T H E N A I V E F I L M M A K E R

Many months ago now, Cardiff hosted the IRIS Film Festival, one of the UK’s best Film Festivals for LGBT Cinema. Most of my classmates got involved and I was incredibly jealous of all of them, I was working full time as an assistant manager at a Coffee Shop & Bar, I didn’t have time to volunteer and promised myself I wouldn’t miss such an opportunity again. So of course I was incredibly excited that Cardiff was hosting the International Vampire Film & Arts Festival and my name was at the top of the list of volunteers.

IVFAF was founded by Craig Hooper & Peter Phillips six years ago, with the intention of bringing together Vampire Creatives from the genres of film, literature, academia and the performing arts. Starting out in Transylvania and travelling to the cities of London & Santa Fe before being forced online due to the Pandemic. FilmFreeway has honoured the festival by including them in their Top 100 Festivals in the World.

The event is far more informal than many other film festivals, which includes the volunteering programme, I saw a list of jobs that needed doing and jumped on the few I was vaguely capable of doing, I emailed those who had submitted projects to build up a guestlist, I wrote intros about the films that were being screened (Although did this based only on trailers and short clips as I didn’t wanted to avoid spoilers) and I wrote out a preliminary schedule for the short films to be screened. I wasn’t sure if my work was done or not, so I offered to show up on the day with my camera to take photos, although I would mostly just be enjoying the festival like someone who had actually paid for a ticket.

Day One

Day One was of course an important day and naturally the day when everything that could go wrong would do so. We were barely ready for the arrival of our guests, but were lucky to have a charming vampiress on the door who warmly greeted everyone that arrived. The gothic manor house that hosted the event “Insole Court” was a perfect venue for vampire enthusiasts. Set dressers Nia Langley, Emma Viney & Jo Crompton had filled the venue with blood stained goblets, bats & coffins which set the aesthetic for the days to come.

It was at this time that saw the arrival of some of our most notable guests!
(Some names not included for privacy reasons)

Hunter Collins; Stand-up comedian and director of the nominated film “When They Come” arrived with his girlfriend. Author and professor Dr Magdalena Grabias also joined us on her week off!

Filmmaker and founder of “The Vampire Castle” Sean Rourke joined us, having submitted the nominated film “Lucy X Mina”, this was something of a reunion for us as we had previously connected on his Youtube channel.  

New York Stunt Coordinator Roberto Lopez with his partner and UK Based Stunt Coordinator Levan Doran joined us, Roberto having submitted the nominated Film “Vamp Nite”.

Of the first two screenings of short films, there are a few short films that particularly captured my awe and imagination.

German film; III created by Tim Dubbert was shot on film, a homage to Nosferatu, the dark though occasionally comic film about a sailor following the rules left for him by the woman that saved his life blends humour with implied terror.

Spanish Film; The Red Scarf Girl by Martin Cainzos is a gritty thriller about vengeance and the quest to use vampiric powers to destroy the evil & the corrupt. It is a masterful piece of cinema that uses a variety of genius storytelling methods to keep the audience guessing throughout.

Sean Rourke’s own Lucy X Mina was a hugely exciting, action packed film about the relationship between the vampiric Mina and the ageless Lucy. An exhilarating action piece that tells the story of two women, who’s story has only been told through the lens of the men in their lives. It is a deeply personal & compelling story about a friendship spanning centuries and the complications that arise from their different paths in life. At about 20 minutes, I would really love to see a feature length of these two characters.

Due to having a meeting to go to, I missed the screening of Nosferatu, but I’ve already written about that film!

I did however make it back in time for Juliet Landau’s new film “A Place Among the Dead”.
It is perhaps one of the most compelling and beautiful feature films I’ve seen. It blends the filmmaking methods of horror and mystery with deeply artistic creative decisions that would be at home in an Arthouse picture. “A Place Among the Dead” is superbly and professionally acted by its significant cast and is a visually stunning piece that uses new and innovative imagery to invoke a strong emotional reaction before the plot even begins. The film itself is a beautifully put together allegory for narcissism and the terrible effects it has on others, a difficult subject matter that would have been easy to get wrong, is instead handled with complete expertise and sensitivity.

I was able to join a meetup of Juliet Landau, her husband Deverill Weekes and a number of their fans, I can confirm they are incredibly nice people. It was clear they valued their fans as if they were old friends and they had a profound and positive impact on many with their work.

