International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival 2008

The International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival hit the road in 2008 after three years at the Harkins Centerpoint in Tempe, AZ for no better reason that that venue had closed down. Its first stop was at Chandler Cinemas in, well, Chandler, AZ and it was an absolute blast.

The 2007 festival was our first step into the Arizona film festival circuit and we hadn't a clue what was going on. After meeting Andrea Beesley-Brown, the Midnite Movie Mamacita, though, we found a clear direction forward. She was programming grindhouse films and other cult classics at Chandler Cinemas and we quickly became regulars, part of a loyal fanbase that followed her over the years to screenings at the Glendale 9 drive in and Farrelli's Supper Club, to a long stint of programming at MADCAP Theatres and eventually to the Royale in Mesa, her very own theatre and a year of magic.

So when the 2008 festival came around, we were all over it. We knew the venue well, we saw as much as we possibly could and we experienced the first of a succession of classic films that the festival brought to our attention over the years, Jerome K Bixby's The Man from Earth, which we're still talking about today.

There were two special guests in attendance to accompany screenings of arguably their most famous films: Adrienne King presented the original Friday the 13th and Jeffrey Combs presented Re-Animator. The opening night film was Donkey Punch and the closing night film was Sukiyaki Western Django.

Many people who programmed regularly at Chandler Cinemas at the time presented screenings in conjunction with the festival. Matt Yenkala aka AZ Rocky, who was running Chandler Cinemas at the time, hosted weekly screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, so one such was included in the festival. The Midnite Movie Mamacita presented double features of cult movies weekly so included The Wizard of Gore and Vampire Hookers as a double feature within the festival. Danny Marianino and Brandon Kinchen programmed films monthly and included Rapturious and Frazetta: Painting with Fire in the festival under their I Can Smell Your Brains banner.

Another bonus for local film fans was the inclusion of the Deadly Event, a set of seven films from Arizona filmmakers who often shuffled roles between each title.

The people behind the festival are mostly the people still running it today, though we didn't know them at the time: Jason Carney and the folk at the Phoenix Film Foundation; Andrea, the festival director; Danny and Brandon programming the horror side and and science fiction writer Mike Stackpole the sci-fi side.

Here are all the films that screened in 2008, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Horror Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Alien Raiders	2008	5	5	Ben Rock	IMDb
The Alphabet Killer	2008	4	4	Rob Schmidt	IMDb
Farmhouse	2008	5	5	George Bessudo	IMDb

Sci-Fi Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Man from Earth	2007	7	7	Richard Schenkman	IMDb
Ray Bradbury's Chrysalis	2008	5	5	Tony Baez Milan	IMDb

Showcase Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Blob	1958	5	5	Irwin S Yeoworth Jr	IMDb
Donkey Punch	2008	4	5	Oliver Blackburn	IMDb
Frazetta: Painting with Fire	2003			Lance Laspina	IMDb
Friday the 13th	1980	5	5	Sean S Cunningham	IMDb
Hell's Ground	2007	4	4	Omar Khan	IMDb
Rapturious	2007			Kamal Ahmed	IMDb
Re-Animator	1985	5	5	Stuart Gordon	IMDb
The Rocky Horror Picture Show	1975			Jim Sharman	IMDb
Special	2006			Hal Haberman & Jeremy Passmore	IMDb
Sukiyaki Western Django	2007	6	6	Takashi Miike	IMDb
Tokyo Gore Police	2008	2	3	Yoshihiro Nishimura	IMDb
Vampire Hookers	1978	3	4	Cirio H Santiago	IMDb
The Wizard of Gore	1970	3	3	Herschell Gordon Lewis	IMDb

Deadly Event
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
I Will Kill	2008	5	5	Austin Nordell	IMDb
Skeletons	2008	5	5	Bivas Biswas & Jose Rosete	IMDb
Stage Fright	2008	5	5	Angel Ruiz	IMDb
Survive	2008	4	4	Wade Stai	IMDb
Teller	2008	5	5	David Allan Hames	IMDb
Undone	2008	5	5	John Scott Mills & David Hayes	IMDb
The Hierophant	2008	3	3	Jay Lee	IMDb

Horror Shorts A
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Zombie Gets a Date	2008			Leetal Platt	IMDb
Double	2008			Keith Ray Putman	IMDb
Lost	2006	4	4	Zachary Rothman	IMDb
Centigrade	2007	5	5	Colin Cunningham	IMDb
Finger Food	2008	4	4	Joe Russo	IMDb
Dead Bones	2008	3	4	Olivier Beguin	IMDb

Horror Shorts B
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Prombies!	2007	5	4	Frederick Snyder	IMDb
Detour	2008	4	4	Akeseh Tsakapo	IMDb
Look at Me	2008	5	4	Daniel Turner	IMDb
The Room	2007	5	5	Diego & Andres Meza-Valdes	IMDb
Kirksdale	2007	6	6	Ryan Spindell	IMDb

