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Year Three
2018

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The third annual Apocalypse Later International Fantastic Film Festival (ALIFFF 2018) was held in the 3rd Street Theater at the Phoenix Center for the Arts over the weekend of Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th October, 2018.


Postcard and logo by Marty Freetage. Poster by Jason Drotman.

Overview

Tickets were $50 in advance ($60 at the door) and parking, popcorn and lunch was free.
The venue ran a bar and concession stand.

Thank you to everyone who submitted a film for doing so!

Thank you to the filmmakers who attended and took part in Q&As:

Brian Carmody (Aunt)
Adolpho Navarro (Static Kinship)
Chris Heck and Richard Lippert (Mr. Memento)
Bears Rebecca Fonté (Prenatal)
Brian Avenet-Bradley and Trista Robinson (Echoes of Fear)
Jordin Goff (Dinosaurs in a Mining Facility)
Mark Savage and Trista Robinson (again) (Purgatory Road)

Thank you to our panel of judges for 2018:

Shari K. Green, writer, producer and director and film critic for The Movie Club and The Reel Critic.
Christopher R. Smith, writer, producer and director and podcaster on Auteur Theory and others.
(our third judge sadly had to drop out because of last minute work requirements)

Awards

Our competition films fought it out for these awards, created and designed by the ever-fantastic Tom Deadstuff!

Honorable mentions went to The Dark Room, Shiner and Marta.

Winners

Congratulations to our 2018 winners!

Best Horror Short
Just After Midnight (France, Jean-Raymond Garcia & Anne-Marie Puga)

Best Science Fiction Short
Sound from the Deep (Finland, Antti Laakso & Joonas Allonen)

Best Other Short
Addict (Israel, Nir Yaniv)

Best Feature
Echoes of Fear (USA, Brian & Laurence Avenet-Bradley)

Festival Director's Award
Invisible Cages (Puerto Rico, Gilberto David Vázquez-Gómez)

Watch the video acceptances:
Brian & Laurence Avenet-Bradley (Echoes of Fear) (mp4, 75 MB)
Gilberto David Vázquez-Gómez (Invisible Cages) (mp4, 108 MB)

Right: Jean-Raymond Garcia & Anne-Marie Puga (Just After Midnight).


Schedule

Doors opened at 10.00am on each day, with the first set beginning at 10.30am.

Saturday

Sunday

Set Start Time End Time Length Set Start Time End Time Length
Horror Shorts A 10.30am 11.57am 87:40 Dinosaurs in a Mining Facility 10.30am 11.42am 71:40
Black Site 12.10pm 1.38pm 87:22 Science Fiction Shorts B 12.00pm 1.25pm 85:59
Other Shorts A 1.55pm 3.20pm 85:21 Purgatory Road 1.40pm 3.20pm 99:37
Lunch 3.20pm 3.50pm 30:00 Lunch 3.20pm 3.50pm 30:00
Lost in Apocalypse 3.50pm 5.20pm 89:46 Horror Shorts B 3.50pm 5.15pm 84:20
Science Fiction Shorts A 5.35pm 7.00pm 85:50 The Child Remains 5.30pm 7.18pm 107:29
Echoes of Fear 7.15pm 8.45pm 89:30 Other Shorts C 7.35pm 9.00pm 84:23
Other Shorts B 9.00pm 10.25pm 86:07 Awards 9.10pm 9.30pm 20:00

Images

Click on any image on this page to see a larger version.



Features

ALIFFF 2018 featured 6 feature films from 4 countries:

Title Year Director(s) Country Length Première?
Black Site 2018 Tom Paton UK 87:22 no
Lost in Apocalypse 2018 Sky Wang China 89:46 Arizona première
Echoes of Fear 2018 Brian & Laurence Avenet-Bradley USA 89:30 Arizona première
Dinosaurs in a Mining Facility 2018 Jordin Goff USA 71:40 Arizona première
Purgatory Road 2017 Mark Savage USA 99:37 Arizona première
The Child Remains 2018 Michael Melski Canada 107:29 Arizona première

Black Site

87:22, UK, dir: Tom Paton
Saturday, 12.10pm

'80s inspired John Carpenter-esque action. A young woman is forced to push past her worst fears and battle to deport an ancient entity back to where it came from. Set inside an underground military base known as The Artemis Black Site, the movie mixes an Escape from New York style survival story with Lovecraftian elements and large scale mythology building.

