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SeriesFest, the annual television festival in Denver, has unveiled the winners of its independent pilot competition.

Lake Boga won best drama pilot, Settle Down won best comedy pilot, Vs. Goliath won best unscripted pilot and F*ckUps Anonymous picked up the award for best short series.

“We can think of no better way to close out another successful edition of the festival than to celebrate and give back to the independent storytellers who continue to push the boundaries of the medium,” said SeriesFest Co-Founders Randi Kleiner and Kaily Smith. “SeriesFest has a long history of being a discovery platform for the independent television community, and we are thrilled to be able to further this year’s creatives’ work through the opportunities these awards and resources provide.”

Lake Boga, which was directed by Ben Bryan and exec produced by Nick Farnell and Anthony Sharpe, follows Nathan, an experienced ex-military assassin, who...

The New England house in Beezel serves as more than just a setting; it becomes a character with its evil spirit. This house is wrapped in winter’s chill, and its snow-covered exterior hides a dreadful history. With its squeaky floors and dark corners, the building evokes a creepy nostalgia, like listening to ghost stories by the fire (though maybe with a bit more bloodshed).

It’s impossible to stress how important this house is. This building holds the past, keeps secrets, and is a stage for the grotesque. The basement’s dark corners represent not just the witch Beezel’s actual hiding place, but also the societal fears and hidden traumas that exist below the surface of everyday life. One could say that this setting is a reflection of the secret horrors that exist within families that seem stable. It’s like historical stories where the home, which is...

Episodic tale spanning the decades from the 60s to the 00s is a little unoriginal but is delivered with toxic wit

Although there’s a fair amount of seasonally appropriate snow on display, this horror feature represents a stonking slice of counter-programming for the festive season, given there is nothing merry in the least about it. That said, there are sly flashes of tongue-in-cheek humour throughout from married co-writers Aaron Fradkin (also the film’s director) and Victoria Fratz Fradkin (one of the film’s leads). Consequently, Beezel is an impishly nasty machine for jump scares and creepy just-seen imagery using old-fashioned practical effects. It’s not a terribly original work but does create its own toxic, hypnagogic atmosphere.

Using a mini-museum’s worth of audiovisual recording technology to capture footage – starting with Super8 and advancing to recent digital cameras – the Fradkins create an episodic work that spans several decades.

Stars: Lejon Woods, Bob Gallagher, Nicolas Robin, Victoria Fratz Fradkin | Written by Victoria Fratz Fradkin | Directed by Aaron Fradkin

Beezel, the latest horror movie released under the “Dread” banner, is a chilling exploration of supernatural horror set in a cursed New England home that has endured decades of sinister occurrences. Directed by Aaron Fradkin and co-written with Victoria Fratz Fradkin, the film centres on the malevolent force of Beezel, a blind, ancient witch lurking beneath the house and tormenting its residents through multiple timelines.

From the outset, the movie wastes no time plunging into its eerie setup. At just 82 minutes long, it’s a tight, fast-paced experience that doesn’t linger on unnecessary exposition. Instead, it jumps between timelines, revealing the history of the house and the sinister force lurking beneath its floorboards. Each timeline brings a new layer of dread, and as the pieces fall into place, the full...

One of a clutch of alluring films at this year’s Grimmfest, I was hopeful that Beezel would stand as a reminder that sometimes, the simplest stories can be the most effective. Directed by Aaron Fradkin, the film plunges us into a traditional, no-nonsense horror experience that channels the raw, blood-soaked thrills of old-school genre classics.

Drawing subtle comparisons to Evil Dead and its cellar-dwelling Deadites, Beezel manages to deliver a deeply unsettling tale with a fresh twist on the haunted house narrative, while sidestepping the trend of over-complicating its premise.

Fradkin, who co-wrote the film with Victoria Fratz, smartly dials into the staple primal fears that keep audiences glued to their seats: the fear of the unknown, the hidden dangers beneath the floorboards, and the sense that something truly evil is lurking just out of sight. What’s fascinating about Beezel is how it taps into this unease, immersing...

Ahead of Beezel's theatrical and VOD release, we have an exclusive clip you can watch right now!

"Epic Pictures’ specialty horror label Dread presents Beezel, the tale of a sinister secret hiding beneath the floors of a cursed New England home. Beezel will have a limited theatrical run beginning September 20, and on September 24 the film will be available to rent or purchase on video-on-demand (VOD).

Beezel was written by horror filmmaking duo Social House Films, composed of writer/director Aaron Fradkin and writer/star Victoria Fratz Fradkin. The duo’s previous project, The Ballerina, amassed over 19 million views on YouTube and was featured in Season 7 of Bloody Bites TV. Social House Films was also highlighted as one of the leading independent horror filmmakers in GQ’s article “The Most Exciting Horror Filmmaking is Happening on YouTube.”

Horror fans have been anxiously awaiting Social House Film’s second feature, Beezel. The...

"Beneath the house, the blind witch waits." Epic Pictures + Dread have revealed the full official trailer for a freaky horror movie titled Beezel, a "terrifying tale that cover 60 years and three victims to a bloodthirsty New England witch." And she looks disgusting! As far as we can tell, this hasn't played at any festivals - it's getting a quick theatrical release before it's on VOD later in September before the horror season really kicks off. Beezel comes from the duo Aaron Fradkin & Victoria Fratz Fradkin, also behind Val and Electric Love. Starring LeJon Woods, Bob Gallagher, Victoria Fratz Fradkin, Caroline Quigley, Nicolas Robin. Beezel is the tale of a sinister secret hiding beneath the floors of a cursed New England home. A horrifying incident involving a child reveals the malevolent presence of an ancient witch residing within the basement walls. This witch lady looks insanely gross and terrifying! I would...

