POSTER
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WELCOME CROESO Well, we didn’t see this coming… If you’d have said to us in January that we wouldn’t be holding Abertoir in the Aberystwyth Arts Centre we wouldn’t have believed you. And when the world fell apart, if you’d have said we’d still be putting together a festival in the midst of a global pandemic, we’d have never believed you either. So, it’s a result of the huge amount of effort from Team Abertoir, and of course support from our funders Ffilm Cymru, that we’re thrilled to be welcoming you to the 15th edition of the festival! Once we’d figured out how we could do it, we were determined to put together as typical a programme of films and events as possible – even to a schedule. We’ve made sure that this year doesn’t stand out as being particularly different from what makes Abertoir unique, and we’ve got a host of familiar faces and an eclectic style of film choices that will help to make you all feel like things are back to normal. Ironically, our venue was hit by flood damage and even if Covid had never happened, we wouldn’t have been able to offer a physical festival. So, despite the weather still doing its absolute best to disrupt things, barring all out cyber warfare, we’re good to go! It’s been a big learning curve, and we’d like to personally thank every and each one of you for buying a pass (especially those who donated) – you’ve given us the encouragement to make this happen no matter what! We’d also like to extend a warm welcome to all the newcomers who are joining us for the first time, you’ll feel part of this festival in no time, and we’re here for you any time you need us! There will be plenty of chances for everyone to interact and keep that sense of community that defines Abertoir, and we can’t wait to welcome you all back in the future! Gaz, Nia & Rhys
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HOW TO WATCH Where to watch
When to watch
How to watch
Bookmark this year’s festival website www.abertoir2020.co.uk
Abertoir will run ‘as live’, with a schedule that encourages you to watch at the same time as others. This ensures you’re able to participate in live events like Q&As.
On web All films and events are accessible via the www. abertoir2020.co.uk website.
Each film and event has a web page which will direct you to the best place to watch or participate. Generally, films will take place on Eventive, and events will take place on Zoom Webinar. There are some exceptions, but the website will direct you.
For most films, you’ll need to begin watching within 10 minutes of the advertised time – please don’t be late as you won’t be able to begin watching beyond that time. After you’ve started watching, you’ll have 3 hours to finish. Post-screening Q&As will begin approximately 10 minutes after the scheduled film end time.
You’ll be able to play films on Eventive on Windows computers running Windows 7 or later or Macs running macOS 10.12 or later. You can also watch on an iPad or iPhone running iOS 11.2 or later or an Android device running 6.0 or later. Chromecast/AirPlay Chromecast and AirPlay are available. Apple TV/Roku Download the Eventive app. For Apple TV, generation 4 or later is required.
A more extensive FAQs is available at www.abertoir2020.co.uk Content Guide: We’ve put together a content guide for the films at this year’s festival. If you need to know a little bit more about any potentially distressing content of the films, please visit this year’s festival website www.abertoir2020.co.uk. If you need to talk to someone in detail about any film content at the festival, feel free to drop us a line. Accessibility: Closed captions are available for a number of films and events. Please visit the festival website www.abertoir2020.co.uk for the latest information.
THANKS DIOLCH Ffilm Cymru Wales, Film Hub Wales, the BFI, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Colin Osborne, Lisa Osborne, Satoko Bailey, Matt Hardwick, Tristan Bishop, Peter Stevenson, Roger Corman, Victoria Price, Peter Fuller, Alexandre O. Philippe, Anthony Scott Burns, Brea Grant, Paul Shallcross, Robin Ince, Gavin Baddeley, Nicko and Joe, Tristan Thompson, Giada Mazzoleni, Russ Hunter, David Gregory, Stephen Thrower, Kristen McGorry, Przemyslaw Sobkowicz, Callum McKelvie, Kushy Jutlla, Ami Nisa, Marcella Rees-Gray, Tianna Williams, Angela Wooi, Sonia Bible, Amelia Moses, Lee Marshall, Lauren Beatty, Sidharth Srinivasan, John Hsu, Cristian Ponce, Miguel Rodriguez, Megan Mitchell, Sean Walsh, Iain Halliday, King-Wei Chu, Jen Handorf, Dafydd Rhys, Louise Amery – and many others who will no doubt help us after this brochure goes to print! Our biggest thanks goes to each and every one of you who has supported us this year and taken a chance on a very different sort of festival! We hope we do you proud!
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ABERTOIR'S OFFICIAL PATRON SAINT Vincent Price ABERTOIR TEAM Gaz Bailey Nia Edwards-Behi Rhys Thomas Fowler SUPPORT TEAM Matt Hardwick Tristan Bishop Satoko Bailey Matt Jasper Colin Osborne Mei
TUESDAY 27 OCTOBER DYDD MAWRTH 27 HYDREF PRE-FESTIVAL PUB QUIZ
Event
Live streaming from 7.30pm
WEDNESDAY 28 OCTOBER DYDD MERCHER 28 HYDREF RELIC
Film
Start watching 6pm-6.10pm
HOW TO BE GROTESQUE & ARABESQUE: A USER’S GUIDE TO DECADENCE BY GAVIN BADDELEY
Event
Live streaming from 8pm
BLOOD HARVEST: THE CURSE OF AUDREY EARNSHAW
Film
Start watching 9.30pm-9.40pm
THE RECKONING
Film
Start watching 11.30pm-11.40pm
THURSDAY 29 OCTOBER DYDD IAU 29 HYDREF 42ND STREET: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT – A PRESENTATION BY GAZ BAILEY
Event
Recorded event. Watch from 1pm and open until end of festival
THE ABERTOIR GUIDE TO TERROR ON THE TELLY, HORROR HOSTS & TV MONSTERS
Event
Recorded event. Watch from 4pm and open until end of festival
VINCENT PRICE: THREE SKELETON KEY
Event
Recorded event. Watch from 6pm and open until end of festival
12 HOUR SHIFT
Film + Live Q&A
Start watching 7pm-7.10pm Q&A starts 8.35pm
DETENTION
Film
Start watching 9.30pm-9.40pm
KRIYA
Film
Start watching 11.30pm-11.40pm
FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER DYDD GWENER 30 HYDREF THE WITCH OF KINGS CROSS
Film
Start watching 12pm-12.10pm
BLEED WITH ME
Film
Start watching 1.45pm-1.55pm
SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Event
Start watching 3.30pm-3.40pm
WHO SAW HER DIE?
Film + Live Q&A
Start watching 6.30pm-6.40pm Q&A starts 8.10pm
NICKO & JOE’S BAD FILM CLUB
Event
Live streaming from 9.15pm
#SHAKESPEARESSHITSTORM
Film
Start watching 11.30pm-11.40pm
SATURDAY 31 OCTOBER DYDD SADWRN 31 HYDREF TALES OF THE UNCANNY: THE ULTIMATE SURVEY OF THE ANTHOLOGY FILM
Film
Start watching 11am-11.10am
LEAP OF FAITH: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN ON THE EXORCIST
Film + Live Q&A
Start watching 1pm-1.10pm Q&A starts at 2.55pm
HISTORY OF THE OCCULT
Film
Start watching 3.45pm-3.55pm
INDOSSAVANO MASCHERE NERE
Event
Live streaming from 5.30pm
ANYTHING FOR JACKSON
Film
Start watching 7pm-7.10pm
THE ROBIN INCE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD
Event
Live streaming from 9pm
THE CEMETERY OF LOST SOULS
Film
Start watching 11.30pm-11.40pm
SUNDAY 1 NOVEMBER DYDD SUL 1 TACHWEDD JESS FRANCO DOUBLE BILL: SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY + IN THE LAND OF FRANCO
Film
Start watching 12pm-12.10pm
THE RETURNED
Film
Start watching 3.15pm-3.25pm
SILENT HORROR SHORTS WITH PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT BY PAUL SHALLCROSS
Event
Start watching 5.15pm-5.25pm
ROGER CORMAN LIVE Q&A
Event
Live streaming from 7pm
COME TRUE (+ CLOSING CEREMONY)
Film + Live Q&A
Start watching 8.45pm-8.55pm Q&A starts at 10.40pm
AFTER PARTY WITH DJ DELLAMORTE
Event
Live streaming from 11.15pm
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FEATURES
LIVE Q&A
12 HOUR SHIFT BREA GRANT USA 2020, 86 MINUTES
THURSDAY 29 DYDD IAU 7PM PLUS LIVE Q&A WITH BREA GRANT
It’s 1999 and over the course of one 12-hour shift at an Arkansas hospital, a junkie nurse, her scheming cousin and a group of black-market organ-trading criminals start a heist that could lead to their imminent demises. In a year that highlights the extent to which healthcare workers are indeed the most heroic and undervalued among us, it seems apt to screen a film which shows the dark depths to which desperation might send a person. Dark though those depths may be, Brea Grant’s film is brimming with humour and empathy. Hysterical in the truest sense of the word, 12 Hour Shift is one long night.
