The GenreBlast Film Festival is an annual event held in the

Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the northwesternmost Administrative divisions of Virginia#Independent cities, independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Frederick County, Virginia, Frederi ...

area that specializes in genre film. GenreBlast is the largest genre film festival in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

region, spotlighting short and feature films that are typically independently produced and would not otherwise receive theatrical release.

History

Started in 2016, by Nathan Ludwig, Chad Farmer, and Charles Hill, the first annual GenreBlast Film Festival took place in August 2016 in

Culpeper, Virginia Culpeper (formerly Culpeper Courthouse, earlier Fairfax) is an incorporated town in Culpeper County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat and part of the Washington–Baltimore–Arlington, DC–MD–VA–WV–PA Combined Statistical ...

at the now defunct State Theatre. Programmers officially described the fest as playing, "horror, action/adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, martial arts, exploitation, grindhouse, international, experimental and more!" After the first year, the festival relocated to the

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an American cinema chain founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas, which is famous for serving dinner and drinks during the film, as well as its strict policy of requiring its audiences to maintain proper cinema-going etiq ...

, where it has been located since. Hill departed from the team after the second year of the fest and Raygan Ketterer, previously the fest designer, replaced Hill as programmer. GenreBlast is attended by filmmakers and writers whose work is recognized by the fest, with about 50% of films represented in the first year and a much higher percentage in subsequent years. It has also been judged to be a top genre fest.

Awards

GenreBlast gives out rocket trophies in a number of categories for short films, feature films, and unproduced screenplays. The festival also gives out a special wrestling belt to recognize an outstanding woman in genre film each year. The Les Femmes Du Genre Award was given to

Tristan Risk Tristan Risk, also known as Little Miss Risk, is a Canadian film actress, known for her roles in horror films such as ''American Mary'', ''Ayla'', and '' Aliens Ate My Homework''. In 2014 Risk penned the script for the short film ''Happily Ever E ...

in 2016, Samantha Kolesnik in 2017, and

Sophia Cacciola Sophia Cacciola is an American filmmaker, artist, and musician. Career overview Film Cacciola is known for her sociopolitical genre feature films that showcase women: ''TEN (2014 film), TEN'', Magnetic (2015 film), Magnetic, Blood of the Tr ...

in 2018. GenreBlast also gives out the "Forever Award" for a film that "a film that truly encapsulates the spirit of the fest — fiercely independent, highly original, and spectacularly innovative." The 2020 recipient was ''Force to Fear''. The 2021 recipient was ''The Transformations of the Transformations of the Drs. Jenkins''. The 2022 recipient was Gouge Away. The 2023 recipient was ''

The Once and Future Smash ''The Once and Future Smash'' is a 2022 mockumentary film directed by Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein. The film tells the story of Mikey Smash ( Michael St. Michaels) and William Mouth ( Bill Weeden), who both played the same football ca ...

''.

Notable films featured

*'' Night of Something Strange'' – Jonathan Straiton (2016) *''

Blood of the Tribades ''Blood of the Tribades'' is a 2016 horror film directed by Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein. The script, style, and look are heavily influenced by 1970s European lesbian vampire films. The film is distributed in North America on VOD and DV ...

'' –

& Michael J. Epstein (2016) *''Scratch'' – Maninder Chana (2016) *''

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'' –

Izzy Lee Izzy Lee is an American filmmaker and writer, known for her short films ''Re-Home'' (2019), ''The Obliteration of the Chickens'' (2019), ''My Monster'' (2018), and ''Innsmouth'', which she produced through her company Nihil Noctem. She has written ...

(2016) *''Frankenstein Created Bikers'' – James Bickert (2016) *''Camino'' – Justin Herring (2017) *''Dead Bullet'' – Erik Reese (2017) *''Family Possessions'' – Tommy Faircloth (2017) *''Future'' – Rob Cousineau & Chris Rosik (2017) *''Guardians'' – Mark Brown (2017) *'' Happy Hunting'' – Joel Dietsch & Louis Gibson (2017) *''Lilith's Awakening'' – Monica Demes (2017) *''She's Allergic to Cats'' – Michael Reich (2017) *'' The Naughty List'' - Paul Campion (2017) *''Boyne Falls'' – Steve Kopera (2018) *''Butterfly Kisses'' – Erik Kristopher Myers (2018) *'' The VelociPastor'' – Brendan Steere (2018) *''Loon'' – Lillian Langston & Andrew Bassett (2018) *''Murder Made Easy'' – Dave Palamaro (2018) *''The Nothing'' – Clayton Thompson (2018) *''Amazon Hot Box'' – James Bickert (2018) *''She Was So Pretty: Be Good for Goodness Sake'' – Brooklyn Ewing (2018) *''Livescream'' – Michelle Iannantuono (2018) *''

Clickbait Clickbait (also known as link bait or linkbait) is a text or a thumbnail hyperlink, link that is designed to attract attention and to entice users to follow ("click") that link and view, read, stream or listen to the linked piece of online cont ...

'' –

& Michael J. Epstein (2018) *''I'm Dreaming of a White Doomsday'' – Mike Lombardo (2018) *''Lieutenant Jangles'' – Nic Champeaux (2018) *''House Shark'' – Ron Bonk (2018) *''The Psyborgs'' – David Hiatt (2018) *''Bong of the Living Dead'' – Max Groah (2018) *''Top Knot Detective'' – Aaron McCann & Dominic Pearce (2018) *'' The Ranger'' – Jenn Wexler (2018) *''Unterwelt: The World Beyond'' – Ralf Kemper (2018) *''Socket'' – Christopher Beaubien (2018) *''Force to Fear'' (2020) *''The Transformations of the Transformations of the Drs. Jenkins'' (2021) *'' ''Red Snow'''' — Sean Nichols Lynch (2021) *'' Fresh Hell —'' Ryan Imhoff & Matt Neal (2022) *''

/ End Zone 2'' –

& Michael J. Epstein (2022) *''Livescreamers'' – Michelle Iannantuono (2023){{cite web , title=THE FURTHERGenreBlast Film Festival – Lineup for This Year's Fest Includes 'Livescreamers', 'Project Eerie' and More , url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/the-further/3776470/genreblast-film-festival-lineup-for-this-years-fest-includes-livescreamers-project-eerie-and-more/ , website=Bloody Disgusting

References

External links

GenreBlast Film Festival
website Film festivals in Virginia Underground film festivals Experimental film festivals