Sci-Fi Shorts
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Terrafarmer	2008			Will Adams	IMDb
Outsource	2008			Dan Trezise	IMDb
Probed	2008			Joel Cranson	IMDb
Final Journey	2007			Lars Zimmerman	IMDb
Things Last	2007	5	5	Constant Van Hoeven	IMDb
Fun on Earth	2007			Jesse Gordon	IMDb
D-I-M, Deus in Machina	2007			Axel & Henning Ricke	IMDb

International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival 2007

Back in 2007, I was googling around trying to find what cultural events were happening in the Phoenix area. My mistake was to assume that Phoenix and 'the Phoenix metropolitan area' were the same thing, as little happens in Phoenix itself but plenty happens in the towns around it, like Glendale, Tempe, Chandler, Mesa, Scottsdale and so on.

Somehow I managed to find some sort of publicity about the International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival, which was in Tempe rather than Phoenix, and it seemed like fun, so my better half and I drove over to see what it was all about. Neither of us had been to a film festival before, so it was an eye-opening event for us, but we found surprises before we even made it into the Harkins Centerpoint, the host theatre for the third year. Our first stop was to buy tickets, which was handled in a disused storefront nearby, and that's where we met Brian Pulido. My wife was a fan of Lady Death, Pulido's most famous creation as a comic book writer, and so we were happy to discover that he'd co-founded the festival.

There were no less than four special guests in attendance to present major films that they'd been in. Linda Blair presented The Exorcist, Michael Beck The Warriors, Ken Foree the original Dawn of the Dead and Claudia Christian an overlooked gem from the eighties called The Hidden. We managed to win a 27x40 event poster in the charity auction that was signed by three of the four. I wasn't able to finish that set until FearCon de la Muerte in 2015 when I had Foree add his signature.

While we didn't meet any of those special guests back then, we did experience the joys of meeting filmmakers for the first time, such as Chris Power & Nathan Hynes, whose film, Long Pigs, we didn't actually see. We merely bumped into them in the corridor after we left our respective screenings on neighbouring screens and chatted for a while. Their openness and passion rubbed off on us and is one of the chief reasons we became hooked on this event and film festivals in general.

The early years were great events for short film fans. In 2007, there were three sets of horror shorts all of which we caught, along with two sets of sci-fi shorts and one set of local horror films called Seven Deadly Films. This volume of short films has not been matched in any successive year. The six competition features and fourteen showcase features haven't been matched since either.

Here are all the films that screened in 2007, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Horror Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Brain Dead	2007	5	5	Kevin Tenney	IMDb
Frayed	2007			Norbert Caoili & Rob Portmann	IMDb
Long Pigs	2007	5	5	Chris Power & Nathan Hynes	IMDb

Sci-Fi Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
11 Minutes Ago	2007			Bob Gebert	IMDb
Nobody	2007	5	4	Shawn Linden	IMDb
The Lost Princess	2005	2	3	Duncan Pace	IMDb

Showcase Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Dark Places	2005	5	5	Guy Crawford	IMDb
Dawn of the Dead	1978	7	5	George A Romero	IMDb
Days of Darkness	2007	4	4	Jake Kennedy	IMDb
The Exorcist	1973	7	7	William Friedkin	IMDb
The Hidden	1987	6	5	Jack Sholder	IMDb
Malediction	2007	4	4	Kevin R Phipps	n/a
Monster Camp	2007			Cullen Hoback	IMDb
Murder Party	2007			Jeremy Saulnier	IMDb
Netherbeast Incorporated	2007	5	5	Dean Matthew Ronalds	IMDb
Southland Tales	2006			Richard Kelly	IMDb
The Terminator	1984	7	7	James Cameron	IMDb
Trapped Ashes	2006	4	5	Sean S Cunningham et al	IMDb
The Warriors	1979	5	7	Walter Hill	IMDb
Witches' Night	2007			Paul Traynor	IMDb

Seven Deadly Films
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Asylum	2007			Austin Nordell	IMDb
Blood Moon Rising	2007			Brian Skiba	IMDb
Executioner	2007			Jason Bustard	IMDb
Figment	2007			Jay Lee	IMDb
Room 602	2007			Jon Bonnell	IMDb
Sweet Memory	2007			Kai Staats	IMDb
Twisted Soul	2007			Brenton Covington	IMDb

Horror Shorts A
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Anesthesia	2006	4	4	Adam Kargman	IMDb
The Butcher	2006	4	4	Joseph A Garcia	IMDb
The Lycanthrope	2007	4	4	Lucas Peltonen	n/a
Nightmare	2007	5	5	Brent Nowak	IMDb
The Sitter	2007	3	5	Angel Ruiz	n/a
The First Vampire: Don't Fall for the Devil's Illusions	2004	5	5	Jason Todd Ipson	IMDb
Summer Job	2007	6	5	James Pounce	IMDb
Gay Zombie	2007	6	6	Michael Simon	IMDb

