The 4th annual MidWest WeirdFest wrapped this week at the Micon Downtown Cinema, Volume One Gallery, and Ivy in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The festival again delivered a cinematic smorgasbord of all things fantastic, frightening, paranormal, and just plain weird, to enthusiastic audiences. Today, MidWest WeirdFest announces the winning films of the 2020 event.
Greg Newkirk (left) and Karl Pfeiffer (right) of HELLIER (photo by Luong Huynh)
“Its truly an honor to win 'Best Director' and 'Best TV/Web Content' here at MidWest WeirdFest for HELLIER.” says Karl Pfeiffer, director of the ground breaking paranormal series, which is now in its second season. “After seeing so many great films all weekend and meeting so many talented creators, it’s a humbling experience to be recognized amidst it all. Biggest thanks to festival director Dean Bertram for putting on such a great festival, and thanks to everyone for coming out to see the films, and of course to my small team of fantastic humans (and perhaps non-humans!) who helped to get this very special project made.”
An overview of the festival's other winning films follows:
(Left to right) Eric Silvera, Sean Kenealy, and Alex Nordenson in the audience during MidWest WeirdFest 2020 (photo by Luong Huynh)
The frenetic and hilarious two-man action extravaganza IN ACTION - from directors/writers/stars Sean Kenealy and Eric Silvera, and producer Alex Nordenson - captured the fest's “Best Film” award.
While the fascinating RETURN TO WILDCAT MOUNTAIN: WISCONSIN'S BLACK PANTHER NEXUS - from world renowned cryptid and paranormal writer Linda S. Godfrey, her husband Steven Godfrey, and son Nate Godfrey - won “Best Documentary”.
Linda S. Godfrey and her son Nate Godfrey, directors of RETURN TO WILDCAT MOUNTAIN (photo by Luong Huynh)
The hilarious, yet blood soaked, BAD WITCH (directed by Joshua Land and Victor Fink) won the festival's “Best Horror Film” award.
Joshua Land (left) and Victor Fink (center) during their Q&A for BAD WITCH at MidWest WeirdFest 2020 (photo by Luong Huynh)
While “Best Foreign Language Film” was taken by the haunting and beautiful THE SOUL CONDUCTOR directed by Russia's Ilya Maksimov. SQUATCHMORE, a wonderfully weird trip down the rabbit hole of Bigfoot belief (from Dane Mainella, Jay Jadick, and Benjamin R. Davis), captured the festival's “Independent Spirit Award”.
SQUATCHMORE’S Dane Mainella (left) and Jay Jadick (right) at MidWest WeirdFest’s Weird Filmmaking Forum (photo by Luong Huynh)
“Best Short Film” was won by the chilling drama THE GREEN SEA (directed by Steven Alexander Robbins ).
Sally Robbins producer of THE GREEN SEA (photo by Luong Huynh)
Steve Chappel's experimental head trip TRILOGY OF TEAR was awarded “Best Animated Short”. And spooky supernatural doco THE UNDEPARTED (from director Chris McGuinness) captured the fest's “Best Short Documentary” award.
One of the animated “stars” of Steve Chappell’s TRILOGY OF TEAR (photo by Luong Huynh)
The award for “Best Sci-Fi Short” went to ORBIT (directed by Nicholas Camp and Don Thiel), a futuristic reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". “Best Horror Short” was won by the masterful and high-strangeness ladened PREFIGURED (from festival alumni and second time award winner at MidWest WeirdFest Zeshaan Younus). And “Best Music Video” was awarded to the spacey love song and clip LUCY DAYDREAM - RED (directed by Alexander Stephens.)
Zeshaan Younus (PREFIGURED) (photo by Luong Huynh)
MidWest WeirdFest also hosts both a feature and short screenplay competition. The competition's head reader, Sevé Schelenz (best known as the writer/director of feature horror films SKEW, and PEELERS), says, “What an amazing turnout! With so many amazing screenplays submitted, it was a difficult task to decide the winners for the 2020 competition. It's too bad we couldn't give them all the awards they are so due. Thank you to all the screenwriters for their amazing submissions. And remember, keep writing!”
(Left) Feature screenplay competition finalist Dillon Fuhrman & (right) Competiton head reader Sevé Schelenz (photo by Luong Huynh)
The winning feature screenplay was KATIE KILLED BRIAN, written by Andrew Miller and Zack R. Smith . John F. Saunder's JATUM took the 1st Runner-up spot. And the competition's 2nd Runner-up was ADONIX by Daniel Boddicker.
The short screenplay competition was won by writer Stuart Creque's WET ROT. The 1st Runner-up was THE WOODS ARE LOVELY, DARk AND DEEP by Lindsay Jaeger. And Valerie Schwartfigure's SUPER NANCY was awarded 2nd Runner-up.
You can enter your film or screenplay to the 5th Annual MidWest WeirdFest - taking place at Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin from March 5-7 - via FilmFreeway, here:.