Chattanooga Film Fest announces full line up

Following the announcement of their opening and closing night films SCENES FROM AN EMPTY CHURCH and BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION, the Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF) is ready to announce their full lineup of feature films, short films and events for their 2021 virtual edition, set for June 24 – 29.

ALIEN ON STAGE – Southeast Premiere

Directors Lucy Harvey & Danielle Kummer | 2020 | 86 mins | Comedy/Doc | UK | English

Alien On Stage is a documentary about a unique crew of bus drivers from Dorset, whose amateur dramatics group decide to ditch doing another pantomime and try something different. Having never done anything like it before, they spent a year creating a serious adaptation of the sci-fi, horror film, Alien (1979); finding ingenious solutions to pay homemade homage to the original film. The show is a crushing flop but fate gives them a second chance to find their audience. Whilst still adjusting to the idea that their serious show is actually a comedy, the group find out they’re suddenly being whisked from their village hall to a London West End theatre to perform this accidental masterpiece for one night only. With wobbly sets, awkward acting and special effects requiring ‘more luck than judgment’, will their West End debut be alright on the night? This bus driving crew are our space heroes. Their bus station is our space station. Dorset is outer-space and where is the Alien? It’s behind you. 

AN IDEAL HOST

Director Robert Woods | 2020 | 85 min | Horror/Comedy | Australia | English

Liz just wants to host the perfect dinner party but an unexpected guest sends the evening into chaos, with potentially apocalyptic consequences.        

BLOOD CONSCIOUS – Southeast Premiere

Director Timothy Covell | 2021 | 81 min | Horror/Thriller | US | English

Kevin, his older sister, Brittney, and her fiancé, Tony, arrive at their parents’ lakeside cabin expecting a leisurely weekend getaway. But their holiday turns into a trip from hell as they enter the scene of a mass shooting where their parents and neighbors all lie dead. Terror strikes when they discover the shotgun-wielding murderer, fresh off a night spent battling demons… or so he claims. They pin him down and lock him in the cellar, but as darkness falls, Kevin begins to entertain the man’s ravings about possessed campers and demons in the woods. As unexpected and traumatic events continue to unfold, the family must find a way to survive the night without turning on each other, or becoming possessed.

BLOODSHOT HEART – North American Premiere

Director Parish Malfitano | 2020 | 90 min | Mystery/Thriller | Australia | English, Italian

A mild-mannered driving instructor living with his manipulative and jealous mother descends into obsession and psychosis when a tenant half his age moves in. As the lines between reality and fantasy twist and merge, he hatches a violent plan to win her love. ‘Bloodshot Heart’ is a journey into obsession, memory and delusion. In a world where the difference between reality and fantasy can be hard to discern, Hans, a middle-aged driving instructor, attempts to shake off the manipulative grasp of his Italian mother and pursue a younger woman, Matilda, a musician renting a room in their apartment. As jealousy and infatuation spill over into psychosis, Hans hatches a violent plan to win the heart of Matilda and free himself from his mother’s clutches forever. 

BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION – Southeast Premiere; Closing Night Film

Director Jacob Gentry | 2021 |104 min | Horror/Suspense | US | English

For three years, James (Harry Shum Jr.) has been haunted by his wife’s sudden and inexplicable disappearance. His best distraction is work—specifically, archiving old videos. While watching decade-aged TV news footage one night, he sees a video interference that’s deeply disturbing. And it’s not the only interference he’ll see. As his obsession over these strange clips increases, and he submerges himself into their mysteries, James discovers troubling connections to his missing wife. Which will these broadcast intrusions bring him, though: long-desired answers or a never-ending nightmare?

CLIFF: A PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST – World Premiere

Director Adam Brooks | 2021 | 48 min | Documentary | Canada | English

Acclaimed Canadian artist Cliff Eyland looks back on his life after a successful double lung transplant.

DANNI AND THE VAMPIRE

Director Max Werkmeister | 2020 | 103 min | Comedy/Horror | US | English

A madcap drifter tries to reignite a special feeling from her past by helping a vampire achieve his dreams.

DIMLAND – Southeast Premiere

Director Peter Collins Campbell | 2020 | 75 min | Indie Drama | US | English

In an attempt to shake off her melancholy, a young woman escapes the city to her family’s country cottage only to rediscover a world she’d long forgotten and the old friend who may convince her to leave reality behind.

DUEL ON THE RIVER – World Premiere

Director Isaac Rathé | 2021 | 80 min | Horror | US | English

A maniac in a boat terrorizes innocent kayakers on the Detroit River.

