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Forge GR30K Grey Skies The Honeymoon Mutant Swinger from Mars Room 36 S&Man True Extremes True Nature Werewolf Fever Zombie Apocalypse Movies that are highlighted in bold italics are Michigan made films and are eligible for THE THRILLER! CHILLER! BOOMSTICK! AWARD! And all films are considered for the Thriller! Chiller! Groovies: Best Feature!, Best Short!, Best Thrill!, Best Chill!, & Best FX! | SHORTS
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Yeah, but...
Chris, Keith and I definitely know how you all are feeling. If you find your movie on this list, very few things can beat that feeling. The same goes for if you do not find your movie on here as well, or worse, if you find the name of a film you've already seen or a film made by a rival and you think, "WTF?! My FILM is better than that one!"
And to you it is. You are the best film maker you know. Or you should be anyway, right?
But that's not necessarily how a film festival sees it. We have to program it, we have to market it, and in some cases, a film doesn't meet the overall theme or context for a festival in order to make the cut. And that happens a lot!
In the case of Thriller! Chiller!, every year we have more quality films than we have space to program, and/or money to create more space. And then inevitably that leads to the "discussion." Ever get three avowed genre movie geeks, diehard film makers and festival directors in a room and have a heart to heart on what makes a movie a genre movie let alone the merits of what each movie does or does not have going for it?
Yeah, we don't recommend it.
So with that said, we can say that we're sorry if you feel a sense of rejection and elated if you feel that sense of validation you sought in our humble little festival. We mean that because we too know how that feels as film makers. But as festival directors and unlike what we've discovered with many, many other film festivals, we wanted Thriller! Chiller! done in a certain way because we saw that our favorite style of film, the genre movie, was simply not getting enough play on the film festival circuit. And certainly NOT represented here on the Michigan film festival circuit whatsoever when we started it five years ago. Horror, suspense, sci-fi and action movies with a strong story and plot. Striking visuals and characters. Unique vision and a sense of adventure. The kinds of movies that inspired us to make movies! Out of the question. No way. Not here in this part of the country.
Nowadays, in Michigan, everyone loves a kick ass genre movie! Heck, even our local movie theater chains didn't feel it was economically viable to rerun cult classics until we inspired them with the cult classics we returned to the big screen to show audiences still love a great genre movie. A tipping point most certainly aided by our good friends over at Meanwhile Bar whose Meanwhile Film Series at the Wealthy Theatre has helped revitalize that venue, creating a focal point in the renaissance of our uptown as one of our city's most vibrant arts and business centers.
There has also been a sea change within the film industry as a whole in the time since we've started Thriller! Chiller! But we make no bones about the fact that we have undoubtedly earned our stripes as Michigan's premier film festival celebrating the genre movie. Fellow Michigan based film festivals have taken notice! For instance, Waterfront Film Festival programmed a block of short horror films this year at its typically staid and polite celebration this past June. And Traverse City Film Festival selected a genre movie festival darling known as Tucker & Dale vs. Evil to play at theirs in August. And to top it off, the East Lansing Film Festival shifted their entire festival itself from March - a time of year they've programmed over the entire duration of their twelve previous years - to take place right on top of our festival this year in October.
And believe it or not, we're cool with that. Thrilled by it actually because we went from being an outcast upstart film festival to one of Michigan's most respected practically overnight. The level and quality of those festivals validate our approach and our desire to serve our audience with awesome genre oriented content. There's room for us all as Michigan really is one big happy family. Ornery and indignant with each other at times but we still very much value that sense of family here in the Midwest bible belt. We are humbled that people not only listened and followed what we've managed to accomplish thus far but also that they too understand the intrinsic value of the genre movie. And regardless if your movie is playing here or not, you the film makers now have more venues and opportunities than ever before to consider for your work. And you, the audience, are getting some really quality films as film makers compete to raise their game now more than ever to play at said venues that respect that work.
Thriller! Chiller! has always been about applying a tremendous amount of action to this particular idea: We love this stuff! We felt a film festival should first and foremost be about marketing the films and the film maker in the best way it can to bring their realized vision to the audience. We know it's about screening movies for an audience with a hunger for a sense of adventure. An audience starving for cinema who may not know - or have ever even seen - a movie that wasn't made to fit a demographic model; a movie made of love for the artform over commerce.
We know all too well what all of that is like. Which is why we spend our own money and time to rent a facility as awesome as the Wealthy Theatre here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and not make you all suffer through sitting on metal folding chairs in a boathouse or a college class auditorium with their mutual accoutrements of tin can speakers and 300+ hours past it's lifespan bulbed projection. It's why we offered all of our film makers - accepted and rejected alike - TWO full weekend festival passes to attend Thriller! Chiller! with our compliments for supporting our mission with their submission fee. If you didn't submit a film, weekend passes are an affordable $25 each, and $5 for a ticket to an individual feature movie or short film block.
We don't do this for the recognition. We already know it's recognized. We hope more film festivals will steal the hell out of our approach and make it about the movies and not about becoming the next "Sundance of [insert name of city/town/region here.]" Or as we say, "We'll be the best Thriller! Chiller! we can be! Michigan's premier film festival celebrating the genre movie!"