Mae’n 1999 ac yn ystod un sifft 12-awr mewn ysbyty yn Arkansas, mae nyrs jynci, ei chefnder cynllwyngar a chriw o droseddwyr sy’n gwerthu organau ar y farchnad ddu yn cychwyn ysbeiliad a all arwain yn y pendraw at eu marwolaeth. Mewn blwyddyn sy’n tynnu sylw at y ffaith mai gweithwyr gofal iechyd mewn gwirionedd yw’r mwyaf arwrol yn ein mysg, a’r rhai sy’n cael eu gwerthfawrogi lleiaf, mae’n addas i sgrinio ffilm sy’n dangos y dyfnderoedd tywyll y gall person suddo iddynt pan nad oes unlle i droi. Er yn ddwys ac yn dywyll, mae ffilm Brea Grant yn llawn hiwmor ac empathi. Yn hysteraidd yng ngwir ystyr y gair, mae 12 Hour Shift yn un nos hir yn sicr...
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UK UKPREMIERE PREMIERE
ANYTHING FOR JACKSON JUSTIN G. DYCK CANADA 2020, 96 MINUTES
SATURDAY 31 DYDD SADWRN 7PM
After losing their only grandson in a car accident, a grief-stricken doctor and his wife kidnap a pregnant patient with the intentions of performing a ‘reverse exorcism’, putting Jackson inside her unborn child. It doesn’t take long to figure out Jackson isn’t the only ghost the grandparents invited into their home and it soon becomes a race against time to figure a way out of the haunting they’ve set upon themselves. Tremendous performances bring Anything for Jackson appropriately to life in this tale of tragedy and misguided family loyalty. With ghostly images that are both entertaining and terrifying, the empathy at the core of the film is what truly makes it shine.
Ar ôl colli eu hunig ŵyr mewn damwain car, mae doctor galarus a’i wraig yn herwgipio dynes feichiog gyda’r bwriad o berfformio defod beryglus i roi ysbryd Jackson y tu mewn i’r plentyn yn ei chroth. Nid yw’n cymryd yn hir i weithio allan mai nid Jackson yw’r unig ysbryd i gael ei wahodd gan y taid a’r nain i mewn i’w cartref ac yn fuan daw yn ras yn erbyn amser i ffeindio ffordd allan o’r sefyllfa y maent wedi creu. Mae perfformiadau eithriadol yn dod â’r ffilm yma’n fyw mewn stori am drasedi a ffyddlondeb teuluol camsyniol. Gyda delweddau bwganllyd sy’n ddifyr ac yn arswydus, yr empathi wrth wraidd y ffilm sydd mewn gwirionedd yn gwneud iddi ddisgleirio.
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EUROPEAN EUROPEANPREMIERE PREMIERE
BLEED WITH ME AMELIA MOSES CANADA 2020, 79 MINUTES
FRIDAY 30 DYDD GWENER 1.45PM Read Q&A on pages 102-105
Rowan, a vulnerable outsider, is thrilled when the seemingly perfect Emily invites her on a winter getaway to an isolated cabin in the woods. Trust soon turns to paranoia when Rowan wakes up with mysterious incisions on her arm. Haunted by dream-like visions, Rowan starts to suspect that her friend is drugging her and stealing her blood. She’s paralzyed by the fear of losing Emily, but she must fight back before she loses her mind. Bleed With Me offers a stunning exploration of female vulnerability with an intensely vicious undertone. As starkly cold in its tone as its setting, the stunning central performances and claustrophobic direction make for a truly eerie experience.
Mae Rowan, sy’n byw ar y cyrion heb fawr o hyder, wrth ei bodd pan mae Emily, sy’n ymddangos yn berffaith, yn ei gwahodd i fynd ar wyliau gaeaf mewn caban anghysbell yn y goedwig. Mae ymddiried yn fuan yn troi’n baranoia pan mae Rowan yn deffro gyda thoriadau anesboniadwy yn ei braich. Yn cael ei phoeni gan weledigaethau breuddwydiol, mae Rowan yn dechrau amau bod ei chyfaill yn rhoi cyffuriau iddi ac yn dwyn ei gwaed. Mae’n cael ei pharlysu gan yr ofn o golli Emily, ond rhaid iddi frwydro yn ôl cyn iddi golli ei phwyll. Mae Bleed With Me yn cynnig ystyriaeth syfrdanol o eiddilwch benywaidd gydag islais creulon dwys. Gyda thôn sydd mor oeraidd â lleoliad y ffilm, mae’r perfformiadau canolog gwych a’r cyfarwyddo clawstroffobig yn sirhau profiad gwironeddol iasol.
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BLOOD HARVEST: THE CURSE OF AUDREY EARNSHAW THOMAS ROBERT LEE CANADA 2020, 90 MINUTES
WEDNESDAY 28 DYDD MERCHER 9.30PM
In an idyllic 1873 American Protestant village, times are harsh and the grass is always greener on the other side. As the village suffers, one woman prospers and there are grumblings that she may be in league with the devil himself. Secrets are revealed, blood is shed and the true cost of survival is revealed in this nightmarish descent into the supernatural. A folk horror tale with real bite, Blood Harvest explores the pressures of society near and far and the power of freedom.
Mewn pentref Brotestannaidd Americanaidd eidylig ym 1873 mae bywyd yn llym ac yn ddifreintiedig. Wrth i’r pentref ddioddef, mae un ddynes yn ffynnu ac mae ‘na si yn mynd o gwmpas efallai ei bod hi’n cydweithredu gyda’r diafol ei hun. Datgelir cyfrinachau, collir gwaed ac mae gwir gost goroesi yn cael ei datguddio yn y disgyniad hunllefus hwn i mewn i’r uwchnaturiol. Yn stori arswyd werin hynod drawiadol, mae Blood Harvest yn ystyried pwysau cymdeithas yn agos ac ymhell a phŵer rhyddid.
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EUROPEANPREMIERE PREMIERE EUROPEAN
THE CEMETERY OF LOST SOULS RODRIGO ARAGÃO BRAZIL 2020, 86 MINUTES ENGLISH SUBTITLES
SATURDAY 31 DYDD SADWRN 11.30PM
Corrupted by the power of Cipriano’s dark book, a Jesuit and his followers begin a reign of terror in colonial Brazil, until they are cursed to live forever trapped under cemetery tombs. Nowadays, centuries later, they are ready to free themselves and spread evil all over the world. Those of you who joined us for Abertoir 2018 will remember the stunningly gory and wildly entertaining The Black Forest – now in 2020 we’re very pleased to host the premiere screening of Rodrigo Aragão’s latest film in much the same vein! If you like your horror with plenty of the red stuff but none of the expected tropes, find your way to The Cemetery of Lost Souls for a tale of colonialism and the undead! Wedi’i lygru gan bŵer llyfr tywyll Cipriano, mae Jeswit a’i ddilynwyr yn dechrau teyrnasiad o arswyd yn y Brasil wladfaol, nes eu bod yn cael eu melltithio i fyw am byth o dan beddau’r fynwent. Y dyddiau hyn, canrifoedd yn ddiweddarach, maent yn barod i ryddhau eu hunain a lledaenu drwg ledled y byd. Bydd y rhai ohonoch a ymunodd â ni ar gyfer Abertoir 2018 yn cofio’r ffilm hynod difyr a gwaedlyd The Black Forest - ‘nawr yn 2020 mae’n bleser mawr gennym gyflwyno’r dangosiad cyntaf yn y DU o ffilm ddiweddaraf Rodrigo Aragão sydd yn yr un cywair! Os ydych yn licio’ch arswyd gyda digonedd o’r stwff coch ond dim o’r metafforau disgwyliedig, ffeindiwch eich ffordd i’r Cemetery of Lost Souls am stori sy’n ffocysu ar wladychiaeth a sombïaid!
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LIVE Q&A
UKPREMIERE PREMIERE UK
COME TRUE ANTHONY SCOTT BURNS CANADA 2020, 105 MINUTES
SUNDAY 1 DYDD SUL 8.45PM PLUS LIVE Q&A WITH ANTHONY SCOTT BURNS
Dark dreams plague Sarah, a thoughtful and rebellious young woman. These are all hard things to be at the age of 18. With nowhere left to turn, the lure of a safe place to rest, and the bonus of getting paid to for it, make a local sleep study irresistible. After one night under the watchful eye of a small group of scientists, Sarah begins to see things from her dreams in her waking life. As her visions worsen over the course of the study, and before she, or any of the scientists can effectively react, Sarah becomes the unknowing conduit to a horrifying new discovery. Anthony Scott Burns’ sophomore feature takes the terrifying blend of science and the spirit seen in his first and turns it up a several notches. Come True will certainly be keeping you awake…!