Horror Shorts B
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Criticized	2006	5	5	Richard Gale	IMDb
Harbinger	2007	3	4	Walt Bost	IMDb
Revelation Nine	2007	2	4	Vance Null	n/a
Para-Normal	2007	5	4	Lauren Timmons	IMDb
Dara	2007	6	5	Kimo Stamboel & Timothy Tjahjanto	IMDb
Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre!	2007	5	5	Robert F Cosnahan III	IMDb
Itsy Bitsy	2006	5	5	David May	IMDb

Horror Shorts C
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Toll	2006	6	6	J Zachary Pike	IMDb
Pig Tale	2007	5	5	Adrien Van Viersen	IMDb
We're Closed	2007	3	4	Troy Wilson	IMDb
The Descendent	2006	5	5	Bobby Glickert	IMDb
Gourmet	2007	5	5	Mark Oguschewitz	IMDb
AWOL	2006	6	6	Jack Swanstrom	IMDb
Of Darkness	2006	4	5	Gary E Irwin	IMDb
Coming to Town	2006	6	6	Carles Torrens	IMDb

Sci-Fi Shorts A
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Mogadon 7	2003			Philippe Roberge	IMDb
The Un-Gone	2007			Simon Bovey	IMDb
ELI	2007			Josh Lee Kwai	IMDb
The Nothing Pill	2008			Yu Gu	IMDb
Haunted Planet	2007			Danielle Stallings	IMDb
Glitch	2007			Peter Ricq	n/a
Face Machine	2006			Justin Simms	IMDb

Sci-Fi Shorts B
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Epicac	2008			Will Tully	IMDb
Other Worlds	2006			George Graham	IMDb
Víctor y la máquina	2006			Carlos Talamanca	IMDb
Menagerie of Space	2007			Mack Duncan	IMDb
Maklar, Anyone?	2006			Phil Guzzo	IMDb
La Lluvia	2006			Nofre Moya	IMDb
Auto Da Fe	2007			Steve Rainbow	IMDb

International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival 2006

Our introduction to the International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival came in 2007, which was the third event. That meant that we missed out on the festivals in 2005 and 2006, but I was able to pick up programs from the Phoenix Film Foundation so I could find out what played and which guests came out to support their films.

In 2006, Brian Pulido, who had co-founded the festival with Chris Lamont, was still the most obvious figure behind it. He brought out Mick Garris to induct into the IHSFFF Hall of Fame, which was accompanied by a screening of Valerie on the Stairs, his episode of Masters of Horror. Clare Grant, the star of that episode, also attended. More recognisable faces included P J Soles, supporting Death by Engagement and Heather Langenkamp, who introduced a screening of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. Jason Mewes was scheduled but apparently couldn't attend.

The opening night film was Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror and the closing night film was Turistas.

While there were only thirteen features screened, a lower count than the few years that followed, there were three sets each of horror shorts and sci-fi shorts, the highest count in the festival's history.

Here are all the films that screened in 2006, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Horror Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Death by Engagement	2005			Philip Creager	IMDb
In Memorium	2005			Amanda Gusack	IMDb
The Slaughter	2006			Jay Lee	IMDb
Unrest	2006			Jason Todd Ipson	IMDb

Sci-Fi Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Firefly	2005			Peter Marcy	IMDb
Pulp Fiction Art: Cheap Thrills & Painted Nightmares	2005			Jamie McDonald	IMDb
Robotech: Shadow Chronicles	2006			Dong-wook Lee & Tommy Yune	IMDb

Showcase Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
2001 Maniacs	2005			Tim Sullivan	IMDb
Evil Aliens	2005			Jake West	IMDb
The Gamers: Dorkness Rising	2008			Matt Vancil	IMDb
A Nightmare on Elm Street	1984	6	6	Wes Craven	IMDb
Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror	2006			Stacy Title	IMDb
Turistas	2006	5	5	John Stockwell	IMDb

Horror Shorts A
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
No 12	2006			Kane Black	IMDb
Zombies in Love	2006			Laureen Briggs	n/a
Faceless	2006			B Jason Roer	IMDb
Zomburrito	2007			Billy Bridwell	n/a
Recently Deceased	2006			Chris McInroy	IMDb
Watcher	2006			Eli Sasich	IMDb
Akai	2006			Carlos G Gananian	IMDb
Deadly Tantrum	2005			Michael Mort	IMDb
The Listening Dead	2006			Phil Mucci	IMDb

Horror Shorts B
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
If I Had a Hammer				Andy Bean	n/a
Devilwood	2006			Sacha Bennett	IMDb
Snowmaniac	2006			Daniel Bury	IMDb
The Resurrectionist	2005			Susan Bell	IMDb
The Need	2006			Chris Young	IMDb
Movie Monster Insurance	2006			Paula Haifley	IMDb
Room to Breathe	2006			Steve Johnson	IMDb
Ghost Busted	2006			Vance Null	n/a
Penny Dreadful	2005			Bryan Norton	IMDb