It’s DUEL… on a river… and it rules! Trading Plymouths and tanker trucks for kayaks and motorboats, Isaac Rathé’s no-budget debut is a rip-roaring tribute to the Steven Speilberg cult classic. But dispense all pretensions of production values aside; this vehicle is fueled entirely on DIY ingenuity and an inspired comedic charisma that sneaks up on you across an increasingly outrageous, and infectiously endearing trajectory. “Despite watching it alone in my apartment, I gave DUEL ON THE RIVER a standing ovation as its credits rolled.” – Peter Kuplowsky, Lead Programmer, TIFF Midnight Madness 

EMPIRE OF THE DARK

Director Steve Barkett | 1990 | 93 min | Adventure Horror | US | English

A private detective searching for a killer comes across a satanic cult from another dimension, monsters called up from hell and murderous ninja assassins.

EVENTS TRANSPIRING BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER A HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL GAME

Director Ted Stenson | 2020 | 75 min | Comedy | Canada | English

As Middleview High School’s woeful boys basketball team prepares for another certain loss, several unusual dramas take shape around its periphery. Ken, a cantankerous referee, finds himself charged with minding his soon-to-be ex-wife’s pomeranian; Brent Davidson, the Middleview Ducks’ obnoxious assistant coach, lobbies to install a complex offensive system; third-string point guard Joel attempts to explain existentialism to his teammates; and a group of theatre students plan a confrontational protest after their “post-colonial” King Lear is banned by the administration.

FROM CAMERA TO CONSOLE

Director Dustin Kramer | 2020 | 90 min | US

CFF is proud to present a handpicked, mini-marathon of filmmaker Dustin Kramer’s meticulously researched and wildly entertaining web documentary series. Each episode finds Kramer taking a warm-hearted and never condescending deep five into the often weird world of films that have been adapted into video games. The result is sure to please cinephiles and gamers in equal measure.                       

HE’S DEAD AND SO AM I – World Premiere

Directors Gabe Casdorph & Gabe Martinez | 2021 | 86 min | Comedy | US | English

Two ghosts stuck in purgatory hatch a scheme to find a missing girl, in order to earn a ticket into heaven.

KANDISHA

Directors Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury | 2020 | 85 min | Horror | France | French

It is summer break and best friends Amélie, Bintou and Morjana hang together with the neighborhood teenagers. At night, they have fun sharing goosebumps stories and urban legends. But when Amélie is assaulted by her ex, she remembers the story of Kandisha, a powerful and vengeful demon. Afraid, upset, she summons her. The next day, her ex is found dead. The legend is true and now Kandisha is on a killing spree. The three girls will do anything to break the curse…

LONANO-THON – A BRIAN LONANO RETROSPECTIVE

Director Brian Lonano | 2021 | 95 min | US | English

 A collection of short films, music videos and other experiments from filmmaker Brian Lonano.

MISTER LIMBO

Director Robert G. Putka | 2021 | 96 min | Heartfelt Comedy | US | English

Two strangers wake up in the middle of the desert with no memory of anything – including their names. Are they dead? Or did they just party too hard at Burning Man? A warm buddy film at heart – but hopefully also a rumination on existential themes such as regret, cynicism, faith, and empathy – Mister Limbo is an odyssey evoking Waiting For Godot on drugs, with a soft spot for the short-lived TV series, “The 4400.”

MOM, I BEFRIENDED GHOSTS

Director Sasha Voronov | 2020 | 67 min | Drama/Horror | Russia | Russian

A small town in Siberia is trapped for many months of quarantine. People die from a mysterious disease, which comes from water. Survivors hide in their flats – but the running water is just as poisoned. Self-defense groups are moving along the empty streets and desperate loners are hunting for their fellows. 

MY HEART CAN’T BEAT UNLESS YOU TELL IT TO

Director Jonathan Cuartas | 2021 | 90 min | Drama/Horror | US | English

Dwight (Patrick Fugit) prowls the streets after dark. He searches each night for the lonely and forlorn, looking for people who won’t be missed. Dwight takes no joy in this, but he needs their blood. Without fresh human blood, his fragile young brother Thomas cannot survive. Each death takes a larger toll, the burden of his crimes weighing heavier each time, threatening to crack his spirit. But Thomas (Owen Campbell) and his sister Jessie (Ingrid Sophie Schram) are all the family Dwight has left, and as a fiercely private and close-knit family unit, they depend on him and the rituals they’ve learned in order to keep their secret. But while Dwight yearns for another life, Jessie needs them to stay together. And always the boy must feed.