Mae Sarah, dynes ifanc feddylgar a gwrthryfelgar, yn cael ei phoeni gan freuddwydion tywyll. Yn 18 oed ac yn brwydro gyda’i theimladau, a gydag unlle i droi, mae’r syniad o le diogel i orffwyso, a’r bonws o gael ei thalu ar yr un pryd, yn golygu nad yw’n medru gwrthod cymryd rhan mewn astudiaeth gwsg leol. Ar ôl un noson o dan lygad wyliadurws criw bach o wyddonwyr, mae Sarah yn dechrau gweld yr hyn sy’n digwydd yn ei breuddwydion yn ystod ei horiau effro. Wrth i’w gweledigaethau waethygu dros gyfnod yr astudiaeth, a chyn y gall hi, neu’r gwyddonwyr, ymateb yn effeithiol, daw Sarah yn sianel ddiarwybod i ddarganfyddiad newydd brawychus. Mae ffilm soffomor Anthony Scott Burns yn cymryd cyfuniad erchyll o wyddoniaeth a’r ysbryd a welwyd yn ei ffilm gyntaf a’i ddatblygu ymhellach yn y ffilm hir-ddisgwyliedig hon. Bydd Come True yn sicr yn eich cadw chi’n effro…!
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DETENTION JOHN HSU TAIWAN 2019, 103 MINUTES ENGLISH SUBTITLES
THURSDAY 29 DYDD IAU 9.30PM
Taiwan 1962: a sense of desolation and tension permeate society. Fang, a troubled high school student, falls in love with Zhang, her teacher, who hosts an illicit study group in his search for freedom. Reading banned books allows them moments of liberation but they put their lives in danger. When Zhang vanishes into thin air only Fang and Wei remember him. Together, they start searching for him but in a realm dominated by ghosts and spirits, the pair are forced to face the terrifying truth… John Hsu’s debut brings the indie side-scrolling game of the same name to life in this atmospheric and politically-charged film. Detention is jampacked with complex characters, questionable choices, and devastating revelations.
Taiwan 1962: Ceir teimlad o drallod a thensiwn yn treiddio trwy gymdeithas. Mae Fang, myfyrwraig ysgol gythryblus, yn syrthio mewn cariad gyda Zhang, ei hathro, sy’n cynnal grŵp astudio anghyfreithlon wrth iddo chwilio am ryddid. Mae darllen llyfrau gwaharddedig yn caniatau iddynt fomentau o ryddhad ond maent yn rhoi eu bywydau mewn perygl. Pan mae Zhang yn diflannu’n gyfangwbl dim ond Fang a Wei sy’n ei gofio. Efo’i gilydd, maent yn dechrau chwilio amdano ond mewn byd lle mae bwganod ac ysbrydion yn rheoli, gorfodir y pâr i wynebu’r gwirionedd brawychus… Mae ffilm gyntaf John Hsu yn rhoi bywyd newydd i’r gêm fideo indie o’r un enw yn y gwaith atmosfferaidd a gwleidyddol hwn. Mae Detention yn llawn dop o gymeriadau cymhleth, dewisiadau amheus a datguddiadau ysgubol.
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UKPREMIERE PREMIERE UK
HISTORY OF THE OCCULT CRISTIAN PONCE ARGENTINA 2020, 82 MINUTES ENGLISH SUBTITLES
SATURDAY 31 DYDD SADWRN 3.45PM
It’s the final broadcast of 60 Minutes to Midnight, the most famous journalism show on TV. Tonight’s guest is Adrian Marcato, who might expose a conspiracy that links the Government with an actual Coven. Meanwhile, a group of journalists will run against time to locate an object that will allow Marcato’s confession on the air. They’ll have to rely not only on their knowledge of the job, but also on other, less usual, methods. This otherworldly political thriller tackles some very modern concepts in a stunningly noirish style, without ever veering into parody. A film that both demands and requires your full attention, this eerie film throws corruption, fake news and the devil himself into the light. This is truly an original film that you won’t want to miss.
Mae’n ddarllediad olaf 60 Minutes to Midnight, y sioe newyddiaduraeth enwocaf ar y teledu. Y gwestai heno yw Adrian Marcato, a all ddatgelu cynllwyn sy’n cysylltu’r Llywodraeth gyda Chwfen o wrachod. Yn y cyfamser, bydd criw o newyddiadurwyr yn rhedeg yn erbyn amser i ddod o hyd i rywbeth a fydd yn caniatau i gyffes Marcato ddigwydd ar yr awyr. Bydd yn rhaid iddynt ddibynnu nid yn unig ar eu gwybodaeth, ond hefyd ar ddulliau eraill, llai confensiynol. Mae’r ffilm ias-a-chyffro wleidyddol arallfydol hon yn delio gyda chysyniadau hynod fodern mewn steil noir syfrdanol, heb fentro i faes parodi. Yn ffilm iasol sy’n mynnu ac sydd angen eich holl sylw, mae’n taflu golau ar lygredd, newyddion ffug a’r diafol ei hun. Mae hon yn ffilm wirioneddol wreiddiol na fyddwch am ei methu.
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JESS FRANCO DOUBLE BILL SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY JESS FRANCO WEST GERMANY/SPAIN 1971, 77 MINUTES, SUBTITLES UK UKPREMIERE PREMIERE
IN THE LAND OF FRANCO DAVID GREGORY USA 2020, 87 MINUTES
SUNDAY 1 DYDD SUL 12PM
For his follow-up to Vampyros Lesbos, writer/ director Jess Franco delivered perhaps his most twisted shocker of the 70s. In what fans and critics consider to be her greatest role, Soledad Miranda stars as the vengeful widow who seduces then murders the men and women responsible for her husband’s suicide, in one of her final performances before her tragic death. Howard Vernon, Paul Muller, Ewa Strömberg and Jess himself co-star in this EuroCult classic. We’re pleased to screen Franco’s classic alongside the brand new feature length documentary from Severin Films, exploring some of Franco’s best-loved and most recognisable locations in Portugal and Spain. Fronted by Stephen Thrower, and featuring a moving contribution from Antonio Mayans, this is a surprisingly intimate exploration of Franco’s career in the form of a sunny travelogue.
Yn ei ddilyniant i Vampyros Lesbos, cyflwynodd yr awdur/cyfarwyddwr Jess Franco efallai ei ffilm arswyd fwyaf gwyrdroëdig o’r 70au. Yn y rôl a ystyriwyd gan y ffans a’r critigyddion i fod ei gorau oll, mae Soledad Miranda yn serennu fel y wraig weddw ddialgar sy’n denu ac yn llofruddio y dynion a merched sy’n gyfrifol am hunanladdiad ei gŵr, yn un o’i pherfformiadau olaf cyn ei marwolaeth drasig. Howard Vernon, Paul Muller, Ewa Strömberg a Jess ei hun sy’n cyd-serennu yn y clasur EuroCult hwn. Mae’n bleser gennym sgrinio clasur Franco ochr yn ochr â’r ffilm ddogfen newydd sbon gan gwmni Severin Films, sy’n ystyried rhai o leoliadau mwyaf hoff a mwyaf adnabyddadwy Franco ym Mhortiwgal a Sbaen. Gyda Stephen Thrower yn cyflwyno, ac yn cynnwys cyfraniad teimladwy gan Antonio Mayans, dyma ystyriaeth syndod o bersonol ac effeithiol o yrfa Franco ar ffurf ffilm deithio heulog. - 25 -
EUROPEANPREMIERE PREMIERE EUROPEAN
KRIYA SIDHARTH SRINIVASAN INDIA 2020, 96 MINUTES ENGLISH SUBTITLES
THURSDAY 29 DYDD IAU 11.30PM Read Q&A on pages 98-101
Neel, a DJ, encounters the ravishing Sitara while work at a club one night and is instantly transfixed by her. They go back to Sitara’s place where Neel is horrified to find the gagged and shackled body of her dying father – Sitara’s grieving family keeping vigil around it. Neel’s compassion – amongst other sensations - is aroused and he decides to stay and join them. Sitara’s father dies during the night and Neel finds himself bound to play a part in a dark ritual of last rites and trapped in Sitara’s family curse. With more than a little to say about modern Indian society and culture, Kriya is nevertheless an entertaining, unique and over-the-top horror melodrama.
Mae Neel, sy’n DJ, yn cyfarfod â’r Sitara hudolus tra’n gweithio mewn clwb nos, ac mae’n cael ei swyno ganddi yn y man a’r lle. Maent yn mynd yn ôl i dŷ Sitara lle mae Neel yn cael braw wrth weld corff ei thad, sy’n marw, mewn gag a gefynnau gyda theulu Sitara o’i gwmpas yn galaru. Mae tosturi Neel - ymysg teimladau eraill - yn gwneud iddo aros ac ymuno â nhw. Mae tad Sitara yn marw yn ystod y nos ac mae Neel yn ffeindio’i hun yn gorfod chwarae rhan mewn defod dywyll o’r eneiniad olaf sy’n gysylltiedig â melltith sydd ar deulu Sitara. Gyda mwy nag ychydig i ddweud am gymdeithas a diwylliant yr India fodern, mae Kriya er hynny yn felodrama arswyd dros-ben-llestri unigryw a difyr.
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LIVE Q&A
LEAP OF FAITH:
WILLIAM FRIEDKIN ON THE EXORCIST
ALEXANDRE O. PHILIPPE USA 2019, 104 MINUTES
SATURDAY 31 DYDD SADWRN 1PM PLUS LIVE Q&A WITH ALEXANDRE O. PHILIPPE
A lyrical and spiritual cinematic essay on The Exorcist, Leap of Faith explores the uncharted depths of William Friedkin’s mind’s eye, the nuances of his filmmaking process, and the mysteries of faith and fate that have shaped his life and filmography. Not just a standard documentary, this is a remarkable new appreciation of horror’s most iconic film, and a rare, personal look at the man who made it.