I was able to meet some more very cool people, including the immensely talented Romanian filmmaker Marton Nagy who had entered the amazing vampire comedy “How My Girlfriend Ignited on our Third Date”. He’s the nicest and coolest guy in the world! 10/10!

Human Vampire Encyclopaedia Desdemona and her friends had joined us by this point and we met the author of Eternal Youth Alexander Williams and his Partner, on route to the cocktail bar that would be our regular haunt for the next few days, we stopped to admire Cardiff Castle, itself an achievement of Gothic Architecture. Documentary filmmaker Callum Frame also joined the night and kept us all excellent company in the smoking area (Not a smoker myself, I just find that’s a better place to meet people).

We finished the night off in The Libertine, talking a little about vampires, but mostly just getting to know each other! The best part of any festival.

Day Two

I showed up and realised there was no tea at Insole Court, I briefly wondered if there was going to be a violent uproar among those who were attending, however I soon remembered that most of those visiting us weren’t British and so weren’t too worried about the fact.

More importantly…There was a café next door, so all was well, they sold blondies too, so I spent way too much money on cakes.

I was able to meet the hugely talented writer Chloe Hammond, who wrote the Darkly Dreaming vampire books, Chloe describes her books as novels for those who grew up on Anne Rice but also enjoyed Bridget Jones Diary.

Most of the day was taken up with more short films! It was another great day for vampire filmmaking!

“How My Girlfriend Ignited on our Third Date” took Marton Nagy a year to make in what little spare time he had. It boasts attention to detail that would make Edgar Wright proud, the relationship dynamics are very real and incredibly relatable and the references are something that every self-respecting geek will take to heart!

“Vamp Nite” was a lockdown project from stunt coordinator Roberto Lopez, an action packed film with a hilarious performance from Roberto himself and a great dynamic from the supporting cast, from the sarcastic receptionist to the incompetent vampire hunting Priest. It’s a high stakes, tense thrill ride that really brings out the fun in the genre.

The Vampire of the Gorbals is a fascinating documentary by Callum Frame, it’s the true story of a town in Scotland that was overrun by vigilante children, on the hunt for a vampire. Its fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable. It’s a fantastic piece of history that is well worth learning about.

Roberto Lopez & Levan Doran also gave a hugely interesting seminar on the business of movie stunts, talking about their experiences in low budget Hong Kong Martial Arts Films, all the way through to Marvel Studios! It was incredibly fascinating to learn about the industry from their perspective, it kind of made me wish I had the talent and pain threshold to do what they do.

Up next on the agenda was the seminar from another hugely talented author Faith Marlow, who talked about her Being Mrs Dracula books, they’re fantastic books that provide a new perspective to Bram Stoker’s novel, told through the eyes of Dracula’s brides, primarily that of Valeria. We were provided an insight to her writing process and the inspiration behind her novels!

After some instruction in the new game “Fury of Dracula”, which would be featured on S4C Programme “Heno”.

We were joined by Mike Muncer of The Evolution of Horror Podcast who talked to us about his love of horror movies and his journey into creating what is one of the most popular horror podcasts running today.

The French film “Fornacis” by Aurelia Mengin. It is a complicated Arthouse film that explores grief and pain in a wholly unique way. While it can be difficult to follow at times, it is a masterclass in propelling forward a plot without relying on dialogue. It tells a visceral and human story in an inhuman circumstance. It is also full of some compelling scares when Frida shows up at the most unexpected moments!

The Evening was concluded with a Vampire themed Pub Quiz, hosted by the festival’s film curator, Producer & Film Lecturer Dewi Griffiths (Good Surname if I do say so myself). I invited my friend Osian Harvey (Director of my film After the Wake) to be my team mate, believing that their knowledge of Universal Monsters and mine of Hammer would be enough for us to win, but we were nothing in comparison to the fountains of knowledge that are Desdemona & Magdalena.

Most called it a night, while a few of us wondered over to The Libertine where Roberto bought a round of drinks and we all talked until it was time to close the bar.

Day Three

I was nearly late on the third day, lots of late nights and early mornings attempting to catch up with me.

The big excitement of the day was the pitching competition (The film of which I am currently editing). The morning batch of short films were likely not enjoyed by those emotionally preparing to pitch their respective ideas. Chloe Hammond pitched a screen adaptation of her Darkly Dreaming Novels, as Alexander Williams pitched a similar adaptation of his Eternal Youth Novel.