NIGHT DRIVE – Tennessee Premiere

Directors Meghan Leon & Bradford Baruh | 2021 | 80 min | Thriller | US | English

Russell (AJ Bowen) is a driver in Los Angeles who’s reeling from a series of bad decisions. While his life seems to be caught in a downward spiral, a business proposition from an alluring but enigmatic passenger named Charlotte (Sophie Dalah) proves too good to turn down. A simple ride turns deadly, catapulting Russell into an even darker place, but Charlotte may be the key to a second chance he thought he’d never have…if he can make it through the night.

PARALLEL MINDS – Tennessee Premiere

Director Benjamin Ross Hayden | 2020 | 86 min | Sci-fi/Thriller | Canada | English

In the near future, technology firm Red-Eye is on the verge of developing a revolutionary contact lens that records human sight to replicate memories. The device uses an artificially engineered intelligence known as U.R.M.  When the company’s lead researcher is strangely murdered at the time of the technology’s release, Thomas Elliot (Greg Bryk), an old-fashioned police detective investigates with intrepid researcher Margo Elson (Tommie Amber Pirie) who are drawn into searching deeper to apprehend the illusive digital shapeshifter.

SCENES FROM AN EMPTY CHURCH – World Premiere; Opening night film

Director Onur Tukel  |  2021  |  98 mins  |  Comedy/Drama  |  US  |  English

In a locked-down NYC, two priests open their church doors to those seeking salvation during the most isolating of times. From the commonplace to the truly metaphysical, their visitors reflect the full spectrum of personal crises of spirituality. Throughout their encounters with the city’s sweetest, wildest and weirdest, the two priests learn the importance of connection, empathy and open-mindedness. Sometimes a little faith is all you need to make it through the bad times.

From writer/director Onur Tukel (Catfight), and featuring standout performances from Kevin Corrigan, Max Casella, and Thomas Jay Ryan, Scenes from an Empty Church is a uniquely timely and timeless spotlight on the search for life’s meaning, told with Tukel’s trademark wit and wisdom.

SHE WATCHES FROM THE WOODS

Director Beau Ballinger | 2020 | 89 min | Crime Drama/Horror | US | English

A troubled artist with a dark past struggles to make peace with her dying mother while investigating the sinister death of her sister.

TEDDY – Southeast Premiere

Directors Ludovic & Zoran Boukherma | 2021 | 88 min | Horror | France | French

In a rural French town, twenty-something Teddy is scratched by an unknown beast and slowly undergoes frightening changes.

THE AFTERMATH

Director Steve Barkett | 1982 | 95 min | Sci-Fi/Thriller | US | English

An astronaut battles mutant cannibals after returning from space to find earth ravaged by nuclear and biological war. 

THE CARNIVORES

Director Caleb Michael Johnson | 2021 | 77 min | US | English

Alice is vegan, but she hungers for her partner Bret voraciously. Bret is completely consumed with caring for her dog Harvie, whose convalescence and rigorous medication schedule leaves Alice feeling neglected, physically and emotionally. She can’t sleep, and when she does she sleepwalks, waking up in random places unable to distinguish disturbing dreams from reality — and finding herself increasingly drawn to the meat section of the supermarket. When Harvie mysteriously goes missing, the two women must search for what they’ve lost in this compelling hybrid of dark comedy, psychological thriller, and drama.

THE OLD WAYS

Director Christopher Alender | 2020 | 90 min | Fantasy/Horror | US | English

When Cristina Lopez, a Mexican American reporter, goes to her ancestral homeland of Veracruz for a story on witchcraft and faith healers, it’s not long before she’s kidnapped by locals. They claim that she is possessed by a demon and they must exorcise her before they can set her free. As she tries to find a way to escape she eventually comes to believe that they may be telling the truth. So along with her captors and estranged cousin Miranda, her fight for survival turns into a fight for her soul.

WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR – Southeast Premiere

Director Jane Schoenbrun | 2021 | 86 min | Drama/Horror | US | English

Alone in her attic bedroom, teenager Casey becomes immersed in an online role-playing horror game, wherein she begins to document the changes that may or may not be happening to her.

WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR – Southeast Premiere

Director Kier-La Janisse | 2021 | 194 min | Documentary | US | English

WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED explores the folk horror phenomenon from its beginnings in a trilogy of films – Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General (1968), Piers Haggard’s Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973) – through its proliferation on British television in the 1970s and its culturally specific manifestations in American, Asian, Australian and European horror, to the genre’s revival over the last decade. Touching on over 200 films and featuring over 50 interviewees, WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED investigates the many ways that we alternately celebrate, conceal and manipulate our own histories in an attempt to find spiritual resonance in our surroundings.

Tickets for the Chattanooga Film Fest can be purchased here.