Horror Shorts C
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Cobbler’s Daughter	2006			Donna Thorland	IMDb
The Pit and the Pendulum	2007			Marc Lougee	IMDb
Schattenkind	2005			Jesse Eisenhardt	IMDb
Horror Fans	2006			Michael Schwartz	IMDb
Cannibal Grave Yard	?			Joe Crocco	n/a
Bad Dreams	2006			Fansu Nije & Anneli Gelbard	IMDb
Siniestro	2007			Beatriz Ramos	n/a
A Terrorist Ate My Brain	2006			Brett Young	IMDb
Zombie-American	2005			Nick Poppy	IMDb

Sci-Fi Shorts A
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Grandfather Paradox	2006			Jean-François DaSylva-LaRue	IMDb
I Must Destroy You	2004			David Johnston	n/a
Assumption	2006			Christopher R Keller	IMDb
Reality Check	2006			Daniel Bury	IMDb
Alien Rose	2006			Virginia Todd Burton	n/a
Outside In	2006			Brock H Brown	IMDb
Microgravity	2006			David Ethan Sanders	IMDb
Model Man	2006			Steven Tagle	IMDb
Spaceboy	2006			Ransom Riggs	IMDb

Sci-Fi Shorts B
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Futurist	2005			Brad Winderbaum	IMDb
Adidas 'Adicolor - Green'	2006			Alex Johnson	n/a
The Last Man in Brooklyn	2006			Roberto Bentivegna	IMDb
Say That You Love Me...	2005			Tadakuni Yasuda	IMDb
Robots are Blue	2005			Bill Sebastian	IMDb
36	2006			Brian Troy	IMDb
A Through M	2006			Heidi Marshall	IMDb
Scribble	2004	5	5	Faisal A Qureshi	IMDb
Passion to the Max	2006			Felix Allen	IMDb
Bartholomew’s Song	2006			Destin Cretton	IMDb
Man vs Woman	2006	5	5	Juan Carlos Vargas	IMDb

Sci-Fi Shorts C
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Missing Pages	2006			Jerome Olivier	IMDb
The Salesman	2006			David Rusanow	IMDb
Dial ’A’ for Alphaman	2002			Mike Jackson	IMDb
Genesis Antipode	2006			J R Robinson	IMDb
Nia	2006			Francisco X Rivera	IMDb

International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival 2005

I didn't attend the International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival in its debut year of 2005, but I did gather together information for it from a program obtained from the Phoenix Film Foundation.

The festival was founded by Phoenix Film Foundation president, Chris Lamont, and Arizona comic book writer, Brian Pulido, and the inaugural event took place at the Harkins Centerpoint and the Harkins Valley Art in Tempe, the only time that screenings have been shared across two locations.

Pulido brought a trio of major names out to kick things off with emphasis and two were inducted into the IHSFFF Hall of Fame: Tobe Hooper and Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma Entertainment. Hooper presented his Masters of Horror episode, Dance of the Dead, which was a free event! Troma were represented by the feature, Vegas in Space.

Here are all the films that screened in 2005, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Horror Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Dark Hours	2005			Paul Fox	IMDb
The Passing	2011			John Harwood	IMDb
The Curse of El Charro	2005			Rich Ragsdale	IMDb
Insecticidal	2005			Jeffery Scott Lando	IMDb

Sci-Fi Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Experiment	2005			Dan Turner	IMDb
Messengers	2004			Philip Farha	IMDb
The Phoenix Lights	2005			Lynne Kitei	IMDb

Showcase Features
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Boo	2005			Anthony C Ferrante	IMDb
Feast	2005			John Gulager	IMDb
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra	2001			Larry Blamire	IMDb
Neighborhood Watch	2005			Graeme Whifler	IMDb
Shadow: Dead Riot	2006			Derek Wan	IMDb
Three Extremes	2004	5	5	Fruit Chan, Chan-wook Park & Takashi Miike	IMDb
Vegas in Space	1991			Phillip R Ford	IMDb
The Witch’s Sabbath	2005			Jeff Leroy	IMDb

Horror Shorts A
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
We All Fall Down	2005			Jake Kennedy	IMDb
The Netherbeast of Berm Tech Industries, Inc	2004			Dean Ronalds	IMDb
The Girl in the Woods	2005			Gus & Luke Holwerda & Brad Murren	IMDb
My Skin!	2002	6	6	Christopher Alan Broadstone	IMDb
Little Dead Girl	2005			Lee Lanier	n/a
Sleeping Dogs Lie	2005			Stuart Lessner	IMDb
Apt 3157	2005			Bivas Biswas	IMDb
Scourged	2005			Trevor Schultz	n/a
Clown	2005			Karl Hirsch	IMDb