Yn draethawd sinematig telynegol ac ysbrydol ar The Exorcist, mae Leap of Faith yn ystyried dyfnderoedd ansiartredig meddwl William Friedkin, arlliwiau ei broses o greu ffilmiau, a dirgelion ffydd a thynged sydd wedi siapio ei fywyd a’i ffilmyddiaeth. Nid jyst yn ffilm ddogfen gyffredin, mae hon yn cynnig gwerthfawrogiad newydd eithriadol o ffilm fwyaf eicong y maes arswyd, a chipolwg prin, personol ar y dyn a’i creodd.
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THE RECKONING NEIL MARSHALL UK 2020, 110 MINUTES
WEDNESDAY 28 DYDD MERCHER 11.30PM
It is 1665, and the plague sweeps across England leaving panic and desperation in its wake. The righteous Judge John Moorcroft scours the land for the witches who have aided the devil in raising this pestilence. He finds Grace, who lost her mother to him twenty years prior, and newly a mother herself. A series of brutal tests await her at the hands of the Judge. Can Grace endure, or will she crumble and leave her female descendants forever marked for death? This over-the-top witchfinder film is perfect for those of us longing for folk horror less thoughtful and more bawdy. Nearer Virgin Witch than Witchfinder General, this is a campy throwback that thoroughly entertains.
Mae’n 1665, ac mae’r pla yn ysgubo ar draws Lloegr yn gadael dychryn ac anobaith yn ei sgil. Mae’r Barnwr cyfiawn John Moorcroft yn chwilio’r tir am y gwrachod sydd wedi cynorthwyo’r diafol i godi’r haint ofnadwy. Mae’n dod o hyd i Grace, a gollodd ei mam iddo ugain mlynedd ynghynt, ac sydd ’nawr yn fam newydd ei hun. Mae cyfres o brofion creulon yn aros amdani wrth ddwylo’r Barnwr. A all Grace eu gwrthsefyll neu a fydd hi’n ildio gan adael ei disgynyddion benywaidd â marc marwolaeth arnynt? Mae’r ffilm dros-ben-llestri hon yn berffaith i’r rhai ohonom sy’n dyheu am arswyd gwerin sy’n llai meddylgar ac yn fwy anweddus. Yn debycach i Virgin Witch na Witchfinder General, mae hon yn ffilm sy’n difyrru i’r eithaf.
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RELIC NATALIE ERIKA JAMES AUSTRALIA 2019, 89 MINUTES
WEDNESDAY 28 DYDD MAWRTH 6PM
When Edna, the elderly and widowed matriarch of the family, goes missing, her daughter Kay and granddaughter Sam travel to their remote family home to find her. Soon after her return, they start to discover a sinister presence haunting the house and taking control of Edna. Without a doubt one of the tentpole horror films of 2020, Relic is a moving and eerie exploration of familial responsibility and ageing. Featuring subtle and empathetic performances from its three leads, Relic masterfully cranks up the tension to a truly devastating conclusion.
Pan mae Edna, gwraig weddw sy’n bennaeth oedrannus y teulu, yn mynd ar goll, mae ei merch Kay a’i hwyres Sam yn teithio i’w cartref teuluol anghysbell i ddod o hyd iddi. Yn fuan ar ôl iddi ddychwelyd, maent yn dechrau synhwyro presenoldeb sinistr yn y tŷ sy’n cymryd rheolaeth dros Edna. Yn ddiamau’n un o ffilmiau arswyd allweddol 2020, mae Relic yn ystyriaeth deimladwy ac iasol o gyfrifoldeb teuluol ac heneiddio. Yn nodweddu perfformiadau cynnil ac empathig gan y tri phrif actor, mae’r ffilm yn adeiladu’r tensiwn yn feistrolgar nes cyrraedd uchafbwynt gwirioneddol ysgubol.
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THE RETURNED LAURA CASABÉ ARGENTINA 2019, 92 MINUTES ENGLISH SUBTITLES
SUNDAY 1 DYDD SUL 3.15PM
South America, 1919. The indigenous peoples of the Guarani tribe have either fled, been exterminated or reduced to servitude. Julia, the wife of a landowner, gives birth to her third dead child. Desperate, she begs Kerana, her Indian maid, to bring him back to life. The creature returns, but not alone. An eerie folk horror tale that punctuates its quiet horror with intense violence, Laura Casabé’s thoughtful exploration of power and complicity is a stark film that stays with the viewer long after it ends.
De America, 1919. Mae pobloedd cynhenid llwyth y Guarani unai wedi ffoi, wedi eu difa neu’n byw mewn caethiwed. Mae Julia, gwraig i berchennog tir, yn rhoi genedigaeth i’w thrydydd plentyn marw. Wedi cyrraedd pen ei thennyn mae’n erfyn ar Kerana, ei morwyn Indïaidd, i ddod ag ef yn ôl yn fyw. Mae’r creadur yn dychwelyd, ond nid ar ei ben ei hun. Stori arswyd werin iasol sy’n cyfuno arswyd tawel gydag ysbeidiau o ffyrnigrwydd gwyllt. Mae ystyriaeth feddylgar Laura Casabé o bŵer a chydgynllwynio yn creu ffilm drawiadol a llom sy’n aros efo’r gwyliwr ymhell ar ôl iddi orffen.
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UKPREMIERE PREMIERE UK
#SHAKESPEARES SHITSTORM LLOYD KAUFMANN USA 2020, 92 MINUTES
FRIDAY 30 DYDD GWENER 11.30PM
The Opioid Epidemic is destroying America. Legendary director Lloyd Kaufman takes on ‘Big Pharma’, addiction and the intolerance of social media in #ShakespearesShitstorm. This irreverent musical adaptation of The Tempest is ripe with bawdy couplets, Hieronymus Boschian images of excess and unrefined iambic pentameter. It’s hardly breaking new ground for Troma to go on the full offensive, but in #ShakespearesShitstorm Lloyd Kaufmann tackles its most recent iteration by taking on the gamut of online cancel culture personalities – from misguided white saviours to the corrupt capitalist machine. Is Lloyd laughing with or at the oppressed? Do we ever know? What we do know is that #ShakespearesShitstorm might just be one of the finest adaptations of the Bard’s works in the recent memory!
Mae’r Epidemig Opioid yn dinistrio America. Mae’r cyfarwyddwr byd-enwog Lloyd Kaufman yn taclo ‘Big Pharma’, dibyniaeth ac anoddefgarwch y cyfryngau cymdeithasol yn #ShakespearesShitstorm. Mae’r addasiad cerddorol amharchus hwn o The Tempest yn llawn cwpledi anweddus, delweddau o ormodaeth mewn steil Hieronymus Bosch a mesurau pumban iambig aflednais. Nid yw’n torri tir newydd i Troma ymosod i’r eithaf, ond yn #ShakespearesShitstorm mae Lloyd Kaufmann yn mynd cam ymhellach trwy gymryd ymlaen y cwmpas cyfan o bersonoliaethau diwylliant poblogaidd ar-lein - o waredwyr gwyn amhwyllog i’r peiriant cyfalafol llygredig. Ydi Lloyd yn chwerthin gyda neu ar ben y gorthrymedig? A ydym yn gwybod yn y pendraw? Ond beth ‘rydym yn gwybod yw bod #ShakespearesShitstorm efallai yn un o’r addasiadau gorau o waith y Bardd yn y cof diweddar!
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WORLDPREMIERE PREMIERE WORLD
TALES OF THE UNCANNY: THE ULTIMATE SURVEY OF THE ANTHOLOGY FILM DAVID GREGORY USA 2020, 100 MINUTES
SATURDAY 31 DYDD SADWRN 11AM
What began as a modest Bonus Feature for the Special Edition Blu-ray of The Theatre Bizarre became – when Covid hit – an international Zoom-enabled feature-length documentary on the greatest anthologies – and segments – in horror. Severin Films chief David Gregory and House Of Psychotic Women author Kier-La Janisse query a global roster of more than 60 horror writers, directors and scholars in a candid discussion of the very best portmanteaus in fright film/TV history. The film leads us from the very first examples of the anthology film in early cinema, right up to the present day - without forgetting of course the endearing impact that the likes of Vincent Price and Peter Cushing had in creating some of the most memorable anthologies in horror history.
