Press

…And in its third year, Bloody Mary is becoming more proactive about future programming. “Over the past three years our goal has increasingly become finding ways to support our directors and help them take their careers to the next level,” says Dzialoszynski. “This year we have partnered with production companies Ultra 8 Pictures and Zed.film to present the Creators Coven Genre Film Generator. We are giving our past and present filmmakers an opportunity to come forward with a feature film project; the selected filmmaker will receive a year’s worth of script development and mentorship from our partners and other industry professionals. We know that our audience – and we ourselves – want to see more genre films directed by women, so why not come up with a way to try and help get more films made?” Read More

It’s that time of year again! The Toronto After Dark Film Festival has come to an end, so now we can look forward to the return of the Bloody Mary Film Festival, which is back for its 3rd year! The festival will be held November 8th – 9th, 2018 at the Imagine Carlton Cinemas in Toronto and they’ve just announced their lineup. Read More

With the final screening of the Bloody Mary Film Festival comes the end of my festival coverage for the year. It’s been a very busy 2 months! While festivals are some of the most exciting parts of my work with AOAS, I’m relieved to have my evenings and weekends back. And I’m happy to have ended my 2017 festival run with 2014’s Berkshire County, from Darken director Audrey Cummings. Read More

One of the most impressive aspects of the festival shorts has been the strength and confidence of their visual storytelling. Several of the shorts tell a nearly dialogue-free story in accessible and compelling way. Ariane Louis-Seize’s Le Peau Sauvage / Wild Skin (above) is one exemplar, a simple tale of a nameless woman (Marilyn Castonguay) who lives a sheltered life in her apartment, voyeuristically watching the outside world from her window. Following the discovery of a baby python living in her vent that she takes on as a pet, her environment begins to change, slowly evolving to take on the characteristics of a jungle. As the snake grows and takes over more of the apartment, the woman changes as well, becoming more emboldened and outgoing. Read More

The Bloody Mary Film Festival kicked off last night with Toronto-based director Tricia Lee’s feature Blood Hunters (for AOAS’ coverage of Bloody Mary’s short program, click here and here). The film, which had a limited release earlier this year, was introduced as a creature feature set in a single location a la notorious Canadian genre classic, Cube. Watching the film, I was actually reminded more of Resident Evil. Both films feature beautiful heroines who wake up with amnesia and are forced to explore a ravaged medical facility housing blood hungry monsters, collecting a ragtag group of survivors along the way. Here, that heroine is Ellie Barnes (Lara Gilchrist), a damaged single mother and drug addict who ODs in the pre-credits scene and wakes up strapped to a gurney with no memory of how she got there. Read More

Friday marks the second (and final) day of the Bloody Mary Film Festival, held at the Carlton Cinemas in Toronto. The Friday shorts program begins at 9:30 pm, following the feature film Berkshire County (review to follow!) Read More

One of The Bloody Mary Film Festival’s greatest strengths is the focus on diversity in the programming, particularly in the shorts. Madre Di Dios is a Mexican grindhouse, Henna is a silent experimental film, Love You To Death features a lesbian couple as protagonists and all but one of the shorts feature exclusively women in acting roles. Read More

Celebrating the work of women in genre film, the Bloody Mary Film Festival is back for its second year at the Carlton Cinema in Toronto. Tonight’s shorts program will begin at 9:30 pm, following the feature film Blood Hunters (2016) at 7:00 (review to follow!)

Looking for a good reason to stay up late and get spooky tonight? Here are five. Read More

The Bloody Mary Film Festival is only in its second year, but its head spinning program is setting the bar for combining some of the most imaginative and innovate work by Canadian, female-identifying filmmakers in the realm of horror and the fantastic. Taking place in Toronto, Canada, Bloody Mary in 2017 will take place on Thursday, November 30th and Friday, December 1st at the Imagine Cinemas – Carlton Cinema, kicking off with Tricia Lee’s Blood Hunters (which contributor Rosemary’s Pixie reviewed here) followed by a truly diverse lineup of women in front and behind the camera. Five short films in particular have caught my interest in terms of their varying cultural/ethnic filmmakers and narratives. They are a reminder that genre film is one of the best spaces to engage with some of the most exciting, new storytellers. Read More

The Bloody Mary Film Festival is a screening series that was first held in Toronto, Ontario on November 3-4, 2016. Named after the legendary mirror ghost from slumber parties past, the festival seeks to spotlight the works of female-identifying Canadian filmmakers in genre films, specifically horror, sci-fi, and fantasy.

On 30th November, the festival kicks off with Tricia Lee’s feature film Blood Hunters. Last year they screened Lee’s feature Silent Retreat, and are thrilled to have her return with another shocking creature feature. A shorts program will follow at 9:30, beginning with Amelia Moses’s bloody college campus horror Undress Me and ending with Naledi Jackson’s kick-ass sci-fi The Drop In to close out the night. A Q&A will follow the shorts program. Read More

Toronto’s female-focused Bloody Mary Film Festival is back for its second year, showcasing feature length and short films from female-identified Canadian genre filmmakers who will be on-hand after each screening for Q&A sessions. The Bloody Mary Film Festival has the laudable mission of spotlighting the work of female directors working in genre film across Canada and to inspire young women to follow in their footsteps. Read More

Toronto’s BLOODY MARY FILM FESTIVAL, which celebrates female-identifying directors making horror, science-fiction and fantasy genre films in Canada, recently announced the full lineup for their second annual festival. The festival was founded in 2016 by Laura Di Girolamo, Krista Dzialoszynski, Melissa O’Neil and Nadine Brito. Read More

One of the newest film festivals to grace our fair city, The Bloody Mary Film Festival is readying to return to Toronto for its sophomore year with two nights of features and short films directed by female-identifying Canadian filmmakers. Read More

“What film are you with?” If you ever find yourself at an independent horror film festival, this is a question you will likely be asked by fellow attendees. At least, this is the question you want to be asked. But, as many women mentioned at the first annual Women in Horror Film Festival (WIHFF) in Peachtree City, Georgia last September, when you attend a general horror film festival as a woman, you’re more likely to be asked, “What part do you play?” Producer-writer-director and Sick Chick Flicks Film Festival founder Christine Parker told me, “They just assume I’m an actress. They would never assume that I directed it or made the film myself.”Read More

Our friends at the Blood Mary Film Festival have announced the dates for their sophomore festival this November. The two day festival celebrating Canadian women in genre cinema runs at the cozy Carlton cinema on November 30th and December 1st. Read More