Horror Shorts B
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Gotham Cafe	2005			Jack Edward Sawyers	IMDb
The Boarder	2005			Susan Bell	IMDb
The Bedtime Story	2005			Christopher Moro	IMDb
Bad Connection	2005			Todd Angkasuwan	n/a
Zombie Hunter	2005			Geoff Hamby	IMDb
On Edge	1999			Frazer Lee	IMDb
Dear Sweet Emma	2003			John Cernak	IMDb
Herbie!	2004			Drew Barnhardt	IMDb

Horror Shorts C
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Silvergleam Whistle	2003			Mike Williamson	IMDb
Attack of the 70 Foot Courtesy Lady	2005			Paul Wilson	n/a
Filthy	2003			Andy Lalino & John Karliss	IMDb
Pandora	?			Angel Ruiz	n/a
Ghoulable	2006			George Lopecio, David Chorley & Adam Rini	n/a
The Crypt Club	2004			Miguel Gallego	IMDb

Sci-Fi Shorts A
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
Into the Maelstrom	2005			Peter Sullivan	IMDb
Smart Card	2005			James Oxford	IMDb
Apartment 206	2004			Gregory Zymet	IMDb
Rendezvous	2005			Charles Mitri	IMDb
Super-Anon	2004			Stephen H Plitt	IMDb
Heyday	2005			Rachel Wang	IMDb
Red Planet Blues	2005			David H Brooks	IMDb

Sci-Fi Shorts B
Title	Year	H	D	Director	IMDb
The Connection	2005			Kim Ray	IMDb
The Radio Mechanics: Apocalypse of the Dial	2005			Preston Herrick	IMDb
Atomic Spitballs	2004			Brett Anstey	IMDb
Today’s Life	2000			Noah Kadner	IMDb
Seed	2004			Bennett Cain	n/a
Photographic Memory	2005			Kelvin C Bias	IMDb
Cost of Living	2005			Jonathan Joffe	IMDb
No Sanctuary	2005			Dan Lovallo	IMDb

IFP Phoenix Filmmaker Challenges 2015-16

IFP Phoenix runs a number of film challenges every year in the Phoenix area.

The 2015-16 season began with the Beat the Clock Challenge with the Breakout Challenge announced immediately afterward. So far, submissions were screened at events at the Phoenix Art Museum, as usual, with the top films from each moing on to screen in a dedicated block at the Phoenix Film Festival at the Harkins Scottsdale 101. Awards were given.

The Beat the Clock Challenge screenings were on 23rd July, 2015. Malparido won the biggest awards, for Best Film and Best Director, against strong competition, but Inflated Emotions won most awards, landing Best Prop, Best Story and a tied second place with Firework, along with being voted the Audience Favourite. Third place went to Psycho Therapy, which also won for Best Ensemble. The Best Actor and Actress awards went to Bill Wetherill and Colleen Hartnett, as they did four events earlier at the 2014 Breakout Challenge, this time for Happy Anniversary and Firework respectively.

Here are all the films that screened at these events this year, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Beat the Clock Challenge
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Psycho Therapy	2015	5	5		n/a
Analyze Who? Too	2015	2	3	Sheri H Barbera	n/a
F150	2015	3	3	William Wesley	n/a
To Stir the Pot	2015	3	4	Kevin Watson & Dominique Medina	n/a
The Marriage Counselor	2015	3	4	T'Nia Harris	n/a
Embed	2015	4	4	Gilbert Martinez	n/a
Attack Ad	2015	4	4	Stephen Kessen	n/a
Pieces	2015	3	3	Darien Marion	n/a
Crystal Blue	2015	2	2	Gregg Griffith	n/a
Inflated Emotions	2015	5	5	Cody Hunt	n/a
Maternal Instincts	2015	4	4	Gwyneth Christoffel	n/a
Business Casual	2015	4	4	Matthew Lowery	n/a
Happy Anniversary	2015	5	5	Shawn Esplin	n/a
Pleasure Bowl	2015	4	4	Travis Mills	n/a
Malparido	2015	5	4	Wm Hayden Edgmon	n/a
Firework	2015	5	5	Steve Hubbs	n/a
48 Hour Killer	2015	2	2	Matthew Padriac Barr & Joshua Boshnack	n/a
Chicken'll Do	2015	4	5	Shari K Green	n/a

IFP Phoenix Filmmaker Challenges 2014-15

IFP Phoenix runs a number of film challenges every year in the Phoenix area.

In the 2014-15 season, the challenges were again the Beat the Clock Challenge, the Mystery Box Challenge and the Breakout Challenge. All submissions were screened at events at the Phoenix Art Museum, while the top films from each will move on to screen in a dedicated block at the Phoenix Film Festival at the Harkins Scottsdale 101. Awards were given at each event.

