EERIE HORROR FEST call for entries!

[KwaiChang]

The 2005 Eerie Horror Film Festival has officially opened its call for entries, accepting submissions from around the world for independently produced feature length and short horror and science fiction films.

The 2005 Eerie Horror Film Festival will be held October 5-9, in Erie, Pennsylvania at the Roadhouse Theater.

The early submission deadline is January 1, 2005 and the final deadline is August 6, 2005.

Submission categories for the 2005 Eerie Horror Film Festival will include Horror Feature; Horror Short; Slasher Short; Slasher Feature; Horror Experimental; Thriller/Suspense Short; Thriller/Suspense Feature; Sci-Fi Feature; Sci-Fi Short; Sci-Fi Action; Sci-Fi Fantasy; Psychological Horror Feature; Psychological Horror Short; Animated Horror Feature; Animated Horror Short. We will make special exceptions for films that can not be placed in the above mentioned categories (documentaries, comedies, etc). Contact us for more info.

Overlooked, underrated, and misunderstood, independent horror movies have been ignored and shunned by the mainstream film industry since it began more than a century ago. Through the decades, these films have entertained and thrilled audiences around the world and continue to grow in popularity to this very day. There is an incredible amount of talent in this field that goes unnoticed an unappreciated, and we are proud to announce that the Great Lakes Film Association hopes to reverse that trend. The EERIE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL was established in order to give filmmakers and writers in the horror /sci-fi genres a venue to have their work showcased to people in the industry.

The 2004 Eerie Horror Film Festival was a huge success, screened over forty films and featured special guests, best selling author Jamian Snow, radio talk show regular Sean David Morton and the legendary star of "American Movie", Mark Borchardt. Our winner for the Best of the Fest was "The Last Horror Movie", which has since gone on to get a distribution deal with Fangoria for a December, 2004 home video release!

To top it off, Lion's Gate Films contacted us and we were able to show the North Coast premiere of the movie "SAW", two weeks before it hit the theaters.

The 2005 Eerie Horror Film Festival will be even bigger and better, with more special guest and surprises! We hope that you will be a part of this year’s festivities!

The EERIE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL takes place every fall at the Road House Theater in the great city of Erie, PA. (USA). The Roadhouse is a beautiful, gothic, community theater that looks like it was tailor made for a horror fest! The theater has comfortable seating, a café, and room for merchandise for those of you interested in selling your product at our event. (Please contact us for more info). A motel is located directly across the street from our event, as are several fast food restaurants and the downtown district of Erie, which features more upscale eateries and taverns.

Erie is only a short drive from the cities of Cleveland, OH, Buffalo, NY, and Pittsburgh, PA. For those of you looking for other activities throughout the weekend.

The EERIE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL will be held October 5 - 9, 2005.

For more information, please see our website: www.eeriehorrorfest.com
or call Greg at 814-873-7074. E-mail: [e-mail]

FEES and Deadlines:
Feature Length:
$45.00 if postmarked by January 1, 2005 (U.S. Currency only)
$55.00 if postmarked by March 5, 2005 (U.S. Currency only)
$65.00 if postmarked by May 7, 2005 (U.S. Currency only)
$75.00 if postmarked by August 6, 2005 (U.S. Currency only)

Shorts:
$35.00 if postmarked by January 1, 2005 (U.S. Currency only)
$45.00 if postmarked by March 5, 2005 (U.S. Currency only)
$55.00 if postmarked by May 7, 2005 (U.S. Currency only)
$65.00 if postmarked by August 6, 2005 (U.S. Currency only)

$100.00 for ALL entries postmarked after August 6, 2005. Absolutely no submissions will be accepted after September 9th, 2005.

Category Summary:
Feature Length Films = 41+ minutes
Short Length Films = 40 or less minutes

Complete rules and entry forms can be found on our website: www.eeriehorrorfest.com

Only one title per entry form. Productions from 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004and 2005 may be submitted. Do not submit works in progress. All films must be submitted on DVD or 1/2" VHS (NTSC system only) for consideration. Films selected for screening at our Festival must be in the DVD, VHS or Beta SP format. All entries must be postmarked by August 6, 2005. To ensure that your entry is properly processed, you must fill out the form completely and enclose proper payment. Please mark the tape with the title of your project, running time, your name, contact information and category. Along with the VHS tape or DVD (burned DVD's tend to skip and/or fail to work in many circumstances. Please send a VHS tape for submission if your DVD is NOT professionally mastered.), a black and white still from the production, a complete cast and crew list and a 50-100 word synopsis of the project must be included. We will notify you by email when your tape has been received.

Good luck to all of you and thanks for reading this far! -Greg

[AJ]

Whats up with charging people to send you their movies Greg? You do know that it's supposed to be the other way around... right?

You go to a festival like Edinburgh and they pay the filmmaker to attend, that's how it works, you make your money from ticket sales, not from charging the filmmakers.

Doesn't make your festival a very appealing prospect imo.

[KwaiChang]

What's up with charging people to submit their films?

Before I answer that, I must point out that our Festival is totally grassroots. Everyone involved is either a film maker, an artist, a musician, etc. There are no CEO's, no corporate involvement, etc. We are not a bunch of money hungry, greedy bastards... in fact I personally spend hundreds of dollars out of my own pocket each year to produce this Festival.

So that said, here's why we HAVE to charge entry fees:

(1) This is a competition. Entrants are participating for Best Film, Director, Actor, Actress, etc. Nearly every competition and film festival in the world charges a fee. Those who don't usually have huge sponsors. We don't.

(2) The submission fees basically pay our operating costs. No one is getting rich from these fees, trust me.

(3) Without submission fees, no fest. Without a fest, no one to see your movie.

(4) We have also discovered something very interesting. We don't really get that many bad movies submitted to us. So far, especially this year, the quality of the productions have been extraordinary. Fees usually mean that only those who KNOW that their work is solid will submit. Not that there is a thing wrong with some 8 minute zombie film you shot on Grandma's back porch... but you probably won't be submitting it to us if you had to pay... just a thought. But seriously, we have been stunned by how good the movies have been this year.

(5) While I understand your feelings about having to pay to enter a contest, do try to see it from our perspective. This Fest costs thousands of dollars and nearly ten straight months of work to pull off. We have to pay to rent the place, pay for insurance, pay the special guests, catering, motel rooms, awards, security, etc. etc.... we do this because we love it.

Hopefully this helps to explain a bit... over the course of the next few years we do hope to get some bigger sponsors and backers, which will more than likely drive the fees down... but we will never lose them completely.

Sorry if this offends... but the majority, the vast majority of film festivals charge an entry fee (especially if it's a competition). If you can find some that pay you... more power to ya!

Beast of luck to you!
Greg

[wayne]

We at It Came From Lake Michigan are looking forward to working with the EERIE Horror Fest.
Greg is a great guy! Also let us know Fests that pay you to enter I would like to see how they do that.