 Meet Mike "Nug" Nahrgang, actor and comedian who starred in some great live theatre including Evil Dead the Musical, Cannibal: The Musical and Night of the Living Dead Live!  There's more spooky-funny content awaiting you...read more!
0 Comments
 Kalen Artinian is a filmmaker based in Toronto. He also runs events at the Grand Gerrard Theatre!  First of all, please tell me a bit about yourself, what you do, and your role at the Grand Gerrard. As a writer and director, I enjoy telling stories of real world trauma through fantasy and genre. My short films have played at film festivals all over the world and I've directed, shot and edited music videos for artists all the way from NYC to Paris to Saudi Arabia. My responsibilities at The Grand Gerrard are multiple as it is a very DIY operation. I love programming the films. It feels good sometimes introducing them to new audiences. The Grand Gerrard is open to anyone from all walks of life, if you want to book a screening, a comedy show, and even concerts. We're very flexible that way. Tell me about some of your favourite projects as a film writer, director and producer. I have made shorts that cost upwards of 10000$. Don't Scream cost around 50$ and it ended up screening at The Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Destruction Makes the World Burn Brighter recently screened at Final Girls Berlin Film Festival In Berlin. I attended the festival in February just before the pandemic hit the world. The short was very well received and I met some rad filmmakers. What are you working on now/soon? Right now, I'm working on a couple different feature scripts that I hope will go into production once this pandemic is far behind us.  There's more interview...read on!
Day 11 of my 13 Horrifically Silly Days of Halloween with my guest, writer Conor McCreery10/29/2020  Another old friend of mine...Conor McCreery - co-writer of the Kill Shakespeare and Assassin's Creed and many other graphic novel series, including: COMING SOON...The Last Witch! Conor McCreery is the swashbuckling wordsmith/former journalist behind the Kill Shakespeare (IDW) series, Adventure Time/Regular Show (BOOM!), Assassin’s Creed (Titan Comics), Sherlock Holmes vs Harry Houdini (Dynamite) and more! A former business journalist who worked on three continents, Conor started his career in the Canadian film and television industry. His newest projects are the creator-owned, YA adventure series The Last Witch (debuting through BOOM! in 2020), and a magic realism comics biography of the legendary Fela Kuti: Music is the Weapon (Amistad Press), with superstar artist Jibola Fagbamiye. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.  There's more..."turn the page"...
 Today, I interview my friend, Scott McCord. And you know what happens when two old friends get talking...the interview goes long! So this is Part 1 -- tune in for Part 2 tomorrow!  Check out more McCord content...read on...
 Today, I have the pleasure of presenting Carolyn Mauricette, Development Director at the Blood in the Snow Festival! You'll remember I interviewed Kelly Michael Stewart from BITS last year. This year, Carolyn shares with us a bit about the 2020 BITS line-up, as well as it's new virtual format due to COVID-19. This year, you will find the Blood in the Snow Festival on Super Channel!  Find out more about Carolyn and the Blood in the Snow Festival on Super Channel...
