Portland Horror Film Festival Celebrates 10 Years of Women In Horror Month

Portland Horror Film Festival returns to the big screen with 4 days of independent Horror Films for its 4th annual event, June 5-8, 2019 at the Hollywood Theatre (4122 NE Sandy Blvd). The inaugural festival in 2016 served up a smorgasbord of international horrors to near sell-out crowds, ravenous for independent horror films.

As a dedicated supporter of those fighting for equal representation in the film industry, PHFF is again waiving submission fees for women directors during the month of February for Women In Horror month. Gwen Callahan, co-director of PHFF maintains that “there is a whole segment of the filmmaking community that has been systematically under-represented, with one notable horror producer even recently suggesting that there just aren’t that many women interested in making horror films! As a Horror fan who happens to be a woman, I’m seeing numerous female voices in indie horror, and also just as many women as men, if not more, attending the festival. I love this push for equal time for women directors on the big screen.”

Even with Portland Horror Film Festival’s commitment to gender representation, women-helmed horror films have only made up about 25% of submissions, with a similar percentage of official selections. But each year, films from women have not only showcased unique horrors, but have gone home with top honors. Lilith’s Awakening, directed by Brazilian filmmaker Monica Demes, was the feature-length winner of the Goule D’Or (Best Overall film) in 2017, and Elizabeth Tabish’s short film Cecilia, was awarded the Main De Gloire (Special Jury) Award in 2018.

Gwen reveals that over the past two years “more women filmmakers have submitted their films than ever before, but there’s definitely room for more. I’ll be happy when mainstream lists of ‘10 filmmakers to watch’ have an equal number of women, men, and others.”

Filmmakers are invited to submit their independent short and feature-length horror films through FilmFreeway at https://filmfreeway.com/PortlandHorrorFilmFestival. Independent studios or horror-oriented businesses interested in partnering with PHFF should contact us via https://portlandhorrorfilmfestival.com.

Portland Horror Film Festival was launched in 2016 by Gwen and Brian Callahan, directors of the popular H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival®. With the goal of promoting and nurturing independent horror film, the Portland Horror Film Festival is the first dedicated all-genre horror film festival in Portland, OR. Film programming is comprised of international independent short and feature-length horror films, many of which you can’t see anywhere else.

Besides being enjoyed by Portland’s distinguished horror fans, and being eligible for a number of Festival Awards, selected films are also reviewed by an industry insider for the Bloody Judge Award. Past judges include Brian Yuzna, producer of Re-Animator and director of Return of the Living Dead III, Gregg Hale, producer of The Blair Witch Project, and Richard Stanley, director of Hardware and the upcoming The Color Out of Space.

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Shannon McGrew

Founder/Co-Owner at Nightmarish Conjurings

Shannon is the Founder of Nightmarish Conjurings and a lover of all things horror and haunt related. When she's not obsessively collecting all things "Trick 'R Treat" related, or trying to convince everyone that "Hereditary" is one of the greatest horror films ever made, you can find her designing interiors for commercial restaurants. An avid haunt fan, Shannon spends the entire year visiting haunts and immersive experiences throughout the Southern California area and hopes to one day design her own haunted attraction.

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