Competition

Best known for his role as Eric "Otter" Stratton in the comedy classic NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE, Tim Matheson has entertained audiences over the last 50 years, from his work as the original voice of TV's JONNY QUEST, to Steven Spielberg's 1941, FLETCH, TO BE OR NOT TO BE, MAGNUM FORCE, IMPULSE, BONANZA and THE WEST WING, for which he was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards. He is also an accomplished television director, having helmed episodes of CRIMINAL MINDS and BURN NOTICE, among many others. He is a longtime fan of Fantasia and considers the opportunity to serve on this year's jury a dream come true.

Abraham Castillo Flores has been the head programmer at Morbido Fest since 2010, selecting, curating and presenting exotic and outrageous films. While adapting to the current mutations of the film industry that continue to transform the paradigm of mass entertainment, he also takes great pride in defending the primeval cinematic experience.

In parallel he is touring his master class: The Morbido Crypt's Guide to Mexican Fantasy and Horror Cinema, where he revisits the origins and evolution of the genre whilst dissecting the national legends and traumas that have been continuously reinterpreted by Mexican filmmakers and that stand as a reaction to the tragic reality that Mexico is now experiencing.

Before venturing into directing, E.L Katz was a prolific writer of genre fare both at the studio and indie level, including on many early Adam Wingard films. He made his directorial debut with super low-budget, critically-acclaimed CHEAP THRILLS, starring Pat Healy, Dave Koechner, Ethan Embry, and Sara Paxton. The film became a sensational hit at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival, where it won the festival’s Audience Award, was the critic's pick for Best First Feature, and was purchased by Drafthouse Films. Directly after SXSW, Evan directed a segment for the ABC’S OF DEATH 2 anthology project and directed an episode of MTV’s SCREAM’s second season. E.L. was also a writer/producer on Jim Mickle’s SundanceTV/AMC series HAP & LEONARD. His most recent film SMALL CRIMES, which he co-wrote with Macon Blair for Netflix, stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Molly Parker, Gary Cole, Robert Forster, and Jacki Weaver. The film premiered at SXSW in 2017 and released on Netflix. Currently, E.L. is working on SIRENS OF TITAN, a show he sold to UCP with Dan Harmon. He is also in pre-production on Season 4 of Syfy’s CHANNEL ZERO, for which he will be directing and producing all 6 episodes.

Phil Nobile Jr. is a lifelong movie lover and an Emmy-award winning writer/producer based in Philadelphia. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director of the recently relaunched Fangoria Magazine. Prior to Fangoria, Phil spent seven years as editor-at-large and senior contributor at Birth.Movies.Death. His work as a television writer/producer has appeared on A&E, Bio, Discovery, TLC, and Reelz.

Actor-writer-producer, Victoria Sanchez-Mandryk, has performed in over fifty films, TV, and theatre productions, and received an ACTRA award for her video game voice & motion capture work on DEUS Ex. Through her company, JUST BELIEVE, she has been an avid advocate for Quebec horror and fantasy filmmakers. Her productions include the feature films WAIT TILL HELEN COMES, based on her adaptation of the beloved novel, starring Maria Bello, and PYEWACKET, directed by Adam MacDonald and featuring Laurie Holden (The Walking Dead). Her projects in development include KIN FABLES; THE STOLEN CHILD, created by Seb McKinnon, and a collaboration with Adam MacDonald on the anthology series, NIGHT TERRORS.

Stéphanie a débuté sa carrière dans l’industrie du film en 2005 au Festival international de films Fantasia, auquel elle a contribué pour 9 éditions et fondé son Marché de coproduction internationale Frontières en 2012. Elle a aussi fondé la compagnie de distribution Evokative Films en 2008 et est productrice exécutive des films Turbo Kid, 24 x 36: A Movie About Movie Posters, 68 Kill, Radius et Mohawk. Elle est maintenant Directrice de la distribution chez Métropole Films Distribution.

Stephanie began her career in the film industry in 2005 with the Fantasia International Film Festival, to which she contributed for 9 editions and founded its Frontières International Co-production Market in 2012. She also founded the distribution company Evokative Films in 2008 and is Executive Producer of the films TURBO KID, 24x36: A MOVIE ABOUT MOVIE POSTERS, 68 KILL, RADIUS and MOHAWK. She is now the Distribution Director at Métropole Films Distribution.

Ségolène Roederer is recognized as a rigorous and visionary professional that owns 30 years of experience in the arts and culture Québec scene, including 18 years as Executive Director of the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois and now as Québec Cinéma general manager which she has led for the last 8 years with skill and success along with the merger of the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois and the Grande Nuit du cinéma.

Endearing and generous, this elegant French dynamo is praised by her peers and collaborators for her mobilizing and strategic qualities. Her flair for sensing the trends along with her vast knowledge of the film industry and her passion for the works of artists and professionals are all assets that contribute to the success and the scope of the projects she undertakes. Her ongoing involvement with the milieu has earned her to be thought of immediately when committees are formed to oversee industry stakes and issues.

