A Chat with Screamfest Film Festival Director Rachel Belofsky

The Screamfest Horror Film Festival is often regarded as “the Sundance of horror.” And for good reason. Here are just a few of the films that have been discovered and/or have premiered at the festival: Tigers Are Not Afraid, The Wretched, Tragedy Girls, Paranormal Activity, 30 Days of Night, Trick ‘r Treat, and The Human Centipede.

Screamfest L.A. 2022 runs October 11-20 and, as in years past, is packed with films of every genre and variety, from shorts and feature-length films to documentaries. In fact, Rachel Belofsky, the festival’s founder and director, informed me there were 90 short films in this year’s fest. I was so focused on the feature-length films, which include some pretty intriguing offerings, that I had overlooked the integral short film component of the festival.

Here are a few other highlights from my Q&A with Rachel Belofsky, who very graciously spared me some time for an interview, which we recorded on Friday, Oct. 14. Not only was she smack in the middle of Screamfest L.A., but she and her team were setting up a booth at another event.

If you want to hear more, you’ll find the whole conversation embedded below.

You have Screamfest NOLA coming up too?

“Yeah, we do. So we end here October 20th, Thursday, and then we fly into New Orleans and we do October 21st through 23rd at the Prytania Theatres at Canal Place.”

How did Rachel Belofsky get involved in Screamfest?

“I founded it in 2001 after I had created a documentary about women in auto racing and I sold it to TV. And we did some festivals prior to the airing, and so it was that journey that made me want to create a festival to help filmmakers make connections and get their work out there and really be a champion for independent filmmaking.”

Screamfest is not just for women but for everybody, right?

“Oh, yeah, absolutely. The festival’s open to the public, our attendees are almost a 50-50 split between male and female. Very diverse. The films we show are very diverse.”

She then went on to name some of the countries movies in this years fest came from, including South Africa, Estonia, Spain, and Italy. Basically, whether it’s where the films come from, their genre, or the attendees, Screamfest is “very encompassing.”

Slayers, Living with Chucky, and Run Sweetheart Run

A few movies especially piqued my interest. Among them was Slayers,  a vampire movie starring Thomas Jane, Abigail Breslin, Malin Akerman, and Kara Hayward. It looks like a good comedy-horror that would be a whole lot of fun. Rachel confirmed it was. Or, as she phrased it, “a whole lot of bloody fun.”

Living with Chucky was another. It was written and directed by Kyra Gardner, who grew up alongside the Child’s Play franchise. Her dad, Tony Gardner, was the FX guru who brought the killer doll to life. Rachel explained it was an interesting documentary about Kyra’s life growing up with Chucky and in that world.

And then there was Run Sweetheart Run. I’d recently seen a trailer for it but as I watched it struck me as vaguely familiar. Then I realized it was one of the movies I’d read about in the Screamfest lineup. The festival’s closing movie in fact.

But I was excited because I knew it was also coming soon to Prime Video. (Oct. 28, 2022.) Rachel explained it actually premiered first at Sundance in 2020, but thanks to Covid they held off on releasing it. Thankfully the wait will soon be over!

Which movies piqued her interest and left a mark that would be hard to erase?

“Matriarch. {heavy sigh} Matriarch was twisted.”

She shared that’ll drop on Hulu on October 21, and then added, “I emailed them after I saw it and said, ‘That was just twisted. Right on. That was great. Good job, guys.'”

And that’s why I saved the date on my calendar to give Matriarch a gander. Wildly curious to see what it’s all about now.

What draws Rachel Belofsky to the horror genre?

“It’s just a lot of fun. I love zombies, horror-comedies, and slashers…you know, it’s just really fun escapism. And it’s very cathartic, right? You know, it’s kind of like that roller coaster ride, right? You’re going up the hill. You’re tense, you’re waiting, waiting, waiting. And then you do the drop, and it’s like {scream}. And then you just kind of laugh, right? So it’s pretty much like a roller coaster ride.”

Except usually without the barfing. At least due to motion sickness. (With the exception of The Blair Witch Project. I was among those who felt nauseous from the shaky camerawork.) But I imagine if some horror movies are gruesome and gory enough, they might induce vomiting too.

Dang it. That would’ve been a good question to ask her too. “Does Screamfest provide baarf bags during any of the showings, just in case?”

But what a great answer to this question. One I think so many of us can relate to. And overall, it was a fabulous chat with a horror-loving movie maker who has created one of the biggest venues (if not the biggest)  for other filmmakers to share their work with those who enjoy consuming the horror genre.

The Chat with Screamfest Festival Director, Rachel Belofsky

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