Northern Irish film website BanterFlix is delighted to launch the programme for the inaugural Dark Hedges International Film Festival (24 – 31 October) which will be presented as a hybrid of socially distanced physical screenings in Belfast and online content available on their digital player.
Showcasing a mixture of horror, fantasy and sci-fi short films and features, the Dark Hedges International Film Festival presents filmmaking talent from around the world.
Starting out as a short film festival in 2018 which focused on films by Irish filmmakers, after two successful years the decision was made to reshape the event into a fully-fledged festival with an international outlook. Whilst still committed to its short film programme, The Dark Hedges International Film Festival aims to present an eclectic mix of genre movies, old and new to audiences in Belfast and across the UK and Ireland.
Festival Highlights
- 35mm screening of Mary Harron’s American Psycho (2000) at the Strand Cinema (Saturday 24th October)
- Irish Premiere of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s The Lodge at Movie House Cinemas City Side (Wednesday 28 October)
- Late night screening of Fright Night (1985) at the Queen’s Film Theatre (Friday 30th October)
- Halloween night screenings of An American Werewolf in London at the Black Box Belfast and Shudder sensation Host at the Queen’s Film Theatre.
- Launch of the Dark Hedges Film Festival’s Digital Player featuring shorts and features. (https://dhiff.vhx.tv/)
“With months of uncertainty, watching our beloved venues struggle and some shut permanently, planning for the inaugural programme of the Dark Hedges International Film Festival during this pandemic has been a complicated process to say the least.
Although we would have loved to welcome our audiences to a cinema and present these cinematic gems on a big screen, like so many other organizations we’ve had to adapt to the ever-changing, challenging situation. That is why we have decided to move the majority of our programme online.
But nothing beats the atmosphere a cinema can offer, so that’s why we want to show our support to local exhibitors in these challenging times and host 5 socially –distanced physical screenings, a thank you for their support over the years. But for those horror fans who don’t feel comfortable coming back to the cinema just yet, then our digital player will keep you entertained.
I’d like to take the time to thank the members of our festival’s team and our partners and sponsors, particularly Film Hub NI for their ongoing support in these strange times. We hope the Dark Hedges International Film Festival brings a little joy and some much-needed escape to our audiences this Halloween period”
Jim McClean (Festival Programmer)
Physical Events
The Festival’s 5 physical screenings include a 35mm screening of Mary Harron’s American Psycho (Saturday 24 October) at the historic Strand Cinema in East Belfast to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary as well as a screening marking the 35th anniversary of Tom Holland’s Fright Night, with a late-night screening at the Queen’s Film Theatre (Friday 30 October). The Festival will also be hosting the Irish premiere of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s The Lodge at Movie House Cinemas’ City Side site (Wednesday 28 October) and a screening of Shudder sensation Host on Halloween night at the Queen’s Film Theatre.
Over the past few years the Festival’s organisers BanterFlix have become well known for their special events on Halloween night. Previous screenings include sold out showing of John Carpenter’s The Fog and Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys on the Belfast Barge, a burlesque-themed screening of From Dusk Till Dawn and a fancy dress/interactive screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Black Box in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter.
This year is no exception as BanterFlix returns to the Black Box on Halloween night with a screening of John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London.
Digital Player
These physical screenings will be accompanied by an ambitious online offer, available to audiences through a purposely build digital player, which will host the short and new cinema strands of our programme, showcasing work from filmmakers from across the world.
The programme of shorts includes titles from not only Ireland but also the United States, Sweden and Uruguay, amongst many others – altogether there is nearly 8 hours of great world cinema. The player will also offer audiences the opportunity to watch some of the finalists from the past two iterations of the Dark Hedges Festival which focused purely on Irish talent.
The festival’s digital player will also host several Digital UK premieres, including Chad Ferrin’s The Deep Ones, Bad Candy, Le Dosis and Sanzaru, which recently won the Graveyard Shift feature competition at the Nashville Film Festival.
To purchase a Festival pass for the Digital Player, audiences are encouraged to visit the festival’s website (https://dhiff.com/). Access to the digital player is only available to audiences in the UK and Ireland.
Access to the digital player is only available to audiences in the UK and Ireland.
Online Panels and Discussions
In addition to the physical screenings and online content, throughout the festival’s programme, there will be a series of talks/interviews and panel discussions hosted on the festival’s social media channels and digital player, some of the organizations involved in these online events include paranormal investigators Para.Science, local comedy group The Sick Sense, The Comic Book Guys, Fright Club NI, film scholars Cinepunked, The Northern Ireland Institute of Human Relations, The Big Nerd Quiz, Into Film NI and the Film Devour Short Film Festival.
More information about these online events will be released in due course.