Official trailer at YouTube.

Lost in Apocalypse

89:46, China, dir: Sky Wang
Saturday, 3.50pm

A group of seemingly unrelated individuals fight their way out of a virus-infested hotel, only to find themselves at a worse place than before.

Official trailer at Vimeo.

Echoes of Fear

89:30, USA, dirs: Brian & Laurence Avenet-Bradley
Saturday, 7.15pm

After inheriting her grandfather's house, Alysa must confront the mystery of his sudden death and the evil that hides inside.

Official trailer at YouTube.

Dinosaurs in a Mining Facility

71:40, USA, dir: Jordin Goff
Sunday, 10.30am

Dr. Stone's mysterious mining outpost just got a new employee. Ian is finally making something of himself, but will he become a hero or dinosaur food?

Official trailer at YouTube.

Purgatory Road

99:37, USA, dir: Mark Savage
Sunday, 1.40pm

Helpless to stop a thief from stealing his father's modest nest egg, a little boy grows up blaming himself for his parents' suicide. Becoming a priest who operates a highway confessional with his ambivalent brother, he offers sage advice to chosen sinners while raining death on unrepentant thieves. Into the world of this antagonistic duo comes a psychotic, resourceful woman whose first act of 'kindness' is to kill a thief whose actions threaten to expose the holy duo. Filled with gratitude for this act, the priest invites the woman into their sacred world and begins a chain of bloody events that dismantle the brothers' decades-long partnership.

Official trailer at YouTube.

The Child Remains

107:29, Canada, dir: Michael Melski
Sunday, 5.30pm

An expectant couple's intimate weekend turns to terror when they discover their secluded country inn is a haunted maternity home where unwanted infants and mothers were murdered. Inspired by the true story of the infamous 'Butterbox Babies'.

The Child Remains is a twisting supernatural thriller that emphasizes story and suspense over shock and gore. From the producer of the acclaimed horror thriller The Corridor, starring Cannes Best Actress winner Suzanne Clement (Mommy), Allan Hawco (Frontier), Shelley Thompson (Labyrinth) and genre hero Geza Kovacs (Scanners, The Dead Zone), The Child Remains is about the evil that lurks behind the postcard.

Official trailer at YouTube.



Shorts

ALIFFF 2018 featured seven sets of short films.


Horror Shorts A

The Horror Shorts A set ran 87:40 and included 6 films from 2 countries:

Title Year Director(s) Country Length Première?
Goodnight, Gracie 2017 Stellan Kendrick USA 3:54 Arizona première
The Dark Skin of the Soul 2017 Allan J. Arcal Spain 9:55 Arizona première
One Dark Night 2018 Michael Trainotti USA 18:36 Arizona première
Aunt 2017 Brian Carmody USA 12:38 Arizona première
Static Kinship 2017 Adolpho Navarro USA 12:20 no
Lost in Buffalo City 2017 Raymond Wallace USA 30:00 no


Goodnight, Gracie

3:54, USA, dir: Stellan Kendrick
Saturday, 10.30am

After mom gets hacked to pieces by her latest lover, a devout child fights to escape the same fate.

Official trailer at Vimeo.

The Dark Skin of the Soul

9:55, Spain, dir: Allan J. Arcal
Saturday, 10.30am

Buried in the deepest part of the forest, Carlos leaves behind those empty, dead eyes that have been tormenting him ceaselessly. What happens to him from that moment on, while he returns home in search of his daughter, nobody knows, nobody understands... not even God.

Official trailer at YouTube.

One Dark Night

18:36, USA, dir: Michael Trainotti
Saturday, 10.30am

Dad spins a decades old tale during a family campout.