And we think you will recognize all of this as well if you come out and explore what we do for our audience and our film community. That is something we hope you will just do naturally: Be curious.
So until we meet at the festival please have a safe autumn, many advance thanks for spreading the word about Thriller! Chiller! and we look forward to meeting you all soon!
Peace!
Anthony E. Griffin
Thriller! Chiller! Festival Director
And to you it is. You are the best film maker you know. Or you should be anyway, right?
But that's not necessarily how a film festival sees it. We have to program it, we have to market it, and in some cases, a film doesn't meet the overall theme or context for a festival in order to make the cut. And that happens a lot!
In the case of Thriller! Chiller!, every year we have more quality films than we have space to program, and/or money to create more space. And then inevitably that leads to the "discussion." Ever get three avowed genre movie geeks, diehard film makers and festival directors in a room and have a heart to heart on what makes a movie a genre movie let alone the merits of what each movie does or does not have going for it?
Yeah, we don't recommend it.
So with that said, we can say that we're sorry if you feel a sense of rejection and elated if you feel that sense of validation you sought in our humble little festival. We mean that because we too know how that feels as film makers. But as festival directors and unlike what we've discovered with many, many other film festivals, we wanted Thriller! Chiller! done in a certain way because we saw that our favorite style of film, the genre movie, was simply not getting enough play on the film festival circuit. And certainly NOT represented here on the Michigan film festival circuit whatsoever when we started it five years ago. Horror, suspense, sci-fi and action movies with a strong story and plot. Striking visuals and characters. Unique vision and a sense of adventure. The kinds of movies that inspired us to make movies! Out of the question. No way. Not here in this part of the country.
Nowadays, in Michigan, everyone loves a kick ass genre movie! Heck, even our local movie theater chains didn't feel it was economically viable to rerun cult classics until we inspired them with the cult classics we returned to the big screen to show audiences still love a great genre movie. A tipping point most certainly aided by our good friends over at Meanwhile Bar whose Meanwhile Film Series at the Wealthy Theatre has helped revitalize that venue, creating a focal point in the renaissance of our uptown as one of our city's most vibrant arts and business centers.
There has also been a sea change within the film industry as a whole in the time since we've started Thriller! Chiller! But we make no bones about the fact that we have undoubtedly earned our stripes as Michigan's premier film festival celebrating the genre movie. Fellow Michigan based film festivals have taken notice! For instance, Waterfront Film Festival programmed a block of short horror films this year at its typically staid and polite celebration this past June. And Traverse City Film Festival selected a genre movie festival darling known as Tucker & Dale vs. Evil to play at theirs in August. And to top it off, the East Lansing Film Festival shifted their entire festival itself from March - a time of year they've programmed over the entire duration of their twelve previous years - to take place right on top of our festival this year in October.
And believe it or not, we're cool with that. Thrilled by it actually because we went from being an outcast upstart film festival to one of Michigan's most respected practically overnight. The level and quality of those festivals validate our approach and our desire to serve our audience with awesome genre oriented content. There's room for us all as Michigan really is one big happy family. Ornery and indignant with each other at times but we still very much value that sense of family here in the Midwest bible belt. We are humbled that people not only listened and followed what we've managed to accomplish thus far but also that they too understand the intrinsic value of the genre movie. And regardless if your movie is playing here or not, you the film makers now have more venues and opportunities than ever before to consider for your work. And you, the audience, are getting some really quality films as film makers compete to raise their game now more than ever to play at said venues that respect that work.
Thriller! Chiller! has always been about applying a tremendous amount of action to this particular idea: We love this stuff! We felt a film festival should first and foremost be about marketing the films and the film maker in the best way it can to bring their realized vision to the audience. We know it's about screening movies for an audience with a hunger for a sense of adventure. An audience starving for cinema who may not know - or have ever even seen - a movie that wasn't made to fit a demographic model; a movie made of love for the artform over commerce.
We know all too well what all of that is like. Which is why we spend our own money and time to rent a facility as awesome as the Wealthy Theatre here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and not make you all suffer through sitting on metal folding chairs in a boathouse or a college class auditorium with their mutual accoutrements of tin can speakers and 300+ hours past it's lifespan bulbed projection. It's why we offered all of our film makers - accepted and rejected alike - TWO full weekend festival passes to attend Thriller! Chiller! with our compliments for supporting our mission with their submission fee. If you didn't submit a film, weekend passes are an affordable $25 each, and $5 for a ticket to an individual feature movie or short film block.
We don't do this for the recognition. We already know it's recognized. We hope more film festivals will steal the hell out of our approach and make it about the movies and not about becoming the next "Sundance of [insert name of city/town/region here.]" Or as we say, "We'll be the best Thriller! Chiller! we can be! Michigan's premier film festival celebrating the genre movie!"
And we think you will recognize all of this as well if you come out and explore what we do for our audience and our film community. That is something we hope you will just do naturally: Be curious.
So until we meet at the festival please have a safe autumn, many advance thanks for spreading the word about Thriller! Chiller! and we look forward to meeting you all soon!
Peace!
Anthony E. Griffin
Thriller! Chiller! Festival Director
