse

 

AUDIENCE AWARD RUNNER-UP - FEATURE: Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes, dir. Junta Yamaguchi

 

AUDIENCE AWARD - SHORT: Ghost Dogs, dir. Joe Cappa

 

AUDIENCE AWARD - SHORT: Guts, dir. Chris McInroy

 

AUDIENCE AWARD RUNNER-UP - SHORT: Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss, dir. Sonny Calvento