Official trailer at Vimeo.

Aunt

12:38, USA, dir: Brian Carmody
Saturday, 10.30am

Ed Fairbanks visits his reclusive Aunt Laura, a physics professor forced onto sabbatical due to concerns about her mental stability and pseudoscientific endeavors into infernal Cosmicism. Ed becomes increasingly disturbed by Laura's paranoid delusions, the growing incestuous vibe between them, and the haunting suspicions that her darkest of theories may be true.

Static Kinship

12:20, USA, dir: Adolpho Navarro
Saturday, 10.30am

A team of paranormal investigators find themselves trapped in a house with a hostile entity. One man awakens on the floor with his back broken paralyzed as he's stalked by the presence.

Official trailer at YouTube.

Lost in Buffalo City

30:00, USA, dir: Raymond Wallace
Saturday, 10.30am

Against better judgement and warnings from locals, eager reporter John Miller is investigating a series of strange apparitions and deadly encounters surrounding a long-forgotten ghost town in the dark coastal swamps of North Carolina. But his investigation uncovers something evil lurking in the ruins of Buffalo City, sinister forces that may wind up costing him his life.

Official trailer at YouTube.


Other Shorts A

The Other Shorts A set ran 85:21 and included 5 films from 3 countries:

Title Year Director(s) Country Length Première?
Meat Head 2017 Ben Ashby USA 8:37 no
The Adventures of Tranh & Nowak 2017 Godefroy Ryckewaert France 22:04 Arizona première
Mr. Memento 2018 Chris Heck USA 11:35 no
N 2018 Iacopo Di Girolamo UK 13:41 Arizona première
Kiss the Devil in the Dark 2018 Rebecca & Jonathan Martin USA 29:24 Arizona première


Meat Head

8:37, USA, dir: Ben Ashby
Saturday, 1.55pm

One man's refusal to adapt.

The Adventures of Tranh & Nowak

22:04, France, dir: Godefroy Ryckewaert
Saturday, 1.55pm

An action comedy film featuring two special agents skilled in close-up combat and specialized in undercover operations: Tranh, a young intelligent, down-to-earth woman, and Nowak, reckless, adventurous and somewhat racially biased—though not ill-intentioned. This time, their mission is to recover paintings which belong to the government, stolen by a German esthete, Otto Von Schnitzel, head of a neo-Nazi faction.

Official trailer at Vimeo.

Mr. Memento

11:35, USA, dir: Chris Heck
Saturday, 1.55pm

An aging photography collector obsessed with death receives the final piece to his collection.

N

13:41, UK, dir: Iacopo Di Girolamo
Saturday, 1.55pm

An expressionist nightmare in which an inventor and his colleague test the 'Automaton', a machine able to create things from nothing. The machine works perfectly as long as the items it's asked to create start with the letter N... in German. The results of the test will be predictably catastrophic.

Official trailer at YouTube.

Kiss the Devil in the Dark

29:24, USA, dirs: Rebecca & Jonathan Martin
Saturday, 1.55pm

Desperate to save his dying wife, the sorcerer Marcus (Dameon Clarke) makes a dark bargain with the demon Dagon (Doug Jones) to save her soul. Dagon, however, has more in store for Marcus than a mere exchanging of souls in this Faustian dark fantasy short film from the makers of the award-winning films An Evening with My Comatose Mother and Creatures of Whitechapel that explores the very meaning of betrayal.

Official trailer at Vimeo.


Science Fiction Shorts A

The Science Fiction Shorts A set ran 85:50 and included 7 films from 4 countries:

Title Year Director(s) Country Length Première?
Retimer 2017 Robin Tremblay Canada 7:42 Arizona première
Star Wars: Dresca 2018 Jessica Champneys USA 7:13 Arizona première
Near Kepler 2017 Laura Matt Germany 18:07 Arizona première
Coping Mechanism 2018 Sean Roberts Australia 10:26 Arizona première
The Assistant 2018 Andrew Dryden Mortimer Canada 11:46 US première
Prenatal 2017 Bears Rebecca Fonté USA 10:37 no
The Tolls 2017 Liz Anderson USA 19:59 Arizona première


Retimer

7:42, Canada, dir: Robin Tremblay
Saturday, 5.35pm

We are in 3020 and war, poverty and diseases are no longer a part of our daily lives. A world order whose roots go back to antiquity have learned to control time and used its power to create a perfect Society. They do this by sending agents in the past, the RETIMER who are tasked to modify specific events and through ripple in times, create the perfect future they live in. One member of this elite team begins to question the ethics of his action through the canvas of time...