Entertainment Squad has acquired worldwide rights to Midas and will release the film, the feature debut of writer/director Tj Noel-Sullivan described as “a fresh and socially relevant take on the classic heist genre,” in theaters in the U.S. on June 28.

“The film follows a charismatic college dropout who recruits his best friends to rob the health insurer that denied his mom’s coverage,” said Entertainment Squad, the boutique distribution company founded by industry veteran Shaked Berenson. “After things take a dark turn, the trio must wrestle with the limits of their greed.”

Starring Laquan Copeland (The Dirty South), Preet Kaur (Finding Tony), Federico Parra (series The Equalizer), Lucy Powers (Voyeur), and Bob Gallagher (Bad Senator), the movie was shot in Hartford, Conn., which is nicknamed the “insurance capital of the world.”

The Hartford Film Company, founded by Noel-Sullivan, produced the film alongside Kristina Cuello and Erik Bloomquist.

“Midas...

Iran-born French filmmaker Mehran Tamadon’s The Last Days Of The Hospital won the inaugural €20,000 Eurimages co-production development award at Visions du Réel’s industry awards last night (April 17).

The documentary is set in a French psychiatric hospital where patients begin taking on jobs in the ward amid a health sector crisis.

A second €20,000 Eurimages co-production development award – focused on supporting Ukrainian projects - went to Fixing The War from Vadym Ilkov and Clare Stronge, about the importance of journalists.

The Visions Sud Et Award was given to the Columbian documentary The Shadow Of Yolüja by Hanz Rippe Gabriel. The film,...

Two new cash prizes introduced this year in Swiss film festival Visions du Reel’s industry section, VdR-Industry, were among a flurry of awards handed out as the program wrapped in Nyon, Switzerland, on Wednesday.

The Eurimages Co-production Development Award, created to promote the fund’s role in encouraging international co-production from the initial stages of a project, and which comes with a cash prize of €20,000, went to “The Last Days of the Hospital” by Mehran Tamadon.

Set in a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Paris, it tells the story of a group of patients invited to take over the wards as the health personnel gradually leave amid a crisis in the health sector.

A visibly moved Tamadon picked up the award, thanking the entire VdR-Industry team for organizing “such amazing pitching sessions.” The Franco-Iranian director was thrilled with the prize which he told Variety was a great stepping...

Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel has unveiled its program for film professionals, VdR-Industry, which includes 29 projects in various stages of production. These will be pitched during the four-day event that runs April 14 through April 17, alongside the fest.

VdR-Industry, which sees more than a thousand film professionals descend on the small Swiss town of Nyon on the edge of Lake Geneva, aims at providing an opportunity to connect filmmakers with financing and distribution opportunities at a time when the documentary sector is faced with a contraction of funding from streamers and increased corporate consolidation.

Speaking to Variety, VdR’s new head of industry, Alice Burgin, says she’s excited to welcome a raft of new players this year such as the U.S.’s the Points North Institute and the Whickers Foundation, which support emerging nonfiction storytellers, the Catapult film fund, which backs doc filmmakers in the early stages of funding,...

Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the projects to be presented at its 2024 industry programme VdR-Industry, taking place April 14-17, including features from Iran-born French filmmaker Mehran Tamadon and Chilean director Tana Gilbert.

A total of 29 projects have been selected. 15 projects in development will be part of VdR–Pitching, and six projects in finishing stages will be presented at the VdR–Work In Progress pitch. Four projects have been selected for both the VdR–Rough Cut Lab and the VdR–Development Lab respectively.

Scroll down for full list of projects

The line-up includes a number of returning Visions du Réel directors.

The full line-up includes 21 world premieres, six European premieres and 60 Irish premieres.

Ireland’s Galway Film Fleadh (July 11-16) returns for its 35th edition with a line-up including opening night film Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s The Miracle Club, following its world premiere at Tribeca, that stars Laura Linney, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates and Agnes O’Casey.

The full line-up includes 21 world premieres, six European premieres and 60 Irish premieres from 43 countries, boasting 95 feature films in total.

Closing the festival will be the Irish premiere of Alison Ellwood-directed Cyndi Lauper documentary Let The Canary Sing, with the US ’Girls Just Want To Have Fun...

Fifteen countries represented amongst the 18 individuals.

European producers platform Ace Producers has selected 18 producers for the latest edition of its Ace Producers’ Network programme, running in 2022 and 2023.

The 18 producers include Nadim Cheikhrouha of France’s Tanit Films, who will produce Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s next feature Mime. Cheikhrouha and Ben Hania secured an Oscar nomination for best international feature film last year for The Man Who Sold His Skin.

Scroll down for the full list of producers

Sara Laszlo, CEO at Hungary’s Campfilm, is another Ace Producers participant, through Denes Nagy’s The Vacation. Laszlo’s previous...

‘The Voice’ will enable directors to create a proof-of-concept.

New projects by Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan and Maudie filmmaker Aisling Walsh are among 27 chosen for the inaugural edition of The Voice, Screen Ireland’s development scheme for emerging and established directors.

Each director is eligible for up to €30,000 in funding across a maximum of two projects.

Finnegan has received funding for his TV drama Strange Coast. His second feature Vivarium debuted at Cannes 2019 in Critics’ Week, winning a distribution prize.

Walsh is receiving support for her as-yet-untitled feature film project about US photojournalist Dorothea Lange. The director’s fourth feature Maudie,...