- Two-week online selection of movies sees awards distributed for the third annual Indy Film Library Halloween Horror Showcase
- Duro Howard Jr. wins Best Director for twisted animation Experience the World: The Train
- Niven Wilson scoops Best Screenplay wreath for anti-capitalist nightmare Eat the Rich
Since Monday 24th October 2022, Indy Film Library (IFL) has been streaming some of the best short horror films it has received for review, for free. All seven of the films selected are still available to view via the IFL website. They will remain there until Monday 7th November 23:00 CET.
As the showcase prepares to draw to a close, however, IFL has announced the winners from the Halloween Horror Showcase shortlist. The victorious movies were selected by IFL’s jury, which consists of its team of film critics.
The list of accolades distributed sees Best Film handed to Duro Howard Jr.’s dark comedy, Experience the World: The Train. A horror film for the lockdown era, the animation spoofs the guided-meditation-roleplay videos that have become popular on the internet in recent years. Initially promising to give isolated viewers a taste of normality, transporting them from lockdown to a crowded train, the film places its audience in an increasingly distressing scenario, reminding them of the hell that they were clamouring to return to.
Howard also picked up Best Director and Best Cinematography prizes for their efforts on the film.
Meanwhile, Niven Wilson received the award for Best Screenplay. The award was made for the script to Eat the Rich – an animated film-poem, which takes viewers on a nightmarish trip into the bowels of a dinner-hall populated by cannibalistic capitalists.
Best Actor was awarded to Nancy Rose, for her work as the victim of a compulsive form of eczema in Under My Skin. Rose was praised for her “authentic energy” in IFL’s review of her performance.
And Miasma picked up Best Score, for Andreas Aicka Thomsen’s unnerving music – as it did in IFL’s earlier Experimental Showcase in 2022. The film, which is both a horror and an abstract short film, was picked for each showcase due to excelling on both fronts.
Elsewhere, Marie Lormeau’s atmospheric short De Wissel triumphed in the Audience Choice category. After polls tightened in the first week, the film pulled clear of its rivals before voting closed.
Speaking on the process behind the creation of the creepy short, Lormeau told IFL, “The film itself was incredibly fun to make. We shot it in a day, with a minimal crew and no budget. Everything in the film belonged to the cast and crew… Regardless of the result, we all have fond memories of that day, and I strongly believe it’s also the point of making films.”
Even if the production was modest, it clearly still managed to speak to viewers. In the end, it received over half of all the votes cast.
IFL Chief Editor Jack Brindelli commented, “As a horror fan, procuring an annual anthology of horror for IFL’s audience is really a dream. I have to thank every single artist involved in the films, for helping make that a reality. This year’s Halloween Horror Showcase a great success, and it has been a joy to champion your work to new audiences around the world.
“I also have to congratulate all the winners specifically. I think it’s especially fitting, as governments and bosses push us back into public life while a potentially lethal virus still stalks through our population, that our jury has picked out films that play on our anxieties around public life, and human interaction. That could relate to welcoming guests offering up a feast with dire consequences; the social norms that put us at war with our own bodies; or the waking nightmares we are forced to treat as a ‘normal’ part of our daily work. Mainstream cinema is struggling to address these themes meaningfully in the so-called ‘post-Covid’ era – but each of these films shows that independent artists not only have the talent, but the guts necessary to tell those stories that need telling now. Even as we enter the dark half of the year, that’s cause for some hope.”
Indy Film Library
Based in Amsterdam, Indy Film Library is a film-criticism platform, which delivers insightful feedback to independent filmmakers. It is currently open for its fourth year of submissions.
The organisation also hosts an annual gathering to celebrate the best and brightest up-and-coming talents in the industry. For more information, visit www.indyfilmlibrary.com, or email indyfilmlibrary@gmail.com.
For regular updates for reviews, interviews, commentary and news from Indy Film Library, follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
If you like what you find, Indy Film Library is currently hosting a crowd-funding campaign. If you would like to support us in our work giving feedback to filmmakers around the world, please visit our Go Fund Me page – and share it far and wide.