Official trailer at Vimeo.

7:13, USA, dir: Jessica Champneys
Saturday, 5.35pm

When Dresca—an injured imperial pilot—is rescued by rebels after the Battle of Endor, she must choose between her loyalty to the Empire and the kindness of strangers she once thought of as monsters.

Official trailer at YouTube.

Near Kepler

18:07, Germany, dir: Laura Matt
Saturday, 5.35pm

After a one year job on a far away planet, space traveller Jo experiences a bumpy incident during his flight back to Earth. His board computer Deborah claims she has everything under control. But is that true?

Official trailer at YouTube.

Coping Mechanism

10:26, Australia, dir: Sean Roberts
Saturday, 5.35pm

Ben finds himself on a date with Mikaela, a crush from a time long since passed. Unfortunately, Ben's misguided need to impress Mikaela is constantly threatened by the self-sabotage that comes with his crippling loneliness. But there's a secret to Ben's lonely existence that only exacerbates his desperation and threatens to forever prevent him from connecting with another human being.

Official trailer at YouTube.

The Assistant

11:46, Canada, dir: Andrew Dryden Mortimer
Saturday, 5.35pm

The future of doctor assisted suicide.

Prenatal

10:37, USA, dir: Bears Rebecca Fonté
Saturday, 5.35pm

Mysteriously eight months pregnant overnight, Katie believes the Angels responsible, but her sister thinks differently.

Official trailer at Vimeo.

The Tolls

19:59, USA, dir: Liz Anderson
Saturday, 5.35pm

The final days of WWII. While mourning the loss of his wife at sea, U.S. army corporal Wes Morris confronts a mysterious stranger who has infiltrated his base. The intruder possesses a top secret S.S. technology, which transports them to an alternate, Nazi occupied San Francisco. Here, Wes will put the lives of millions at risk in order to reunite with his lost love.

Official trailer at Vimeo.


Other Shorts B

The Other Shorts B set ran 86:07 and included 6 films from 4 countries:

Title Year Director(s) Country Length Première?
Fanman's Basement 2018 Drew Lewis USA 6:55 Arizona première
Freelancer 2017 Francisco Lacerda & Francisco A. Lopes Portugal 15:18 no
Just After Midnight 2018 Jean-Raymond Garcia & Anne-Marie Puga France 22:18 Arizona première
Safe 2018 Tim Earnheart USA 7:45 Arizona première
Shiner 2017 Jimmy G. Pettigrew Canada 20:17 US première
N.T.A. (Nuke Them All) 2018 Olivier Nelli France 13:34 Arizona première


Fanman's Basement

6:55, USA, dir: Drew Lewis
Saturday, 9.00pm

Fanman's Basement is a stop-motion animated short film about the viral hits and epic fails of an aspiring YouTuber finding his voice on the internet for the first time. Wearing the iconic mask of a certain caped-crusader, 'The Fanman' vows an oath to never reveal his secret identity. Chasing online notoriety from a home-made studio in his mother's basement, he swears allegiance to reporting the truth in popular culture, the critique of movies, and all things fandom.

Official trailer at Vimeo.

Freelancer

15:18, Portugal, dirs: Francisco Lacerda & Francisco A. Lopes
Saturday, 9.00pm

Jorge, a freelancer camera-man, faces abusive clients and late payments for his gigs all too often. One day, what appears to be just another simple wedding ceremony to shoot, turns out to be a living nightmare.

Official trailer at YouTube.