Yn sgil Covid, datblygodd yr hyn a ddechreuodd fel Cyfraniad Bonws dirodres i Argraffiad Arbennig Blu-ray o The Theatre Bizarre yn ffilm ddogfen lawn-hyd ryngwladol, a wnaethpwyd yn bosibl trwy Zoom, am yr antholegau - a segmentau - mwyaf gwych ym maes arswyd. Mae pennaeth Severin Films David Gregory ac awdures House Of Psychotic Women Kier-La Janisse yn holi rhestr byd-eang o dros 60 o ysgrifenwyr, cyfarwyddwyr ac arbenigwyr ym maes arswyd mewn trafodaeth agored a diffuant o’r pormantos gorau oll yn hanes ffilm/teledu arswyd. Mae’r ffilm yn mynd â ni o’r enghreifftiau cyntaf oll o’r ffilm antholeg yn y sinema cynnar, hyd at y diwrnod presennol - heb anghofio wrth gwrs yr effaith fuddiol a gafodd unigolion fel Vincent Price a Peter Cushing ar greu rhai o’r ffilmiau antholeg mwyaf cofiadwy yn hanes arswyd.
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LIVE Q&A
WHO SAW HER DIE? ALDO LADO ITALY 1972, 90 MINUTES
FRIDAY 30 DYDD GWENER 6.30PM PLUS LIVE Q&A WITH ALDO LADO
When Franco loses his daughter to this shadowy elusive murderer he sets off on an unnerving journey of retribution that will bring him to the very edge of his sanity and quite possibly his life too. This remarkable giallo (complete with a particularly striking and haunting score from Ennio Morricone) preceded the more famous Don’t Look Now by a year in its exploration of grief in Venice and marks an often over-looked example of this beloved genre. We’re honoured to have director Aldo Lado join us for a live Q&A after the film and we’re immensely grateful to Giada Mazzoleni and Russ Hunter for making this possible!
Pan mae Franco yn colli’i ferch i lofruddiwr cysgodlyd, anodd ei ddal, mae’n cychwyn ar daith frawychus o ddial a fydd yn y pendraw yn bygwth ei bwyll ac, o bosib, ei fywyd hefyd. Daeth y giallo arbennig hwn gyda’i thema o alar yn Fenis (gyda sgôr drawiadol a chythryblus gan Ennio Morricone) blwyddyn cyn y ffilm fwy adnabyddus Don’t Look Now, ac mae’n enghraifft a esgeulusir yn aml o’r genre poblogaidd hwn. Mae’n fraint bod y cyfarwyddwr Aldo Lado yn mynd i ymuno â ni ar gyfer sesiwn C&A byw yn dilyn y ffilm, ac ‘rydym yn hynod ddiolchgar i Giada Mazzoleni a Russ Hunter am wneud hyn yn bosibl!
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UK UKPREMIERE PREMIERE
THE WITCH OF KINGS CROSS SONIA BIBLE AUSTRALIA 2020, 78 MINUTES
FRIDAY 30 DYDD GWENER 12PM Read Q&A on pages 94-96
In 1950s Sydney, bohemian artist Rosaleen Norton hits the headlines with allegations of satanic rituals, obscene art and sex orgies. Eventually the relentless scandals lead to the downfall of her famous high society lover. Told ‘in her own words’, this documentary weaves stylized drama and erotic dancers with rare, never before seen artworks, diaries and scrapbooks. The Witch of Kings Cross is a fascinating portrait of a woman who should surely be more widely known than she seems to be (programmers’ note – forgive us if we were just ignorant). One can’t help but think in these increasingly constricting times, that Rosaleen Norton’s witchcraft is ripe for a revival.
Yn Sydney yn y 1950au, mae’r artist bohemaidd Rosaleen Norton yn cyrraedd y penawdau gyda honiadau o ddefodau satanaidd, celf anweddus a rhialtwch rhywiol. Yn y pendraw mae’r sgandalau diddiwedd yn achosi dymchweliad ei charwr cymdeithas-uchel enwog. Yn cael ei chyflwyno ‘yn ei geiriau ei hun’, mae’r ffilm ddogfen hon yn cyfuno drama arddulliedig a dawnswyr erotig gyda deunydd prin nas gwelwyd erioed o’r blaen megis gweithiau celf, dyddiaduron a llyfrau lloffion. Mae The Witch of Kings Cross yn bortread cyfareddol o ddynes a ddylai mewn gwirionedd fod yn fwy adnabyddus nag y mae (nodyn oddi wrth y rhaglenwyr - maddeuwch i ni os oeddem jyst yn anwybodus!). Gall rhywun ond feddwl, yn yr amseroedd cyfyng hyn, y gall hwn fod yn amser da efallai i adfywio dewiniaeth Rosaleen Norton.
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SHORTS
ABERTOIR SHORT FILM COMPETITION Each year Abertoir invites filmmakers from across the globe to submit short films for the Abertoir Short Film Competition. As always, the response has been phenomenal and it’s not possible to show all of the amazing entries. Here we present our shortlist. There are two prizes on offer. The first being the Abertoir Short Film prize, and the second is the Méliès d’Argent awarded to the best European film. As part of Abertor’s role in the Méliès International Festivals Federation, our short film competition will award a Short Film Méliès d’Argent. This is an internationally recognised prize specific to the Federation and is a testimony to the talented filmmakers in Europe. The winner of our Short Film Méliès d’Argent will go forward to the final lineup at one of the major European festivals for the prestigious Méliès d’Or Award for the Best European Fantastic Short Film. All our European short films are eligible.
Pob blwyddyn mae Abertoir yn gwahodd i wneuthurwyr ffilm o bob cwr o’r byd i gynnig ffilmiau byrion ar gyfer cystadleuaeth ffilmiau byrion Abertoir. Fel yr arfer, mae’r ymateb wedi bod yn rhagorol, ac nid oes le i ddangos yr holl gynigion gwych. Felly dyma’r rhestr fer bydd yn cael ei dangos i’n gynulleidfa. Bydd dwy wobr ar gael. Y cyntaf yw Gwobr Ffilm Fer Abertoir, a’r ail yw’r Méliès d’Argent, sy’n cael ei wobrwyo i’r ffilm Ewropeaidd gorau. Fel rhan o rôl Abertoir yn y Méliès International Festivals Federation, bydd ein cystadleuaeth ffilmiau byr yn dyfarnu Méliès d’Argent ar gyfer ffilm fer. Mae hon yn wobr a gydnabyddir yn rhyngwladol sy’n benodol i’r MIFF ac mae’n dyst i’r gwneuthurwyr ffilm talentog yn Ewrop. Bydd enillydd ein Méliès d’Argent ar gyfer ffilm fer yn mynd ymlaen i raglen derfynol yn un o brif wyliau Ewrop er mwyn cystadlu ar gyfer wobr fawreddog Méliès d’or- ar gyfer Ffilm Fer Ffantastig Ewropeaidd Orau. Mae ein holl ffilmiau byrion Ewropeaidd yn gymwys. - 45 -
4X6 JAMIE GYNGELL, UK 2019, 6 MINS When collage artist Tessa collects some photos from the lab, she finds a mysterious image mistakenly mixed into her batch. Back at her studio, she discovers that the photo, impossibly, is there amongst her negatives. She soon realises there is much more to it than meets the eye… Pam mae’r fyfyrwraig celf Tessa yn casglu rhai lluniau o’r labordy, mae hi’n darganfod darlun dirgel ymysg ei lluniau hi. Yn ôl yn ei stiwdio, mae hi’n darganfod y llun yn ei negyddion, sy’n amhosib. Mae hi’n sylweddoli’n ddigon buan bod llawer mwy i’r dirgel…
ABRACITOS TONY MORALES, SPAIN 2020, 11 MINS A terrible phone call in the middle of the night shakes Laura’s world. Meanwhile, little Ainara plays in her room. The appearance of an unknown being will test the mental and emotional stability of the two sisters. Mae galwad ffôn erchyll yng nghanol y nos yn siglo byd Laura. Ar yr un pryd, mae Ainara bach yn chwarae yn ei hystafell. Bydd ymddangosiad bod anghysbell yn brawf o sefydlogrwydd meddyliol ac emosiynol y ddwy chwaer.
BIRD LADY SUSIE JONES, UK 2020, 12 MINS A girl wanders for miles, shoeless and confused - until she stumbles on a house full of birds and the old lady who cares for them. Mae merch yn crwydro am filltiroedd, heb esgidiau ac wedi drysu - nes iddi faglu ar draws tŷ llawn adar a’r hen ddynes sy’n eu gwarchod.
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BROTHERS AGAIN VANJA TOGNOLA, SWITZERLAND 2019, 11 MINS Franco, an elderly man, lives his life in serenity with his wife Margherita. The arrival of his brother Vittorio breaks the calm. Mae Franco, hen ddyn, yn byw ei fywyd yn sirioldeb gyda’i wraig Margherita. Mae ei frawd yn cyrraedd ac yn torri ar draws y tawelwch.
IT’S NOTHING ANNA MAGUIRE, CANADA/UK 2019, 16 MINUTES Recent graduate, Robin, returns to her parents’ house and obsessively starts to dig a hole, encouraged by an impossibly perfect girl; but as she digs, she heads further down a path of self-destruction. Mae’r graddedig diweddar, Robin, yn dychwelyd i dŷ ei rhieni ac yn cychwyn ar gloddio twll yn obsesiynol, gydag anogaeth gan ferch amhosib o berffaith; ond wrth iddi gloddio, mae hi’n troedio’n bell lawr llwybr o hunan-ddinistrio.