Filmmaker Bob Singleton pitched his screenplay Anathema, which was professionally done from thousands of miles away. (Bob won the award for Best Screenplay)

I considered pitching my own vampire script Deadly Homecoming but decided it was a lose-lose, I win the competition and its put down to the nepotism of working the event, or I lose and the script is so bad that even the nepotism of working the event couldn’t save it.

The last day of short films did not disappoint!

Hunter Collins’ short film “When They Come” was a masterclass in building intensity, while exploring themes of suicide coercion as told through Ukrainian Folklore. Intelligently filmed and edited to look like one continuous shot, it is a claustrophobic and anxiety inducing film, that will reawaken the childhood activity of switching off a light before running upstairs at full speed.

Lino was an incredibly chilling watch! Aurélien Vernhes-Lermusiaux is an endlessly talented filmmaker who has successfully blended the horrors of war with genre filmmaking. Lino is beautifully pieced together piece of metaphorical storytelling and an incredibly important watch for all of us!

St Augustine by Andy Kastelic like Lino was as deeply chilling as it was beautiful. A Mesmerising watch that finds its way successfully under your skin, it doesn’t hand hold you through the plot and sets up many questions which are left to the audience to decipher, instead focusing on its own existentialism, I would strongly recommend it!

Music had been unrepresented at the festival up until today, Masonic Kitchen introduced us to an experimental fusion of electronic music and traditional Transylvanian folk instruments performed live to the monochrome horror of Count Orlok’s reign of terror. In The Country Now was a personal favourite of mine.

It was the last day at Insole Court, which was met with a certain amount of sadness, the best part of the festival for me had been wondering the grounds in our free time and hanging around on the benches with my new friends. Geeking out over vampires, debating politics and generally discussing our favourite films had made IVFAF so much more than a Cool Vampire Festival.

The last feature film submission was The Monsters Without that follows an international team of underfunded scientists and soldiers based in rural Philippines, thrown together to keep man and monster safe. Directed by Randal Kamradt, the film is an awful lot of fun and really brings out the fun in the genre, with behind the scenes footage that reminds us just how much of a joyful experience it can be to make a film!

I had spent the day interviewing people for what will eventually be a short documentary about the festival, but we were going to be the subject of S4C programme Heno, the thought of which was terribly exciting! Even knowing I would maybe just be in the background, I still thought it worth calling my Dad and telling him to tune in.

The Golden Stake Awards was going to be the event of the night! But the setup of it all left the rest of us plenty of time to relax and eat some dinner, I was too busy conducting the last of my interviews to eat though, something I would quickly come to regret.

I like to think my Interviews were worth it though!

The Golden Stake Awards were an exciting affair, although more tense for me as I wasn’t sure if my camera battery would survive the night! A difficult series of choices had to be made, in past years only three short films were nominated, however this year it could only be narrowed down to seven.

Juliet Landau won Best Feature Film for A Place Among The Dead!

Marton Nagy won Best Short Film for How My Girlfriend Ignited On Our Third Date!

Alex Williams won the 666 Words Competition for The Night Rex Took His Chance!

Chloe Hammond won the Short Story Competition for The Caretakers!

Bob Singleton won the Best Screenplay Award for Anathema!

The night was topped with a 50th anniversary screening of Dracula A.D. 1972. A Nostalgic classic that invoked a small cheer when Peter Cushing showed up on screen!

The last event of the night was the Vampire Ball! The outfits did not disappoint, we drank, talked, posed for photos and awkwardly danced away the rest of the night, until it was time to say an emotional goodbye to those who had become good friends over the last few days.

After the ball, the strong few went to a Metal Bar where I cautiously danced while watching my filming equipment until closing time at 4am. Upon my walk home I saw Izzy and Callum, my colleagues from our short film Lola who pointed me towards an open Subway, where I bought a Sandwich and a 12 pack of cookies (I didn’t need that many, but it was the most economical option).

Day Four

The festival was over, so I slept all day! I tuned in just in time for Juliet Landau’s live stream, So it was technically 4 days of Vampires.

Conclusion

Overall it was a wonderful week, full of great films, books and seminars, but it wouldn’t be what it was without the amazing people that came along! So a massive thank you to all of you amazing people! See you next year!