Just After Midnight

22:18, France, dirs: Jean-Raymond Garcia & Anne-Marie Puga
Saturday, 9.00pm

Suzanne is a young blind primary school teacher. With a community of blind people, she keenly studies art history devoted to witches and to Satan's erotology. Transformed, Suzanne tries to steal a man's eyes to recover her eyesight. Her first attempt is a failure. Then, she chooses a more approachable and ingenue prey: her personal reader and bashful lover, Peter.

Safe

7:45, USA, dir: Tim Earnheart
Saturday, 9.00pm

Three masked intruders break into a Woman's home to retrieve an item from her safe. But what they get is much more than they bargained for.

Official trailer at Vimeo.

Shiner

20:17, Canada, dir: Jimmy G. Pettigrew
Saturday, 9.00pm

A junk dealer is trapped inside a terribly unhealthy love triangle. He sinks into a fantasy world to avoid this horrible reality and he will try to finally show who he really is.

N.T.A. (Nuke Them All)

13:34, France, dir: Olivier Nelli
Saturday, 9.00pm

After the apocalypse, within the confederacy "NEW-ROPE", the mutants worship an atom bomb. Three heroines are recruited to defuse it smoothly.

Official trailer at YouTube.


Science Fiction Shorts B

The Science Fiction Shorts B set ran 85:59 and included 6 films from 3 countries:

Title Year Director(s) Country Length Première?
Biomass 2017 Larry McKee USA 5:30 Arizona première
Keymoment 2016 Martin Lukas Germany 20:00 Arizona première
The Dollhouse 2018 Dimitri Pimenov Finland 9:59 World première
Apogee 2017 Megan Gray USA 9:46 no
Daisy Belle 2018 William Wall USA 11:14 Arizona première
Aurora 2017 Thomas Negovan USA 29:30 Arizona première


Biomass

5:30, USA, dir: Larry McKee
Sunday, 12.00pm

Zoey and Simon are two employees of a salvage and recycling company who become pressured to satisfy their clients' unique needs while awaiting the next delivery truck full of special product.

Keymoment

20:00, Germany, dir: Martin Lukas
Sunday, 12.00pm

Anna, a young physics student who suddenly finds herself in an interrogation room, is saved by a strange man from the future. He tells her that she will invent a new form of energy and tries to convince her that this invention is bad for humanity. After that Anna is facing the biggest decision of her life.

Note: this film was scheduled last year but didn't play because of technical difficulties.

Official trailer at YouTube.

The Dollhouse

9:59, Finland, dir: Dimitri Pimenov
Sunday, 12.00pm

After the death of the human race, the last survivor is losing his sanity to the loneliness.

Apogee

9:46, USA, dir: Megan Gray
Sunday, 12.00pm

Imagine a world in the not-too-distant future, where people have abandoned the toxic, drought-ravaged surface of the earth and moved upwards. It's in this world that our story finds a dedicated mother, at the lowest elevation, grappling with an impossible choice.

Official trailer at Vimeo.

Daisy Belle

11:14, USA, dir: William Wall
Sunday, 12.00pm

A robot named "Oono" cares for his owner while mysterious creatures lurk in the strange world outside.

Official trailer at YouTube.

Aurora

29:30, USA, dir: Thomas Negovan
Sunday, 12.00pm

The true story of the first UFO encounter in American history. Written and directed by Thomas Negovan & Aaron Shaps. Starring Jack Campbell and Robert Boulter with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge as the voice of the creature. Orchestrations by Troy Sterling Nies featuring Armen Ra and Brian Viglione.

Official trailer at Vimeo.


Horror Shorts B

The Horror Shorts B set ran 84:20 and included 6 films from 4 countries:

Title Year Director(s) Country Length Première?
Addict 2017 Nir Yaniv Israel 15:00 Arizona première
Something in the Darkness 2018 Fran Casanova Spain 14:20 no
Trespass 2018 Erik LeDrew USA 6:09 Arizona première
Redemption 2018 Luis Utges Blesa Spain 13:25 Arizona première
The Dark Room 2018 Morgane Segaert France 20:00 Arizona première
Marta 2018 Lucía Forner Spain 15:26 Arizona première


Addict

15:00, Israel, dir: Nir Yaniv
Sunday, 3.50pm

Gershon is an addict. He's being filmed for a documentary. Unfortunately, his vice isn't alcohol or drugs—it's blood.