The Beat the Clock Challenge screenings were on 31st July, 2014 where an unusually large proportion of films won awards. Project Daisy won as best film, with Petey and Split Three Ways in second and third. The audience favourite was Criminal, which also won Steve Briscoe the best actor award, while Joy Beth Benedict won as best actress for Masterpiece. Best director(s) went to Dulaney Annette, Chris Ayoub, Colleen Hartnett and Steve Hubbs for And Then There Were Monsters. Full results can be found here.

The Mystery Box Challenge screenings were on 30th October, 2013. Kitty swept three of the top four prizes, voted the best film, best actress for Yoshiko Ogawa and best director(s) for Josh Kasselman and Stephanie Lucas. The Other Brother broke in only for Scott Nass to win as best actor. The audience favourite was Amor de las chicas, which also won second place. Third was Alienated. Full results can be found here.

The Breakout Challenge screenings were on 4th February, 2015. Keep Running won for best picture and also as best director for Sean Oliver. Flight Fright swept the acting awards with Gerald Dewey as best actor and Swisyzinna as best actress. Flight Fright also won second place with Playtime Strikes Back, the audience favourite, in third. Full results can be found here.

Here are all the films that screened at these events this year, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Beat the Clock Challenge
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Masterpiece!	2014			Kirby Soderberg	n/a
Creature from the Green Lagoon	2014			Bonnie Sowle	n/a
Happy Ending	2014			Shari K Green & Patrick Giglio	n/a
Dear Claire	2014			Shawn Esplin	n/a
Closed on Sundays	2014			Torrey Inez	n/a
Woman in Blue	2014			Kyle Gerkin	n/a
Project Daisy	2014			Adolpho Navarro	n/a
Split Three Ways	2014			Adam Dub, Jose Meza & Jonathan Baden	n/a
Petey	2014			Sean Oliver	IMDb
Deception in the Desert	2014			Caleb Pearson	IMDb
Barely Sisters	2014			Shane Sandler	n/a
Closing Time	2014			Cory Rowe	n/a
Analyse Who?	2014			Sheri Barbera	n/a
In Your Dreams	2014			Eric Zagar	n/a
Criminal	2014			Darien Marion	n/a
Jungles Cup	2014			Jonathan Jones & Ben Levy	n/a
Shenanigans: The Movie	2014			Paul Nathan	n/a
The Thinking Cap	2014			Richard Stoudt	n/a
And Then There Were Monsters	2014			Dulaney Annette, Chris Ayoub, Colleen Hartnett & Steve Hubbs	n/a
Jersey Hunt	2014			David Miller	n/a
Sticky Fingers	2014			Aaron Hudson	n/a
The MacAlpine's Agenda	2014			Brett O Walker	n/a

Mystery Box Challenge
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Bro Chill	2014			Edwin Eliosa	n/a
Alienated	2014			Sean Oliver	n/a
Come Home, Julia	2014			Mack Duncan	IMDb
Desert Dogs	2014			Matthew Wetzel	n/a
Jose and His Hose, Eh?	2014			Thomas Fulks	n/a
Return to Sender	2014			Michael Dazen	n/a
The Catacosmic Glitch	2014			Gregg Griffith	n/a
The Fittest	2014			Marcelo Dietrich	n/a
Amor de las Chicas	2014			Travio Molinos, Santiago Alirez & Genoveva Nesbito	n/a
The Nude Scene	2014			Davis Marks	n/a
Urban Midnight	2014			Rasheda Poe	n/a
The Other Brother	2014			Jeff Schreckler	n/a
Time to Let Go	2014			Julie Van Lith	n/a
Kitty	2014			Josh Kasselman & Stephanie Lucas	IMDb

Breakout Challenge
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Charlie	2015			Butterfly Rose Cherry	n/a
Fading Away	2015	3	3	Timothy Helmstadter	n/a
Levine	2015			Matthew Padraic	IMDb
Half Measures	2015	5	5	J Schreck	n/a
Return to Sender	2015			Vinny Viti	n/a
Best Day of My Life	2015	5	5	Jeff Dykhuizen	n/a
Flight Fright	2015	5	5	Jim Politano	IMDb
One to Another	2015			Xavier Brennan Brown	n/a
Sinking	2015	5	5	Nathan Lawrence & Justin Ehlers	n/a
Sponsor Me Tape	2015			Roman Aguirre	n/a
Playtime Strikes Back	2015	4	5	Adolpho Navarro	IMDb
Stockholm	2015			Kyle Bryant	n/a
The Persistence of Imagination	2015			Tom Williamson	n/a
Keep Running	2015			Sean Oliver	IMDb
It Happened Next Year	2015			Gregg Griffith	n/a
Best Frenemies	2015			Gilbert Martinez	n/a

IFP Phoenix Filmmaker Challenges 2013-14

IFP Phoenix runs a number of film challenges every year in the Phoenix area.

In the 2013-14 season, the challenges were the Beat the Clock Challenge, the Mystery Box Challenge and the Breakout Challenge. All submissions were screened at events at the Phoenix Art Museum, while the top films from each moved on to screen in a dedicated block at the Phoenix Film Festival at the Harkins Scottsdale 101. Awards were given at each event and for the best of year films.