A graduate of the MHSoC at Concordia in Film Studies, Liane worked in television development and production in Montreal before moving to London, UK. While completing an MA in Producing Film and Television, she began working for Arrow Video in cult and genre film restoration and distribution. Getting a taste of festival life while touring with Arrow Video, Liane began working as an International Programming Associate for TIFF upon her Canadian homecoming in 2017. Eagerly this summer, Liane and a few femmes fatales of the genre scene are launching INIODYMUS, a film festival consultancy agency for filmmakers new to the genre circuit.

Neil Calderone is the founder of the Chicago Cinema Society, a 35mm print collector, musician, former bioorganic chemist, involved in union and election reform activism and, primarily, a science educator at one of the top rated high schools in Chicago. Neil has had a long-time love for genre cinema since childhood thanks to his mother who would have him watch Horror, Kaiju and Kung Fu films on a regular basis. After a number of years attending Fantasia as a fan, Neil became inspired to become involved in film programming and film preservation, bringing to Chicago films that might have otherwise gone unseen.

Ezra Winton is a film curator, critic, scholar and teacher. After two tumultuous years at Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema teaching everything from Australian taboo horror to Satoshi Kon to Canuxploitation, he is now taking time to finish his book on the Hot Docs film festival while hatching a new project tentatively called Settler 101. He is also working on a Summer Institute for Documentary Media, is a Curator-In-Residence at Concordia and is co-founder and Director of Programming at Cinema Politica, the world’s largest documentary screening network. Follow him on Twitter: @ezrawinton.

Joe Yanick is the Co-President of Yellow Veil Pictures and Co-Director of the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies in New York, in addition to his role as the Assistant Director of Festival and Non-Theatrical booking at worldwide film sales company Visit Films. In addition to his work at YVP, Miskatonic, and Visit, Joe has held numerous roles in film journalism over the years, from freelance writing positions at Vice, Complex, MovieMaker Magazine, and Hopes and Fears to editorial positions at Cineaste Magazine and Diabolique Magazine.

Jacqueline Castel is a French-American writer, director, curator, and archivist based in NYC. Her work has screened at Sundance, SXSW, Sitges, and Fantasia, and featured collaborations with cult auteurs John Carpenter, David Lynch, and Jim Jarmusch. She is currently in production on a feature documentary about transgressive UK art collective Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth and in pre-production on a French-Japanese erotica feature co-written by herself and Sasha Grey which Castel will be directing in Tokyo in 2018. Her psychological horror feature MIHARA is at this year's Frontières market at Fantasia and is currently in development.

Kalyn Corrigan is a writer based out of Los Angeles. She has provided work for a variety of outlets, including Birth.Movies.Death, Bloody Disgusting, Comingsoon.net, Wizard World, Delirium Magazine, Playboy and Collider. She graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in American History and a minor in Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter at @kalyncorrigan

A successful entrepreneur for over 20 years in a variety of different industries, James’s business sense and creative eye has allowed him to build an impressive professional portfolio, and reputation. At Raven Banner James oversees worldwide sales, having quickly established professional relationships with some of the industry’s leading distribution companies (Sony, IFC, Magnolia, Lionsgate, to name but a few) and has direct contact with the key players. As well, James annually attends all the major world markets and festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, AFM, and TIFF.

Kier-La Janisse is a film writer and programmer, the founder of The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies and Owner/Artistic Director of Spectacular Optical. She is the author of A Violent Professional: The Films of Luciano Rossiand House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films, and co-edited/published the books KID POWER!,Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s, Yuletide Terror: Christmas Horror on Film and Televisionand Lost Girls: The Phantasmagorical Cinema of Jean Rollin. She is currently writing a book about Monte Hellman’s COCKFIGHTER.

Shelagh Rowan-Legg is a critic, festival programmer, and filmmaker. She is a contributing editor for ScreenAnarchy and a critic for Sight & Sound. She programs for FrightFest, the UK’s largest genre festival. Her book The Spanish Fantastic: Contemporary Filmmaking in Horror, Fantasy & Sci Fi was published in 2016. Her shorts films Measure and Flow have screened at dozens of festivals around the world, winning numerous awards.

Award winning Executive Producer Michael Kronish was most recently the Executive Vice President of VICE Media's Canadian studio's inception in 2014 until mid-2018. Michael was the architect of the studio start-up in Toronto that has to date produced over 150 hours of premium documentaries, factual series, specials, digital videos, town halls and VICE’s first foray into scripted television. Some of Michael’s credits include Netflix' feature doc, JIM & ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND, the Sundance-premiering, award-winning doc series RISE, Director X’s MISTER TACHYON, Michael Dowse’s TV adaptation of the cult classic FUBAR and the genre bending, Matt Johnson-helmed sitcom, NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW. In 2018, his studio was nominated for 13 Canadian Screen Awards and won three, for TERROR, RISE and ABANDONED. The studio has also won several digital awards in both English and French.