LA ÚLTIMA NAVIDAD DEL UNIVERSO DAVID MUÑOZ, SPAIN 2020, 15 MINS December 25th of next year. Humanity has gone to hell and only a few survive by eating each other. Santa Claus comes to hand out toys, but in a world without good children, he’ll have to use them as deadly weapons. Rhagfyr 25ain y flwyddyn nesaf. Mae dynoliaeth wedi mynd i uffern a dim ond rhai sy’n goroesi gan fwyta ei gilydd. Mae Siôn Corn yn dod i ddosbarthu teganau, ond mewn byd heb blant da, bydd rhaid iddo’i ddefnyddio nhw fel arfau marwol. - 47 -
LIVE FOREVER GUSTAV EGERSTEDT, SWEDEN 2020, 3 MINS A musical love letter and tribute to the poor victims in horror films that didn’t make it to the sequel. In an anthemic song the dead unite across genres and time. Llythyr cariad cerddorol i’r dioddefwyr druan mewn ffilmiau arswyd sydd heb gyrraedd ffilm nesaf y gyfres. Mewn cân anthemig mae’r meirw’n ymuno ar draws generau ac amser.
LUZ, A WITCH STORY JULIE ROY, CANADA 2019, 15 MINUTES Luz is an ambulance driver. Her work brings her to discover the inert body of Dorothée. That’s when her dreams reveal the identity of the murderer: a malevolent woman who pursues her. There follows a duel between the two women, where the supernatural mixes with lightning. Mae Luz yn gyrru ambiwlans. Mae ei gwaith hi’n dod â hi i ddarganfod corff anadweithiol Dorothée. Dyna pryd mae ei breuddwydion yn datgelu hunaniaeth y llofrudd: dynes drygnaws sy’n ei dilyn hi. Yna mae brwydr yn dilyn rhwng y ddwy ddynes, lle mae’r uwchnaturiol yn cymysgu â mellt.
ROUTINE: THE PROHIBITION SAM ORIT, SPAIN 2020, 8 MINS In a dark world, devastated by lies and dominated by fear, we continue with our self-destructive routines towards extinction. Mewn byd tywyll, wedi’i ddinistrio gan gelwyddau a’i ddominyddu gan ofn, rydym yn parhau gyda’n harferion dinistriol tuag at ddifodiant.
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SMILES JAVIER CHAVANEL, SPAIN 2019, 13 MINS Borja is about to meet his girlfriend´s parents. This is meant to be a tricky moment and even awkward. However, he hasn´t even imagined what he´s going to suffer next. The best way to overcome the situation: to smile and wait. Mae Borja ar fin cwrdd â rhieni ei gariad. Dyma foment sydd i fod yn anodd, ac yn lletchwith. Er hynny, ‘dyw e erioed wedi dychmygu beth fydd ei dioddefaint nesaf. Y peth orau i wneud i oresgyn y sefyllfa: i wenu ac i aros.
THE GLAMORGAN STRANGLER: A CASE STUDY LEWIS CARTER & KRISTIAN KANE, UK 2019, 9 MINS In 2019, a local video production company gained unprecedented access to an active serial killer while filming a brand film. The following footage has since surfaced. The crew has now… Yn 2019 gwnaeth cwmni cynhyrchu fideos lleol denu mynediad digynsail i lofrudd cyfresol gweithredol wrth greu ffilm brand. Mae’r lluniau sy’n dilyn wedi’i ddarganfod ers hynny. Ond nid yw’r criw...
YOU WILL NEVER BE BACK MÓNICA MATEO, SPAIN 2020, 13 MINS Ana and David say goodbye like any other day. The young lady has plans, but she won’t be late. However, something extraordinary happens; something that alters her reality and changes everything completely. Mae Ana a David yn dweud hwyl fawr i’w gilydd fel unrhyw ddiwrnod arall. Mae gan y ferch ifanc gynlluniau a ni fydd hi’n hwyr. Ond, mae rhywbeth hynod yn digwydd; rhywbeth sy’n newid ei realaeth ac sy’n newid bob dim yn llwyr. - 49 -
VERDICT 30.001: THE COOKIES HENNA VÄLKKY & SAMUEL HÄKKINEN, FINLAND 2020, 9 MINS
The average adult makes around 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day. Each decision carries certain consequences - both good and bad. Even if it’s just about a box of cookies. Mae oedolyn cyfartalog yn gwneud tua 35,000 o benderfyniadau ymwybodol o bell pob dydd. Mae pob penderfyniad yn cario canlyniadau penodol - da a drwg. Hyd yn oed os yw’r penderfyniad am focs o fisgedi yn unig.
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EVENTS
PRE-FESTIVAL PUB QUIZ TUESDAY 27 DYDD MAWRTH 7.30PM Abertoir is infamous for its over-running pub quizzes, so what better way to get together online to get to know each other and the technology of this year’s festival?! Join us the evening before the festival kicks off for a friendly, warm-up event where you can meet the festival team and audience, and show off how clever you are! Mae Abertoir yn ddrwg-enwog am gwisiau tafarn sy’n cario ‘mlaen a ‘mlaen, felly pa ffordd well i ddod at ein gilydd ar-lein i ddod i nabod ein gilydd a thechnoleg yr ŵyl eleni!? Ymunwch â ni ar y noson cyn i’r ŵyl gychwyn am ddigwyddiad cynhesu gyfeillgar lle bydd modd i chi gwrdd â thîm a chynulleidfa’r ŵyl, a gwneud sioe o ba mor glyfar ydach chi! Peidiwch â phoeni os dyma’ch tro gyntaf gyda ni - bydd digon o help ar law i chi fod yn rhan o dîm!
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HOW TO BE GROTESQUE & ARABESQUE: A USER’S GUIDE TO DECADENCE BY GAVIN BADDELEY WEDNESDAY 28 DYDD MERCHER 8PM Decadence is one of those terms we all know, but it can be hard to pin down. History’s most scandalous cultural movement, it is the heady territory where opposites – like sex and death, beauty and decay, pleasure and despair – meet in a fearsome, fervid embrace. It is also, according to Abertoir veteran Gavin Baddeley, the missing link between the Gothic tradition and full-blooded modern horror. Join Gavin as he initiates us into the sinful philosophical doctrines of Decadence, before exploring the most lurid examples to be found in horror cinema, such as Roger Corman’s legendary Poe adaptations. Gavin will conclude with a few pointers for audience members tempted to introduce a little Decadence into their own lives… Mae decadence yn un o’r termau hynny rydyn ni i gyd yn ei adnabod, ond gall fod yn anodd ei ddiffinio. Mudiad diwylliannol mwyaf sgandalus hanes, dyma’r diriogaeth feddwol lle mae gwrthwynebiadau - fel rhyw a marwolaeth, harddwch a dadfeiliad, pleser ac anobaith - yn cwrdd mewn cofleidiad ofnadwy a ffyrnig. Hwn hefyd, yn ôl hen law Abertoir, Gavin Baddeley, yw’r cysylltiad coll rhwng y traddodiad Gothig ac arswyd modern gwaedlyd. Ymunwch â Gavin wrth iddo ein hyfforddi yn athrawiaethau athronyddol a phechadurus Decadence, cyn archwilio’r enghreifftiau mwyaf llewyrchus sydd i’w cael mewn sinema arswyd, fel addasiadau Poe chwedlonol Roger Corman. Bydd Gavin yn cloi gydag ychydig o awgrymiadau ar gyfer aelodau’r gynulleidfa sy’n cael eu temtio i gyflwyno ychydig o Decadence yn eu bywydau eu hunain…
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42ND STREET: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT – A PRESENTATION BY GAZ BAILEY THURSDAY 29 DYDD IAU 1PM We’ve all seen those familiar images of garish marquees advertising all night Kung-Fu triple bills and ‘Swedish Documentaries’, and we’ve all heard of the crime and corruption that accompanies the wild west of cinema-going, but what do we really know of 42nd Street? This special talk from festival director Gaz will span the entire history of America’s most notorious street, from barren farmland to the bright lights of Broadway; from gangs and grindhouses to Disney commercialism: 42nd Street has seen it all. Back in 2016, Abertoir was celebrating the world of New York’s 42nd Street. As part of that, we attempted to present a comprehensive look at its history, yet there was far too much to cover in a short time and most of it was sadly cut out. So, this year, finally, with the benefit of hindsight and a longer running time, Gaz will be giving the full presentation, available throughout the festival on demand. Rydyn ni i gyd wedi gweld y delweddau cyfarwydd hynny o arwyddion mawrion yn hysbysebu biliau triphlyg trwy’r nos o ffilmiau Kung-Fu a ‘ffilmiau ddogfen’ o Sweden, ac rydyn ni i gyd wedi clywed am y trosedd a’r llygredd sy’n cyd-fynd â gorllewin gwyllt sinema, ond beth ydyn ni’n wir yn gwybod am 42nd Street? Bydd y sgwrs arbennig hon gan gyfarwyddwr yr ŵyl Gaz yn rhychwantu holl hanes stryd enwocaf America, o dir fferm diffrwyth i oleuadau llachar Broadway; o gangiau a grindhouses i fasnacheiddio Disney: mae 42nd Street wedi gweld y cyfan. Yn ôl yn 2016, roedd Abertoir yn dathlu byd 42nd Street Efrog Newydd. Fel rhan o hynny, gwnaethom geisio cyflwyno golwg gynhwysfawr ar ei hanes, ac eto roedd gormod o lawer i’w gwmpasu mewn cyfnod byr ac yn anffodus cafodd y rhan fwyaf ohono ei dorri allan. Felly, eleni, o’r diwedd, gyda budd o edrych yn ôl a mwy o amser, bydd Gaz yn rhoi’r cyflwyniad llawn, sydd ar gael trwy’r ŵyl yn ôl y galw. - 54 -
THE ABERTOIR GUIDE TO TERROR ON THE TELLY, HORROR HOSTS & TV MONSTERS THURSDAY 29 DYDD IAU 4PM We control the horizontal... we control the vertical... Abertoir’s long-running festival guide to the good, bad and downright weird continues this year...in digital form. Abertoir contributor Tristan Thompson dips into an A-Z of horror on the telly, exploring TV horror movies, kooky horror hosts and surreal late-night telly terror... tune in and prepare to hide behind the sofa. Ni sy’n rheoli’r llorwedd… ni sy’n rheoli’r fertigol… mae canllaw hir sefydlog gŵyl Abertoir i’r da, drwg a llwyr ryfedd yn parhau eleni...ar ffurf ddigidol. Mae cyfrannwr Abertoir, Tristan Thompson, yn trochi mewn A-Z o arswyd ar y teledu, gan archwilio ffilmiau teledu arswyd, gwesteiwyr arswyd brawychus ac arswyd swreal teledu hwyr y nos... tiwniwch i mewn a pharatowch i guddio y tu ôl i’r soffa.
