Sunday, September 25, 2011

PollyGrind Film Festival comes to Las Vegas!








 It's been called "the
key festival for indie cult filmmakers to land distribution deals." Its
founder and programmer has been called the "new champion of unabashed
B-movie sleaze." Those praises might seem a bit outlandish, but with the
official announcement of the PollyGrind Film Festival's schedule, it's easy to
see where they come from.





Chad Clinton Freeman's second
installment of the
Las
Vegas

underground film festival will highlight more than 100 projects, including
30-plus features films, in October at theatre7 in the arts district.





The fun gets started October
6 with a red carpet world premiere for the sexy revenge thriller The Atonement
of Janis Drake. The debut feature by Glen Meadows stars Beverly Lynne and Angel
Porrino.





Other world premieres at the
festival, which runs until Oct. 16, will include Creep Creepersin's Finger
Bang, Michael Ricks' The Las Vegas Abductions, Logan Myers' Mondo Sexxxx: The
Terry Kobrah Story, Aramis Sartorio's The Gruesome Death of Tommy Pistol, James
Bickert's Dear God No!, Shane Ryan's The Girl Who Wasn't Missing, and Craig
McIntyre's The Los Angeles Ripper.





 PollyGrind will be the U.S. premiere for Darren Ward's A Day of Violence and
Ginnetta Correli's The Earl Sessions.





The event will also screen
the latest from the legendary underground filmmakers Eric Stanze (Ratline),
Herschell Gordon Lewis (The Uh-Oh Show), Bill Zebub (Night of the Pumpkin), Joe
Castro (The Summer of Massacre), Caleb Emerson (Frankie in Blunderland), Sean
Garrity (Zooey & Adam), Sean Cain (Breath of Hate), Henry Weintraub (The
Darkest Corner of Paradise) and Fred Vogel (Sella Turcica).





Other highlights are the
debut features from Adam Rehmeier (The Bunny Game), Calvin Lee Reeder (The
Oregonian), Billy Chase Goforth (25K), Sevé Schelenz (Skew), Matthew Pollack
(Run Run It's Him), and Edward E. Romero (Butterfly).





Rounding out the films will
be Planet of the Vampire Women (Darin Wood), Rage (Chris Witherspoon), 15 till
Midnight (Wolfgang Meyer), My Demon Within (Michael Su), Seeking Wellness:
Suffering Through Four Movements ( Daniel Schneidkraut), Ashes (Elias Matar),
The Super (Evan Makrogiannis / Brian Weaver), El Monstro Del Mar (Stuart
Simpson), Beware (Jason Daly), and The Taint (Drew Bolduc / Dan Nelson).





In addition to the feature
films, there are 80-plus trailers, music videos and shorts playing the
international event.





More than 20 projects are
from Las Vegas filmmakers, but some of what's screening comes from as far as
India, Spain, Brazil, England, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Italy,
making for a nice mix of cultures, human experiences and genres on display.




"Everything from
arthouse to grindhouse is here," Freeman said. "There's brutality,
there's blood and nudity, there's controversy, there's exploitation, there's
experimentation, there's comedy and there are movies that are quite thought
provoking."





According to Freeman, action,
horror, sci-fi, experimental, dark comedy, hixploitation, mumblecore, horror comedy,
crime, gore, found footage, avant-garde, biker, exploitation, western,
sexploitation, documentary, and then some are represented at the event.





Eight of the 13 features
screened last year went on to find
DVD distribution, including the top jury and audience winners Slime City
Massacre and Dead Hooker in a Trunk.





This year, PollyGrind has
signed on to offer
DVD distribution deals from Breaking Glass Pictures to
the top two winners, with other winners receiving deluxe sub-distribution
packages from Apprehensive Films and Wild Eye Releasing, as well as arthouse
distribution contracts from venue host theatre7.





Also up for grabs is close to
$10,000 in software prizes from Sony Creative, Final Draft and Red Giant
Software.





Other award-winning
filmmakers, auteurs, renegades and mavericks with projects screening at the
event include Briony Kidd, Atul Taishete, Michael Dunn, Oren Shai, Paul von Stoetzel,
Zachary Mami, Lee Lanier, Alex Ferrari, Ernie Fosselius,Yakov Levi, Cassandra
Sechler, Ryen McPherson, Kelly Schwarze, Pardis Parker, Jimmie Gonzalez and The
Thompson Brothers.





Guests currently expected to
be in attendance include Beverly Lynne,
John Karyus, Aramis Sartorio, Brandon Slagle, Devanny Pinn, Monique Parent,
Creep Creepersin, Sean Cain, Brooke Lewis, Adam Rehmeier, Edward E. Romero,
James Bickert, Honey Lauren, Ginnetta Correli, Joe Castro, and Michael Su.





Lynne, who is known as The
Queen of Late Night for her roles in films such as Bikini Pirates, Bewitched
Housewives and I.M. Caravaggio, and Karyus, who is a self-proclaimed actor that
"specializes in bringing perverts, weirdos, freaks and nerds to
life," both appear in four projects.





Lynne stars in The Atonement
of Janis Drake, The Las Vegas Abductions and two episodes of TanyaX, a
webseries spinoff of The Girl from B.I.K.I.N.I. Karyus appears in Frankie in
Blunderland, Summer of Massacre, The Gruesome Death of Tommy Pistol and Finger
Bang. Sartorio, Slagle, and Pinn can all be seen in three projects each at the
event.


 


After a kickoff event on Oct.
7 with a concert that features Creepersin, Of the Gods, The Roxy Gunn Project
and more, PollyGrind grinds into full gear Oct. 8 with programming that starts
at
noon that goes into the wee hours.





The next day is another full
slate of fun. During the week, PollyGrind will change up a bit. Oct. 10-11 will
be double features that start at
7 p.m.





PollyGrind then takes over
the bi-monthly late night talk and comedy show The Will Edwards Show on Oct.
12. Beverly Lynne and The Roxy Gunn Project will be guests. The world premiere
of The Las Vegas Abductions rounds out the night.





Zombiepalooza brings five
shorts and two features on Oct. 13, and a triple feature on Oct. 14 leads into
all day programming on Oct. 15-16. Winning films will replay Oct. 29-30.





The PollyGrind Film Festival
is all about the darker side of cinema and the artists that bring those films
to life. The event celebrates individuality, diversity, creativity and
empowerment by showcasing the work of filmmakers with defiantly independent
visions. The festival consists of programming inspired by grindhouse theaters
with features, bookended by trailers, shorts and music videos.





Located near the
"Downtown Las Vegas" sign (1406 South 3rd Street, Las Vegas, NV 89104
In the arts district), theatre7 is an artlover's and indie film fan's paradise.
Owned by filmmaker Derek Stonebarger, theatre7 screens independent films,
doubles as an art gallery and host live theatre performances.





For a rundown on the entire PollyGrind
lineup, including other events throughout the month, or to purchase tickets,
visit www.pollygrind.com.



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