Day 7 of my 13 Horrifically Silly Days of Halloween...today my guest is author Brittni Brinn!10/25/2020  Brittni Brinn is so thrilled to be featured as part of 13 Horrifically Silly Days of Halloween! She grew up with a healthy love for the season: her Mom always made the day fun, hosting games nights and planning parties, sometimes sewing costumes for her sister and her. This may have influenced why she grew up to enjoy theatre so much: being part of a community and getting to try on different personalities and characters onstage. Brittni was part of theatre groups all through her 20s, and she even wrote a few plays. One of them was called Jaala, where she stepped in to play the eccentric/sinister inventor when the original actor had to change roles. Since then, Brittni has moved into writing fiction, and has two published novels, The Patch Project and A Place That Used to Be, which just came out with Adventure Worlds Press! Now, on with the interview...mwa ha ha ha... Tell me all about your latest book! A Place That Used to Be is a post-apocalyptic novel. It features an ensemble cast of characters, some with strange powers, journeying through a changing wasteland in search of a place to belong. There's a restaurant in a forest, a mysterious illness, and dangerous scavengers called Grafters. No zombies though :) Who are some of your influences, as an author, particularly for this specific book? This book is the second in a series (though it reads just fine as a stand alone story), so the biggest influence on A Place would probably be all of the feedback I received from readers about the first book.Who their favourite characters were. What about the world drew their attention. What they wanted to know more about. That feedback pushed this book places I don't think it would have gone otherwise. Other influences probably include books like Station Eleven, which is a fantastic post-apocalyptic novel tying together art and survival, and a general interest in communities, what brings people together and how they face challenges. Who are your favourite horror authors overall? I have to confess that most horror novels are usually too much for me! I get too immersed when I read, and it's difficult to pull myself out of the atmosphere of the book when it's finished. Generally, short stories are much more my speed! I love dark fiction stories that are 'weird' or conceptual. Local authors Christian Laforet and Alexander Zelenyj are probably my favourite writers of horror/weird speculative fiction. Is horror comedy something you’d ever consider writing (or ever have written)? I haven't read or written much horror comedy, though I've been involved in a couple of film and theatre productions with those elements. When I was living in Edmonton, one of my friends from undergrad decided to make a zombie movie. It was a week of meeting up in parks and alleys, getting covered in fake blood, and very slowly chasing a newly-fired office worker. It was a lot of fun!  "Turn the page"...there's more interview...
Day 6 of my 13 Horrifically Silly Days of Halloween, with my guest, Actor Steve Valentine10/24/2020  Another horrifyingly silly day, another terrorifically talented actor! Meet Steve Valentine!  Watch our interview right here: And the rest here: Don't stop now! There's more!
 MEET TUBBY! Bassist - DOG BAND...
A picture book to be published by Iguana Books in the spring of 2021. Illustrated by Wei Lu! Check back to meet the other members of the band...  Please tell me a bit about yourself and your background in horror in general. And tell me about Unstable Ground. I've been making independent movies for quite a while now, largely self-financed, with minimal investment, up until I made LIFECHANGER (which was technically my 6th feature film). I became obsessed with film, and horror, at a very early age, when I first saw films like The Monster Squad and The Lost Boys. My dad used to sneak horror films to me when I was home sick from school, so by the age of 15 I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I started Unstable Ground in the late 90s, while I was making movies in high school, turned it into an official production company in 2001, and then a corporation in 2004. But it's a corporation of one person (me), with a bunch of freelancers as needed. We've been actively creating entertainment media, and offering production and post-production services to people around the world ever since. More on my history can be found on my IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1190282/ Tell me more about LIFECHANGER. How was it to shoot a feature with a larger budget compared with what you’ve previously done? Was it a "life changer" for you? The major difference for me was moving from a set where I was trying to do too many jobs at once (the no budget way) to having a set where there is 25+ crew and a much bigger cast, actual departments of people working together to realize the vision. So it's a crash course on teamwork and protocol. As for the synopsis, it's about a murderous shapeshifter setting out on a mission to make things right with the woman he loves. But at the core it's a dark and gory relationship/sexual politics story. I don't want to go much deeper than that as it's been out there to watch for a long time now, and I'd rather people draw their own conclusions. And yes, it has changed my life in a few ways, mostly opening doors and being taken more seriously in pitches.  How did the monthly Little Terrors Monthly Short Film Series start? How is Rue Morgue involved as a partner? In 2011 a friend suggested I approach an indie theatre in Toronto (then called The Projection Booth) to see about running screenings. I came up with the idea of a short film program, we brainstormed names, I settled on Little Terrors, and then approached Rue Morgue about co-presenting (supporting with their social media network and providing prizes/giveaways/support). The first event was a lot of fun and I haven't looked back since. We've now played over 700 short films since then, have changed venues twice (moved to Carlton Cinemas and then Eyesore Cinema).  Read more of my delightful interview with Justin McConnell...click "read more"...
|
Archives
September 2024
Categories
|
RSS Feed