Official trailer at YouTube.

Something in the Darkness

14:20, Spain, dir: Fran Casanova
Sunday, 3.50pm

Veronica is a 6 year old girl who is trying to overcome her fear of the dark. Every night, her mum gets her to sleep with the reading of her favorite story. However, this time something is different... this time there is something in the darkness.

Trespass

6:09, USA, dir: Erik LeDrew
Sunday, 3.50pm

The actions of a trigger-happy cop come back to bite him in the ass. A P.O.V. fright flick.

NOTE: all video artifacts and glitches are in the spirit of verisimilitude. In other words, it's on purpose.

Official trailer at YouTube.

Redemption

13:25, Spain, dir: Luis Utges Blesa
Sunday, 3.50pm

Mr. Ferre is interrupted from a pleasure trip to Capri to enter through a dark passage that will take him to a mysterious mansion, where he awaits an enigmatic butler who pampers him, fulfilling all his desires. Nothing seems to stop time except an hourglass that shortens the moment to revive the most distressing moments of his past, where Mr. Ferre was victim and executioner. The butler, invoking his childhood, will try to rescue the child who was once pure and innocent, so that Mr. Ferre can finally redeem himself and abandon the cruel revenge of guilt.

The Dark Room

20:00, France, dir: Morgane Segaert
Sunday, 3.50pm

France, 1910. As her mother suffers from a mysterious illness that she intends to hide, the young Cassandre feels a growing presence in her home... What shadow hides in the silence of the dark room?

Official trailer at YouTube.

Marta

15:26, Spain, dir: Lucía Forner
Sunday, 3.50pm

Marta's dream profession is to be a serial killer, and she wants Carlos to be her first victim.


Other Shorts C

The Other Shorts C set ran 84:23 and included 5 films from 3 countries:

Title Year Director(s) Country Length Première?
Gauntlet Run: Breach 2017 Jyo Carolino & Garrett Atkinson USA 9:16 Arizona première
Mr. Sushi 2018 Joshua Sallach USA 13:37 Arizona première
Invisible Cages 2018 Gilberto David Vázquez-Gómez Puerto Rico 23:30 US première
Margaret and Gary 2018 Fredric Lehne USA 9:00 Arizona première
Sound from the Deep 2018 Antti Laakso & Joonas Allonen Finland 29:00 Arizona première


Gauntlet Run: Breach

9:16, USA, dirs: Jyo Carolino & Garrett Atkinson
Sunday, 7.35pm

Two atypical heroes-for-hire have finally found an ideal office space. Chaos erupts when they discover their new location is currently run by a dangerous gang. Violence, metahumor, and a few surprises are in store. Welcome to the Gauntlet Run. #welcometothegauntlet

Official trailer at YouTube.

Mr. Sushi

13:37, USA, dir: Joshua Sallach
Sunday, 7.35pm

In a post-apocalyptic world, a masterless samurai finds serenity in selling sushi from a food truck in the desert.

Invisible Cages

23:30, Puerto Rico, dir: Gilberto David Vázquez-Gómez
Sunday, 7.35pm

A young woman enters her father's study and finds a mutilated person inside a bird cage surrounded by feathers.

Margaret and Gary

9:00, USA, dir: Fredric Lehne
Sunday, 7.35pm

A man and his GPS, fleeing murder and madness, drive into the twilight zone.

Sound from the Deep

29:00, Finland, dirs: Antti Laakso & Joonas Allonen
Sunday, 7.35pm

An international research group is searching natural resources from the Arctic Ocean. They pick up a strange underwater sound from far north, and start to follow it to the uncharted waters. Inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft.

Official trailer at YouTube.


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Last update: 9th October, 2019