SFScope friend Andrew Porter writes with news of BIFF 2011, the 5th Annual Buffalo International Film Festival, which runs 7-23 October 2011 at various venues in Western New York including The Screening Room, The Lancaster Opera House, and The Ellicott Square Building.
Tickets for the majority of these events are already on sale at buffalofilmfest.eventbrite.com. Many have EarlyBird Discount prices that remain in effect for another several weeks before returning to full price.
The full schedule of events is available on this page. Porter has weeded out schedule for this subset of sf-nal highlights:
H.P. Lovecraft Tribute: Whisperer in Darkness, Call of Cthulhu, Mountains of Madness with William F. Nolan and Jason Brock in person.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Mountains of Madness: Based on the stories of HP Lovecraft, Alexander Hacke, bass player for the German band Einstürzende Neubauten, and London-based band The Tiger Lillies, perform a chilling, ghostly musical interpretation of Lovecraft’s stories.
10:30PM (Double Bill): The Call of Cthulhu: “The Call of Cthulhu” is H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous story, and the only story to feature the celebrated monster Cthulhu. A dying professor leaves his great-nephew a collection of documents pertaining to the Cthulhu Cult. The nephew’s investigation to understand his grandfather’s fascination with the cult becomes a crusade of his own as he learns of the dire implications of the inquiries.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
12:30PM: Logan’s Run: The classic science fiction film about a world in which no one over 30 is allowed to live presented by the book’s author William F. Nolan in person! William F. Nolan, one of America’s most influential science fiction and horror writers, will travel to Buffalo to introduce Logan’s Run, an Academy Award-nominated film based on his novel. The film stars Michael York as Logan 5 and is set in an idyllic society in the year 2274. Inhabitants live in an enclosed dome, where humans are free to experience all the pleasures life has to offer. There is one catch: when you reach 30, you are terminated in a quasi-religious ceremony known as Carousel. Some, known as runners, do try to escape their fate. Logan begins to question the system after he goes on the run with a member of the underground sanctuary, those who have already questioned the system. After seeing for himself that there is life beyond the dome, he is determined to return to the dome to educate the others and to destroy the computer which rules the dome.
7:00PM (Reception at 6PM): Western New York premiere of The Whisperer in Darkness: Legends of strange creatures lurking in New England woods is brought to life, mixing science fiction and horror storytelling techniques, in this 2011 production of H.P. Lovecraft’s tale “The Whisperer in the Darkness.”
9:15PM: The AckerMonster Chronicles (World Premiere: Work-In-Progress): This documentary directed and written by Jason V. Brock, a popular panelist at horror conventions and film festivals, highlights the life and times of Famous Monsters of Filmland‘s former editor, Forrest J. Ackerman. Ackerman was the editor and principal writer of the magazine, which was published in the wake of the widespread success of old horror movies syndicated to American television in 1957. The film will be introduced in person by Jason and Sunni Brock.
11:15PM: Burnt Offerings: One of the creepiest Hollywood films ever made and starring Bette Davis to boot! Introduced in person by screenwriter William F. Nolan. Stars Bette Davis, Oliver Reed, and Karen Black. It’s a haunted house thriller written by William F. Nolan in which summer caretakers move into a Gothic house with their young son. The catch? The house rejuvenates a part of itself with each death that occurs on its premises.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Screening at 7:00PM (Reception 6:00PM): Make Believe: a heartwarming and suspenseful documentary which follows six teenagers on their quest to perfect their extraordinary skill of magic at the World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas. The winner of the Best Documentary at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival and Official Selection at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, Make Believe balances humor and sensitivity in its storytelling as viewers come to understand that each magician may be a teenager, but also holds a dream to be larger than life, to excel at a craft which lives to stupefy audiences worldwide.
9:00PM: Orphans of Apollo: The amazing, true story of how a group of private citizens purchased an orbiting space station against the wishes of NASA.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
7:00PM: William Castle’s House on Haunted Hill with EMERGO!: The return engagement of the original terror classic complete with EMERGO! The Ghosts Fly Into the Audience. See it with someone you trust! Plus Halloween and Costume Party.
Friday, October 21, 2011
9:15PM: Samuel Fuller’s Shock Corridor, plus ATWILL, World Premiere: Both introduced, in person, by Charles Dennis who did the Special Features for the Criterion BluRay of Shock Corridor and is Producer/Director of ATWILL. Shock Corridor, written and directed by Samuel Fuller, this film stars Peter Breck as Johnny Barrett, an ambitious journalist, who is determined to win a Pulitzer Prize by solving a murder committed in an insane asylum. The murder is witnessed by only three inmates, from whom the police have been unable to gain cooperation. With the collusion of a psychiatrist and his reluctant girlfriend, he succeeds in having himself declared insane and sent to the asylum. There he slowly tracks down and interviews the witnesses—but things are stranger than they seem.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
12:00N: Flatland: The Movie: based on the acclaimed science fiction novel by Edwin Abbott, Flatland is set in a world of only two dimensions and inhabited by geometrical shapes. During a political and social upheaval, a mysterious visitor from the third dimension arrives: A Sphere, CEO of Messiah, Inc. Flatlanders, according to A Sphere, must learn that there is another dimension called “height.” Part political drama, part theoretical analysis, Flatland presents aspects of relativity and hyperspace, packaged in an enchanting and entertaining film for audiences to experience. Introduced in person by director Ladd Ehlinger, Jr.
1:00-2:00PM: The Vitascope Theater 115th Birthday Party A celebration of the world’s first permanent motion picture theater, which opened in Buffalo on October 19, 1896. Presentation and Birthday Cake.
3:00PM: Edison’s Frankenstein: a 1910 film made by Edison Studios that was written and directed by J. Searle Dawley. It was the first motion picture adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Some sources do credit Thomas Edison as being a producer of the film. The classic story revolves around Frankenstein, who becomes engrossed in creating the perfect human being. From a vat of chemicals and a skeleton, Frankenstein does not create the perfect human, but rather a ghastly monster. Audiences for years have clung to the horror of the monster and the realism of the story’s lesson: the struggle between good and love and the yearning of ambition, evil, and selfishness. Author Fred Wiebel, who has written the definitive account of the re-discovery of Thomas Edison’s adaptation of Frankenstein, will speak at this presentation of the film.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
3:00PM: Edison’s Frankenstein: second performance.
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The following film will be included in the programming, but is not yet scheduled into a venue because of its late submission:
Night of the Living Dead Reanimated: International artists and animators influenced by the 1968 George Romero cult classic Night of the Living Dead collaborate on this mixed media feature which aims to not alter the classic film, but approaches the horror genre from a totally different direction. Scenes from the horror movie are re-created using puppetry, CGI, hand drawn animation, oil paintings and tattoos.