VINCENT PRICE: THREE SKELETON KEY THURSDAY 29 DYDD IAU 6PM This year is all about doing things differently, and we’re delighted to be presenting one of Vincent’s most memorable radio plays, Three Skeleton Key. A tale of madness and death set on a remote lighthouse besieged by rats. Yes, you heard us right – a radio play. Abertoir’s regular poster artist Pete Stevenson has been having tons of fun illustrating the story, and for the first time ever, this terrifying drama will be playing alongside our very own hand drawn visuals. Mae eleni i gyd amdano wneud pethau’n wahanol, ac rydym yn falch iawn o fod yn cyflwyno un o ddramâu radio mwyaf cofiadwy Vincent, Three Skeleton Key. Stori o wallgofrwydd a marwolaeth wedi’i lleoli ar oleudy anghysbell dan warchae llygod mawr. Do, fe glywsoch chi ni’n iawn - drama radio. Mae artist posteri rheolaidd Abertoir, Peter Stevenson, wedi bod yn cael tunnell o hwyl yn darlunio’r stori, ac am y tro cyntaf erioed, bydd y ddrama ddychrynllyd hon yn chwarae ochr yn ochr â’n delweddau ein hunain a dynnwyd â llaw. - 55 -
SHORT FILM COMPETITION FRIDAY 30 DYDD GWENER 3.30PM Each year Abertoir invites filmmakers from across the globe to submit short films for the Abertoir Short Film Competition. As always, the response has been phenomenal and it’s not possible to show all of the amazing entries. Here we present our shortlist. Pob blwyddyn mae Abertoir yn gwahodd i wneuthurwyr ffilm o bob cwr o’r byd i gynnig ffilmiau byrion ar gyfer cystadleuaeth ffilmiau byrion Abertoir. Fel yr arfer, mae’r ymateb wedi bod yn rhagorol, ac nid oes le i ddangos yr holl gynigion gwych. Felly dyma’r rhestr fer bydd yn cael ei dangos i’n gynulleidfa. See pages 44-50.
NICKO & JOE'S BAD FILM CLUB FRIDAY 30 DYDD GWENER 9.15PM Comedians Nicko and Joe know terrible cinema better than anyone, and every year we drag them to Aberystwyth in order to showcase and skewer some true cinematic shit for you. Well, this year we’re dragging them into cyberspace for a virtual edition...! The title is a mystery, but the two things we know – it won’t be good, but Nicko and Joe will be! Mae’r comediwyr Nicko and Joe yn fwy gyfarwydd gyda sinema erchyll na neb arall, a phob blwyddyn rydyn ni’n eu llusgo nhw i Aberystwyth er mwyn arddangos a bychanu ryw gachfa o sinema ar eich cyfer. Wel, eleni rydym ni’n eu llusgo i’r seiberofod ar gyfer fersiwn rhithwir...! Mae’r teitl yn ddirgel, ond fe wyddom ni ddau beth – bydd y ffilm ddim yn dda iawn, ond mi fydd Nicko a Joe! - 56 -
il terrore ha una nuova faccia, ma nessuno può vederlo
INDOSSAVANO MASCHERE NERE SATURDAY 31 DYDD SADWRN 5.30PM Indossavano Maschera Nere is a rarely seen adventure of missed connections, obsessive love and horror. Be sure you don’t miss this unique experience. Prin y gwelir Indossavano Maschera Nere, antur o gysylltiadau coll, cariad obsesiynol ac arswyd. Peidiwch â cholli’r profiad unigryw hwn.
THE ROBIN INCE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD – LIVE SATURDAY 31 DYDD SADWRN 9PM Author and comedian Robin Ince had so much fun with us at the festival last year that he’s decided to keep himself even busier than usual by putting together a brand new online show especially for us this year! The show will be so fresh off the drawing board that it’ll still be dripping blood… Cafodd yr awdur a’r comedïwr Robin Ince gymaint o hwyl gyda ni yn yr ŵyl y llynedd mae o wedi penderfynu cadw ei hun yn brysurach na’r arfer drwy greu sioe ar-lein newydd sbon yn arbennig i ni eleni! Bydd y sioe mor ffres o’r bwrdd lluniadu bydd yn dal i ddiferu gwaed...
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SILENT HORROR SHORTS WITH PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT BY PAUL SHALLCROSS SUNDAY 1 DYDD SUL 5.15PM When we are young we look to the future; when we are old we look to the past. The same might also be true for film festivals, and if at fifteen years of age Abertoir is not yet old it certainly might be approaching venerability. Accordingly, Silent Horror Shorts is this year in retrospective mood, its programme consisting of eight films selected from the twenty-five screened here over the past seven years. With tongues firmly in cheeks, the films we’ve selected show how early cinema thrived on the fantastic and the ghoulish (we say horror, we really mean a guy in white sheet). But the charm, the sense of fun, and the general creativity of the genre has been around us since the very start of film itself. All the scores have been specially commissioned and written for Abertoir, performed by our much beloved pianist Paul Shallcross. Paul will be also bringing some light-hearted insights into the films themselves, and especially some mistakes to look out for! Pan rydym yn ifanc, edrychwn tua’r dyfodol; pan rydym yn hen, edrychwn tua’r gorffennol. Gall fod yr un peth yn wir ar gyfer wyliau ffilmiau, ac os nad yw Abertoir, sy’n bymtheg mlwydd oed, yn hen eto, mae’n sicr o nesáu at hybarchedd. Yn unol â hynny, mae’r Ffilmiau Byrion Arswyd Mud eleni dan deimlad o ôl-syllu, gyda’r rhaglen yn cynnwys wyth ffilm wedi’i dewis o blith y 25 sydd wedi dangos yn yr ŵyl dros y saith mlynedd diwethaf. Gyda thafod yn gadarn yn y boch, mae’r ffilmiau sydd wedi’u dewis yn dangos sut roedd sinema gynnar yn ffynnu gyda’r ffantastig a’r ellyllaidd (pan ddywedwn ni ‘arswyd’, boi dan gynfas wen rydyn ni’n golygu). Ond mae swyn, synnwyr hwyl a chreadigrwydd cyffredinol y genre wedi bod o’n cwmpas ni ers cychwyn cyntaf ffilm ei hun. Mae’r gerddoriaeth i bob un o’r ffilmiau wedi’i chomisiynu a’i hysgrifennu’n arbennig ar gyfer Abertoir, ac wedi’i pherfformio gan ein hannwyl pianydd Paul Shallcross. Bydd Paul hefyd yn dod â mewnwelediadau ysgafn i’r ffilmiau eu hunain, yn enwedig rhai camgymeriadau i edrych allan amdanynt! - 58 -
THOSE AWFUL HATS (D.W. GRIFFITH - 1909, USA)
VOYAGE AUTOUR D’UN ÉTOILE (GASTON VELLE - 1906, FRANCE)
UN HOMME DE TÊTES (GEORGES MÉLIÈS 1898, FRANCE)
A now largely forgotten filmmaker, but surely the penultimate shot of this film is the original ancestor and inspiration for a famous sequence in Mary Poppins.
