Introducing the 2007 Fantastic Fest Competition Films and Jury

The "AMD Next Wave" Features Competition
AMD has a long history of working with young creative filmmakers such as Robert Rodriguez to provide tools and equipment that make the creative process easier. With the AMD "Next Wave" spotlight, we have chosen 9 films by young up-and-coming filmmakers. These are filmmakers who are beginning their careers and may well become the next wave of talent shaping the industry in the decades to come. These nine films will be judged by the Next Wave jury, the winning film will be awarded a $1000 cash prize as well as Dell/AMD editing hardware. All nine of the "Next Wave" filmmakers will be in attendance at Fantastic Fest.

The juried "AMD Next Wave" Features Competition films are:
The Entrance
Spiral
Five Across the Eyes
Mirageman
Timecrimes
Beautiful Beast
End of the Line
Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door
Wrong Turn 2

The three members of the AMD Next Wave Features Jury are:
Charlie Boswell (AMD)
As Director of Digital Media & Entertainment for Advanced Micro Devices works directly with leading entertainment industry innovators and content creators including George Lucas, James Cameron, and Robert Rodriguez to create technology solutions for creative challenges.
Eric Vespe (AICN)
Eric Vespe is a veteran Ain't It Cool News reporter and native of Austin, Texas. When he's not writing about movies, he's out on set or in a dark room watching a flickering screen.
Anne Goetzmann Kelly (Austin School of Film)
Co-founder and Education Director of the Austin School of Film,
Anne has an extensive background in media production with a focus on independent artist development. She co-founded and presided over Moment Productions, a Times Signature Music publishing company.
The Fantasic Features Competition
The juried Fantastic Features Competition films are:
Wicked Flowers
Maiko Haaaan!
Offscreen
The Sword Bearer
Aachi & Ssipak
A Dirty Carnival
Never Belongs To Me
Wolfhound

The three members of the Fantastic Features Jury are:
Marc Walkow (NIKKATSU ACTION)
Marc Walkow is a member of Subway Cinema, the organizing and programming team behind the New York Asian Film Festival. He has worked in the video industry for 15 years, curating the Mario Bava, EuroShock, and Something Weird genre film labels and producing titles at The Criterion Collection. He recently formed his own company, Outcast Cinema, in order to concentrate on his true passion: promoting classic and contemporary Japanese genre cinema.
Chris Cargill (AICN)
Veteran Ain't It Cool News reporter Chris Cargill (AKA Massawyrm) also writes for film.com and appears in the animated movie review show, Spill.com.
Tom Quinn (Magnolia Pictures)
Tom Quinn began his film career in Los Angeles doing domestic publicity at Dennis Davidson Associates working for Senior VP of West Coast publicity. He later moved on to work for Samuel Goldwyn Jr. eventually becoming the VP of Acquisitions where he was responsible for acquiring SUPERSIZEME. He is currently Senior VP of Magnolia Pictures.

The Horror Features Competition
The juried Horror Features Competition films are:
Alone
Devil's Chair
Ferryman
Summer Scars
Exte: Hair Extensions
Hell's Ground
La Hora Fria
Taxidermia

The three members of the Horror Features Jury are:
Scott Weinberg (Cinematical)
Online critic extraordinare, Scott Weinberg can stand toe to toe with any critic in the nation on comprehensive horror knowledge. Scott is also curating Fantastic Fest's Monday midnight "Horror Family Feud"
Harvey Fenton (FAB Press)
Harvey Fenton is the founder and owner of cult movie publishing house FAB Press. He has published more than 50 books since the inception of FAB Press in 1993, and is the author of the following best-sellers: Flesh & Blood Book One, Cannibal Holocaust and the Savage cinema of Ruggero Deodato.
Ian Rattray (FrightFest)
Ian Rattray is one of the co-organisers of the highly respected FrightFest Film Festival, the UK's premiere fantasy and horror event that is held each August in London. A film distributor and booker, Ian has over twenty years experience within the UK industry and runs his own distribution and booking company.
Animated Shorts Competition
The juried Animated Shorts Competition films are:
Apnee
The Bird, The Mouse and the Sausage
Everything will be OK
Introduction to Lucid Dream Exploration
It Came from the West
Postman
Shuteye Hotel
Tale of How
X-pression

The three members of the Animated Shorts Jury are:
Ryan Schifrin (King in the Box)
Ryan was recently touted by ABC’s Nightline News as the “future of horror ” after ABOMINABLE, his critically acclaimed, award winning feature directing debut opened in New York, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Jonathan Brands (Funimation)
Jonathan is an executive at Funimation Entertainment in Dallas, Texas, one of the nations leaders in anime production and distribution.
Michael Lerman (indieWIRE)
Michael Lerman is a programmer for the Woodstock Film Festival and Philadelphia Film Festival, a writer for indieWIRE and is currently producing and/or directing two feature narratives.
Fantastic Shorts Competition
The juried Fantastic Shorts Competition films are:
Ange
Battle for the Serpent Stone
The Faeries of Blackheath Woods
King in the Box
Monster Job Hunter
Sniffer
Les Petits Hommes Vieux
The Little Gorilla
Mebana
Un-gone
Suityman
Waiting For Yesterday
Dreamtime

The three members of the Fantastic Shorts Jury are:
Todd Brown (Twitch)
Todd Brown is the founder and editor of Twitch, an online journal of unusual films from around the globe. He also programs for a number of film festivals (Fantastic Fest, Fantasia, Toronto After Dark) and between the two roles watches far more bad films than is probably good for him.
Don Hertzfeldt (The Animation Show)
Don Hertzfeldt is the co-founder of THE ANIMATION SHOW along with fellow animator Mike Judge. Don has created an amazing collection of animated films including BILLY'S BALLOON, REJECTED and his newest work EVERYTHING WILL BE OK? which is in competition at Fantastic Fest 2007.
Travis Stevens (Imagination Films)
Travis Stevens is the Director of Acquisitions and Marketing for Imagination Worldwide, LLC, an international sales and foreign distribution company focused on bringing unique genre titles to the international marketplace. He is at Fantastic Fest this year in support of their newest feature FIVE ACROSS THE EYES.
Fantastic Fest Horror Shorts Competition
The juried Horror Shorts Competition films are:
Criticized
Demonology of Desire
In the Wall
Happy Birthday 2 You
Maquina
Anesthesia
The Run
Lump
Far Out
The Fifth

The three members of the Horror Shorts Jury are:
Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2)
Joe Lynch was born in Long Island, NY and was raised on a steady diet of horror films & novels, comic books and dirty-water hot dogs. Upon graduating from Syracuse University, where his two school shorts, mAHARBA & hiBeams got Lynch named "Filmmaker of the Year" in 1999 in The Village Voice's Best of Long Island issue.
Adam Green (Spiral)
Green's first feature film (the comedy COFFEE & DONUTS) was ultimately bought by Walt Disney / Touchstone TV and developed as a sit-com with Green writing the pilot for UPN. In 2005, Green wrote and directed the all-star horror/comedy HATCHET which premiered to rave reviews at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.
Bill Lustig (Blue Underground)
Bill Lustig directed MANIAC as well as MANIAC COP 1,2 and 3. Lustig is also known for his work, first at Anchor Bay, supervising dvd-releases of the cream-of-the-crop in their European cult-catalogue, and later as CEO of his own publishing firm Blue Underground.
In addition, all of these films will be part of the Audience Awards voting. Winners of each of the juries as well as the audience awards will be announced at the Fantastic Fest awards ceremony on the last night of the festival, Thursday, September 27.