The Beat the Clock Challenge screenings were on 26th July, 2013. The winning film was Star Babies, with Adventure! and Eva's Light the runners up. Best actress was Michelle Palermo for Star Babies. Best actor was Brandon Slezak for Adventure!, which also won Bonnie Sowle the best director award.

The Mystery Box Challenge screenings were on 14th November, 2013 and I was honoured to be one of the judges for this event. After the Beep won for best film, with Long Way and The Lights following in second and third place. Long Way was also the audience favourite and Josh Kasselman won as best director. Tyler Schneider was the best actor for Next, while Madison Ottinger won best actress for Break Down.

The Breakout Challenge screenings were on 6th February, 2014 and I was again honoured to be among the judges. Blue beat Conundrum into second place by a single vote, with Belly of the Whale in third. Bill Wetherill was best actor for Conundrum and Colleen Hartnett was best actress for Blue, which also won the best director award for Jason Francois and Jae Staats. The audience favourite was Rigged.

At the year end roundup at the Phoenix Film Festival, Long Way won as best picture.

Here are all the films that screened at these events this year, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Beat the Clock Challenge
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Escape from Zany's Baking Company	2013	4	4	Shawn Esplin	n/a
Psychic Says	2013	3	4	Winter Kane	n/a
The Worst Best Man	2013	4	4	Kenny Colt	IMDb
An Adventure in the Life of Barry Barksworth	2013	4	4	Cory Rowe	IMDb
The Anniversary Card	2013	3	3	Sheri H Barbera	n/a
Eva's Light	2013	5	5	Glen A Hines	IMDb
Wouldn't Be Love	2013	3	4	Mack Duncan	IMDb
The Date	2013	4	4	Cody Carlson	n/a
The Neighbors	2013	5	5	Tommy Schaeffer	IMDb
The Disco is in the Details	2013	3	3	Shane Sandler & Brian Weis	n/a
Those Who Forget the Past	2013	3	3	Jon Brown	n/a
Piece for Resistance	2013	4	4	Paulie Jorquera	n/a
Adventure!	2013	4	4	Bonnie Sowle	n/a
The Desert	2013	4	4	Ryan O'Connell	n/a
The Key	2013	3	3	Ivana Kat	n/a
Doubting Thomas	2013	5	5	J Andy Moreno	n/a
Comforting Shadows	2013	2	2	Jeff Grunow	n/a
Deep Love	2013	3	3	Christian Cota	n/a
Inflated	2013	6	5	Sterling E Smith	IMDb
Star Babies	2013	6	5	Travis Mills	IMDb
Drink	2013	4	4	Stephanie Joyce & Ravi Devineni	n/a
It's All Relative	2013	4	4	Sarah Woodward	n/a

Mystery Box Challenge
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Gift Rush	2013	4	4	Eva Marquez	n/a
The Prescription	2013	5	4	Sarah Woodward	n/a
Next	2013	5	5	Bonnie Sowle	n/a
Smiling	2013	2	3	Shawn Esplin	n/a
Catch the Frog	2013	5	5	Travis Mills	n/a
3 Men and a Goblin	2013	4	4	Julie Van Lith	n/a
Lover Boy	2013	3	3	T J Randolph	n/a
The Diner	2013	4	4	Barbara A Gresser	n/a
After the Beep	2013	6	6	Kyle Gerkin	n/a
Zombies of Capitalism	2013	2	2	Mikey Campbell	n/a
Brevity	2013	3	4	Cody Martin	n/a
The Lights	2013	4	4	J Andy Moreno	n/a
Deep Sleep	2013	4	4	Aaron Hudson	IMDb
Break Down	2013	4	4	Robert Garcia	n/a
LARPer	2013	3	3	Shane Sandler	n/a
The Stretch	2013	4	4	Torrey Inez	n/a
Long Way	2013	4	5	Josh Kasselman	IMDb
Your Turn to Smile	2013	4	5	Luis Prado III	IMDb
The Will	2013	5	5	Mack Duncan	IMDb
The Hedge Sculptor 3000	2013	5	5	Adam Mariner	n/a

Breakout Challenge
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
The Idea	2014	4	4	Andy Robinson	n/a
The Engagement	2014	4		Michael Dazen	n/a
Rigged	2014	4	4	Shawn Esplin	n/a
Lost Cause	2014	4		Vaughan Grey	n/a
Office Hours: 6 to Midnight	2014	2		Brian Weis	n/a
If Not Me	2014	4	4	Glen A Hines	n/a
Clutter	2014	4			n/a
Undersea Garden of Eden	2014	1			n/a
Blue	2014	6	6	Jae Staats & Jason Francois	IMDb
Door 1098	2014	4			n/a
Belly of the Whale	2014	5	5	Kyle Gerkin	IMDb
Westside Bully	2014	4		Lyle Dillie	n/a
Baked Goodness	2014	4		Mack Duncan	IMDb
Conundrum	2014	6	5	Kristin LaVanway	n/a
Wrecked	2014	5	5	Kenny Colt	IMDb
The Cost of Living	2014	4			n/a

