- Two-week online selection of movies sees awards distributed for the fifth annual Indy Film Library Halloween Horror Showcase
- LOST scoops Best Film with unanimous decision from judges, as lead Hui Zhi also picks up Best Actor.
- The Darkened Cottage wins Audience Choice, and Best Cinematography
Since Monday 21st October 2024, Indy Film Library (IFL) has been streaming some of the best short horror films it has received for review, for free. All six of the films selected are still available to view via the IFL website. They will remain there until Monday 4th 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 list of accolades distributed sees Best Film handed to Yujia Tan‘s time-bending theatrical horror, LOST. The film’s lead, Hui Zhi was awarded Best Actor for her performance as problem cast-member Xiao Xiao, battling a director losing track of her surroundings in a delirious nightmare of a show.
The award for Best Director was given to Niven Wilson, for his work on Don’t Shoot the President. The experimental animation follows an assortment of strange creatures, as they try to maintain agency of their bodies in a world governed by absurd cartoon logic.
Best Screenplay was presented to Will Priddis, for his script for relationship-horror The Impostor. The script turns the idea of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-type premise on its head, gradually suggesting that the people who can do us the most harm may simply be themselves.
Best Editing was picked up by Laaggedij – Xousha Eisenhardt‘s parasitic experimental horror. The film follows the life-cycle of an exploitative natural force.
Meanwhile, Best Score went to the emotive musical accompaniment of Algos. The soundtrack underscores a horrific tale of gradually losing a loved one – and being left with a haunting echo of their former self.
That theme was also prominent in Benji Wragg‘s short horror The Darkened Cottage – which was picked for Best Cinematography. The film, which follows a woman suffering from dementia as she is tormented by half-remembered ghosts from her former life, also prevailed in the Audience Choice category, picking up more than two-fifths of the final vote.
Speaking on the 2024 Halloween Horror Showcase, IFL Chief Editor Jack Benjamin commented, “It gives me enormous pleasure to have hosted another successful incarnation of our annual horror showcase. I love this genre, and it remains the lifeblood of independent cinema. Our latest annual anthology shows exactly why that is – demonstrating the kind of nightmarish world-building and self-examination that are possible in this space, even with a tiny budget. As well as congratulating the winners, I have to thank every single artist involved in the films for helping make that dream a nightmarish reality. It has been a joy to champion your work to new audiences around the world.”
Indy Film Library
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