Year two of the Overlook Film Fest moved locales from the snowy environs of the Timberline Lodge in Oregon to the booze-soaked streets of the New Orleans's French Quarter. It was a bold move and it paid off for audiences who got to explore the spooky side of one of America's most scenic cities.
Aside from the solid lineup of films that included such strong offerings as Upgrade, Hereditary, and Don't Leave Home, the festival offered a bevy of exciting experiences. These included the marquee Immersive Game that had players traversing back and forth across the French Quarter solving puzzles and looking for clues as to the truth behind mysterious family feud. The highlight was an evening that divided players between sipping whiskey and eating cake in a beautiful New Orleans mansion, and chugging Bud Lights at a modern art filled crash pad. Dilly dilly.
Austin and Aaron Keeling brought one of the coolest 15 minutes of the festival with their interactive live event, In Another Room. Groups of three followed a guide up to a haunted room in the Orleans Bourbon hotel where they were confronted by a pair of actors asking them to play along with a Ouija board... from hell. This piece was pretty much flawless and featured fantastic acting and great special effects and music. It was creepy and a lot of fun.
There were too many other fun events, parties, and activities to list them all, but a quick mention for both Clay McLeod Chapman and his Pumpkin Pie live storytelling show, and for Grady Hendrix and his Paperbacks from Hell event. These guys are super talented and if you have a chance to see either one of them, don't miss it!
We've got the full awards release below but top jury prize of the festival went to Joko Anwar's film Satan's Slaves. The audience award went to Wolfman's Got Nards: A Documentary. Awesome.
In New Orleans, Overlook seems to have a perfect match. We'll be back next year for sure. You should too!
THE OVERLOOK FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES THE 2018 AWARD WINNERS
www.overlookfilmfest.com
(NEW ORLEANS, LA) – As its second edition comes to a close, the Overlook Film Festival has the great pleasure of announcing its second year juried and audience awards. Culled from a stellar lineup of 41 films (23 features and 18short films from 12 countries), the festival's features and short film juries deliberated over the course of the event, publicly revealing the winning selections at the festival’s closing night screening presentation of A24’s HEREDITARY.
The features jury consisted of the Los Angeles Times’s Jen Yamato, Toronto Intl. Film Festival Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky, and producer Toby Halbrooks (A GHOST STORY, PETE’S DRAGON). The jurors chose to honor director Joko Anwar's SATAN’S SLAVES from Indonesia with the Feature Film Jury Prize. Additionally, the jurors highlighted Véréna Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor's CANIBA, giving it the festival's scariest feature award.
Actress Barbara Crampton (RE-ANIMATOR, THE PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH), New Orleans Film Society Artistic Director Clint Bowie, and filmmaker Misty Talley (ZOMBIE SHARK) comprised the short film jury. The jury awarded their prize to Anna Roller’s PAN with an honorable mention going to Mariama Diallo for HAIR WOLF, and L. Gustavo Cooper’s AMY receiving the honor of scariest short film.
The Overlook Film Festival's Audience Award for 2018 went to WOLFMAN’S GOT NARDS: A Documentary directed by André Gower.
In addition to the film lineup, the Overlook showcased 6 live performances, 5virtual reality experiences, 4 curated immersive theater productions, 3 panel presentations and 1 weekend long alternate reality game.
Discussing his experience at this year’s fest, The Overlook Film Festival’s 2018 Visionary award recipient Leigh Whannell said, “The Overlook Film Festival is a celebration of horror fandom, and I’ve been a horror fan for so long that to be recognized by the festival with an award is a complete honor. I’m happy just to be at this festival - hanging out with my fellow fans, watching amazing movies and taking part in the immersive games that are a staple of the weekend - that to take home a beautiful, shiny axe with my name engraved on it is merely the bloody cherry on top of it all.”
The Overlook Film Festival is sponsored by IFC Midnight, Fangoria, Shotgun Cinema, Kickstarter, Shudder, New Orleans Film Festival, A24, BH TILT, Skybound Entertainment, and Daily Dead.