Finals
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Star Babies	2013	6	5	Travis Mills	IMDb
Eva's Light	2013	5	5	Glen A Hines	IMDb
After the Beep	2013	6	6	Kyle Gerkin	IMDb
Long Way	2013	4	5	Josh Kasselman	IMDb
Rigged	2014	4	4	Shawn Esplin	n/a
Blue	2014	6	6	Jae Staats & Jason Francois	IMDb

IFP Phoenix Filmmaker Challenges 2012-13

IFP Phoenix runs a number of film challenges every year in the Phoenix area.

In the 2012-13 season, the challenges were the Beat the Clock Challenge, the Masterpiece Challenge and the Breakout Challenge. All submissions were screened at events at the Phoenix Art Museum, while the top films from each moved on to screen in a dedicated block at the Phoenix Film Festival at the Harkins Scottsdale 101. Awards were given at each event and for the best of year films.

The Beat the Clock Challenge screenings were on 10th August, 2012. The winning film was Screaming in Silence, with The Memory Ride and The Duel in second and third place. The audience favourite was Love Sucks. Best actor and actress were McCauley Harlan and Chelsea Samuelson for Reality Check and The Duel respectively. Travis Mills won as best director for The Memory Ride.

The Masterpiece Challenge screenings were on 13th November, 2012. Titus won for best film, while the audience favourite was La Lucha.

The Breakout Challenge screenings were on 5th April, 2013. Mission Control won as the best film, with The Face of Innocence and A Day on Bleaker Street the runners up. The Face of Innocence was the audience favourite. Best actor and actress were Seth Gandrud for A Day on Bleaker Street and Honda King for I Don't Even Know Your Name, which also won the best director award for Michael Coleman.

At the finals, Screaming in Silence won as best film of the year, with The Duel and Mission Control following on in second and third. The best actor, actress and director awards mirrored the Breakout Challenge: Seth Gandrud for A Day on Bleaker Street and Honda King and Michael Coleman for I Don't Even Know Your Name.

Here are all the films that screened at these events this year, with titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Beat the Clock Challenge
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Hallways	2012			Diane M Dresback	IMDb
Life Support Saviors	2012				n/a
Tied Down	2012				n/a
Misplaced Memories	2012				n/a
The Duel	2012	5	4	Robert Garcia	IMDb
A Stand Up Guy	2012				n/a
30 Days	2012				n/a
Final Hook UPZ	2012				n/a
37 Minutes	2012				n/a
In/Out	2012				n/a
Screaming in Silence	2012	5	5	Neil Sparks	IMDb
Crees que vale la pena	2012				n/a
Reality Check	2012			Alexander S Pawlak	IMDb
Septasum	2012				n/a
Love Sucks	2012	4	5	James Politano	n/a
House Training	2012				n/a
Side Effects May Include	2012				n/a
The Memory Ride	2012	6	6	Travis Mills	IMDb
The Interview	2012				n/a

Masterpiece Challenge
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
Spark	2012	4	4	Diane M Dresback	IMDb
Letters Home	2012	4	4	Annie Winn	n/a
Babble	2012	3	3	Alexander S Pawlak	n/a
Titus	2012	4	4	Robert Garcia & Nicki Legge	IMDb
La Lucha	2012	6	6	Aaron Kes	IMDb

Breakout Challenge
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
The Sisters of St Mary's	2013	4	4	James Politano	n/a
A Day on Bleaker Street	2013	4	4	Bill Wetherill	IMDb
The Recipe	2013	4	5	Brice LeCarre	n/a
Second Chances	2013	4	4	Jon Ray	IMDb
I Don't Even Know Your Name	2013	4	4	Michael Coleman	n/a
Mission Control	2013	5	5	Brandon Nazari	IMDb
Shiny	2013	4	4	Shawn Esplin	n/a
Bad Day	2013	5	5	Steve Briscoe & Paul DeNigris	n/a
The Face of Innocence	2013	5	5	Robert Garcia	IMDb

Finals
Title	Year	H	D	Director(s)	IMDb
The Duel	2012	5	4	Robert Garcia	IMDb
The Face of Innocence	2013	5	5	Robert Garcia	IMDb
Love Sucks	2012	4	5	James Politano	n/a
La Lucha	2012	6	6	Aaron Kes	IMDb
The Memory Ride	2012	6	6	Travis Mills	IMDb
Mission Control	2013	5	5	Brandon Nazari	IMDb
Screaming in Silence	2012	5	5	Neil Sparks	IMDb
Titus	2012	4	4	Robert Garcia & Nicki Legge	IMDb