Strong from years of experience in various tech roles within the distribution industry, working with and for top boutique labels, first in France and in the U.K. for over a decade, Nora has now been at the helm of Arrow Video’s Quality Control Department for nearly four years. She's also the technical advisor for INIODYMUS – a female-run consultancy agency supporting emerging talents wishing to enter the genre festival circuit.

Patrick Senécal was born in Drummondville in 1967. With Bachelor in French Studies from Université de Montréal, he taught literature and cinema for several years at Cégep de Drummondville. He published his first horror novel in 1994, 5150, RUE DES ORMES, in which tension and strong emotions are key. His third novel, SUR LE SEUIL, a fantastic thriller published in 1998, was unanimously acclaimed by critics. After ALISS (2000), an original and squeaky reinterpretation of Lewis Carroll's masterpiece, LES SEPT JOURS DU TALION(2002), ONIRIA (2004), LE VIDE (2007) and HELL.COM (2009) conquered the general public right out off the press. Since then, CONTRE DIEU (2010),QUINZE MINUTES (2013), FAIMS (2015), L'AUTRE REFLET (2016) and IL Y AURA DES MORTS (2017) have followed this momentum.

SUR LE SEUILand 5150, RUE DES ORMES were brought to the screen by Éric Tessier (2003 and 2009) and Podz directed the SEVEN DAYS OF TALION (2010). Three other adaptations are currently under development both in Quebec and abroad.

Considered by some to be the Michel Gondry of the digital age, Patrick Boivin is a self-taught director who got his start working on the show PHYLACTÈRE COLA for a Quebec broadcaster. He has directed several shorts that have been on the international festival circuit. He has created stop-motion animation videos, some of which have gotten over 70 million hits. With over 330 million video views, he has been wowing everyone on the web with his technical proficiency, but most of all with his very own brand of cheeky pop-cultural remixing. Huge names have hired Patrick – Indochine, Tony Hawk, Iggy Pop, LG, Lego, Google, Ford, Nike, Samsung, Marvel and Disney/Pixar, to name a few.

Along with Olivier Roberge, Patrick has launched the first Canadian feature-length film (FALL, FINALLY) on YouTube, and the pair followed that up with another feature called BUNKER. Patrick is currently working on a number of projects, including short content for Disney Digital and award-winning Black List film scripts, including Dan Shea’s SHINY PENNY, under option with Brightlight Pictures, and another project with producer Bernie Goldman and writer Hank Nelken.

Gerard Lewis has written or story edited several hundred animation and live action scripts for television for a multitude of different broadcasters. A recipient of Canada’s Gemini Award for Best Writing for Youth Television Programming, Gerard was also a regular writer on several Emmy Award winning seasons for PBS children’s programming. He is presently developing TV series, feature films and considering ways to integrate storytelling into VR.

Donato Totaro est le rédacteur en chef de Offscreen (www.offscreen.com), la plus ancienne revue de cinéma mensuellement en ligne en activité, depuis sa création en 1997. Professeur à temps partiel en Études cinématographiques à l’Université Concordia (Montréal, Canada) depuis 1990, il a également publié de nombreux articles sur le cinéma dans ReFocus: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky (à venir), Cult TV (2010), 100 European Horror Films (2007), The Cinema of Japan and Korea (2004), Fear Without Frontiers (2003), Eaten Alive!: Italian Cannibal and Zombie Movies (2002) et Historical Dictionary of South American Cinema (2014). Il fait actuellement des recherches sur l'impact de la génération «monster kid» sur la culture contemporaine de l'horreur.

Entre Jules Couturier et le septième art, c’est une histoire qui dure depuis toujours. Du plus loin qu’il se rappelle, le cinéma l’a toujours fasciné. La critique de cinéma est un prolongement de son discours intérieur. Ouvert à différents genres, il a toutefois une préférence pour les œuvres présentant des personnages issus de cultures marginales, rebelles, des personnages en transformation, confrontés à des expériences initiatiques, animés d’une révolte ou d’un désir de dépassement. Depuis quelques années, Jules Couturier trace son chemin dans le milieu de la critique cinématographique au Québec. Objectif : entretenir sa flamme pour le cinéma.

Diplômé en études cinématographiques de l’Université de Montréal, Pascal Grenier a notamment travaillé pour le festival Fantasia à titre de programmateur pendant quelques années. Membre actif de l’Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma (AQCC), il collabore de façon régulière à la revue Séquences depuis plus de 15 ans. Cinéphage enragé et collectionneur compulsif, il a écrit un blogue cinéma pour le site web du Journal Métro pendant près de 3 ans et collabore de façon sporadique au nouveau blogue (cinetalk.net) du critique Sandro Forte. Il a aussi été sélectionné à cinq reprises pour faire partie d’un jury de la critique internationale (FIPRESCI).