Two more disparate filmmakers could hardly be found to share the start of a programme. Yet both were among the greatest of the early film pioneers: Méliès the originator of film editing, and Griffith the creator of the feature film (Birth of a Nation). And, as the two films reveal, both were highly imaginative and inventive filmmakers.
Gwneuthurwr ffilm sydd bellach wedi’i anghofio i raddau helaeth, ond siawns mai golygfa olaf ond un y ffilm hon yw’r hynafiad gwreiddiol a’r ysbrydoliaeth ar gyfer dilyniant enwog Mary Poppins.
Prin y gellid dod o hyd i ddau wneuthurwr ffilm mor wahanol i’w gilydd i rannu dechrau rhaglen. Ac eto roedd y ddau ymhlith y mwyaf o’r arloeswyr ffilm gynnar: Méliès, cychwynnwr golygu ffilm, a Griffith crëwr y ffilm hir (Birth of a Nation). Ac, fel mae’r ddwy ffilm yn datgelu, roedd y ddwy yn wneuthurwyr ffilm hynod ddychmygus a dyfeisgar.
THE X-RAY FIEND (GEORGE ALBERT SMITH - 1897, UK) AN OVER-INCUBATED BABY (ROBERT W. PAUL - 1901, UK) Röntgen discovered x-rays in 1895, the same year that the Lumière brothers gave the first cinematic projection of film. By a curious coincidence Auguste Lumière, after his work on film projection, resumed his scientific career and became a pioneer in the use of x-rays to examine bone fractures. Baby incubators were a somewhat earlier invention.
PRELUDE (CASTLETON KNIGHT - 1927, UK) The director’s debut film and his only essay in the horror genre. This film apart, Castleton Knight’s career is largely remembered for his documentary films – the 1948 London Olympics and the 1953 Coronation.
Darganfu Röntgen belydrau-x ym 1895, yr un flwyddyn ag y rhoddodd y brodyr Lumière y tafluniad sinematig cyntaf o ffilm. Trwy gydddigwyddiad hynod ailgydiodd Auguste Lumière, ar ôl ei waith ar daflunio ffilm, ei yrfa wyddonol a daeth yn arloeswr yn y defnydd o belydrau-x i archwilio toriadau esgyrn. Roedd deoryddion babanod yn ddyfais ychydig yn gynharach.
Ffilm gyntaf y cyfarwyddwr a’i unig ymdrech yn y genre arswyd. Heb law y ffilm hon, mae gyrfa Castleton Knight yn bennaf yn gofiadwy am ei ffilmiau ddogfen – Olympics Llundain 1948 a Choroni 1953.
THE BLACK PEARL (SEGUNDO DE CHOMÓN 1908, FRANCE)
DR. PYCKLE AND MR. PRYDE (PERCY PEMBROKE - 1925, USA)
An early film by the Spanish director whose later work became much influenced by Méliès’ innovations in multiple exposure and stopmotion. Perhaps the best description of the film comes from the lips of one of the festival’s selection committee who, after a first viewing, exclaimed with a great laugh, “totally bonkers”.
In the ten years before the start of his film partnership with Oliver Hardy in 1927, Stan Laurel - the star of this spoof on the famous Robert Louis Stevenson story - was a well-known stage and film comedian. He was a lifelong ad-libber and verbal quipper and his witticisms became almost as well-known as his acting; this from late in his life when illness had seriously incapacitated him: “If anyone at my funeral has a long face, I’ll never speak to him again.”
Ffilm gynnar gan y cyfarwyddwr o Sbaen. Dylanwadodd arloesiadau Méliès mewn amlygiad lluosog a stop-motion yn fawr ar ei waith diweddarach. Efallai bod y disgrifiad gorau o’r ffilm yn dod o wefusau un o bwyllgor dethol yr ŵyl a wnaeth, ar ôl ei dro gyntaf yn gweld y ffilm, dweud gyda chwerthin mawr, bod y ffilm yn “hollol boncyrs”.
Yn ystod y deng mlynedd cyn dechrau ei bartneriaeth ffilm gydag Oliver Hardy ym 1927, roedd Stan Laurel - seren y spoof hwn o stori enwog Robert Louis Stevenson - yn ddigrifwr llwyfan a ffilm adnabyddus. Roedd yn adlibiwr gydol oes ac yn wibiwr geiriol a daeth ei ffraethinebau bron mor adnabyddus â’i actio; hyn o ddiwedd ei fywyd pan oedd salwch wedi ei analluogi’n ddifrifol: “Os oes gan unrhyw un yn fy angladd wyneb hir, ni fyddaf byth yn siarad ag ef eto.” - 59 -
ROGER CORMAN
LIVE Q&A MODERATED BY PETER FULLER & FEATURING A SPECIAL INTRODUCTION BY VICTORIA PRICE SUNDAY 1 DYDD SUL 7PM As early as last year we were honoured to be discussing with Roger Corman the possibility of a celebration here in Aberystwyth of all that is Poe, Price and Corman, to mark the 60th anniversary of the first in that cycle of films. Sadly, worldwide events got the better of those plans, but we are thrilled that Mr. Corman will be joining us, virtually, to celebrate nonetheless. With contributions from long-time Abertoir friend Victoria Price, join journalist Peter Fuller as he delves into questions on The Fall of the House of Usher (1960), Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Tales of Terror (1962), The Haunted Palace (1963), The Raven (1963), The Masque of the Red Death (1964) and The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) – all of which were directed by Roger Corman and starred Vincent Price. Roedd yn fraint i ni fod mewn sgyrsiau gyda Roger Corman mor gynnar â llynedd i drafod y posibilrwydd o ddathliad yma yn Aberystwyth o bob dim Poe, Price a Corman, er mwyn nodi pen-blwydd 60 mlynedd y gyntaf yn y gyfres honno o ffilmiau. Yn anffodus, mae digwyddiadau byd-eang wedi trechu’r cynlluniau hynny, ond mae’n wefreiddiol i ni bod Mr. Corman yn ymuno â ni’n rhithwir i ddathlu fodd bynnag. Gyda chyfraniadau gan ffrind hir-dymor Abertoir, Victoria Price, ymunwch â’r newyddiadurwr Peter Fuller wrth iddo drochi gyda cwestiynau am The Fall of the House of Usher (1960), Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Tales of Terror (1962), The Haunted Palace (1963), The Raven (1963), The Masque of the Red Death (1964) a The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) – pob un wedi’i chyfarwyddo gan Roger Corman ac yn serennu Vincent Price.
AFTER PARTY WITH DJ DELLAMORTE SUNDAY 1 DYDD SUL 11.15PM - 60 -
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GUESTS
ROGER CORMAN
ALDO LADO
Director, producer, distributor, actor: Roger Corman is quite possibly one of the most important people to ever work in the film industry. His career has spanned decades as a champion for independent film and his output is unrivalled. In particular, it’s his remarkable direction for American International Pictures that has most closely associated him with many of Vincent Price’s finest films. Roger Corman is responsible for what makes cinema great, and it’s truly an honour to welcome him to Abertoir this year!
Aldo Lado is a name familiar to any fan of the giallo. His first feature, Short Night of the Glass Dolls (which he also wrote), is frequently cited as an important entry in the genre, and it’s no surprise to see his second, Who Saw Her Die?, with its distinctive Morricone score and stark, haunting imagery, equally respected. In the early 80s, his cult film Night Train Murders was placed high on the Video Nasties list in the UK – which earns a mark of respect from us all at Abertoir. Mae Aldo Lado yn enw sy’n gyfarwydd i unrhyw ffan o’r giallo. Mae ei ffilm hir gyntaf, Short Night of the Glass Dolls, a ysgrifennodd hefyd, yn cael ei nodi’n aml fel cofnod pwysig yn y genre, ac nid yw’n syndod gweld ei ail, Who Saw Her Die?, gyda’i sgôr Morricone nodedig a’i delweddaeth ddychrynllyd, yr un mor barchus. Yn gynnar yn yr 80au, gosodwyd ei ffilm gwlt Night Train Murders ar restr y Video Nasties yn y DU - sy’n ennill arwydd o barch gennym ni i gyd yn Abertoir!
Cyfarwyddwr, cynhyrchydd, dosbarthwr, actor: mae Roger Corman o bosib yn un o’r bobl bwysicaf i weithio erioed yn y diwydiant ffilm. Mae ei yrfa wedi rhychwantu degawdau fel hyrwyddwr ffilm annibynnol ac mae ei allbwn heb ei ail. Yn annwyl i ni yn Abertoir yw ei gyfarwyddo rhyfeddol ar gyfer American International Pictures sy’n ei gysylltu’n agos â llawer o ffilmiau gorau Vincent Price. Mae Roger Corman yn gyfrifol am yr hyn sy’n gwneud sinema yn wych, ac mae’n wirioneddol anrhydedd ei groesawu i Abertoir eleni!
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ALEXANDRE O. PHILIPPE
BREA GRANT Brea Grant is a filmmaker/writer best known for her Emmy-nominated work on the Netflix series, EastSiders. In addition to 12 Hour Shift, she wrote/ starred in the SXSW 2020 feature Lucky, directed by Natasha Kermani. She has written a number of comics including her most recent graphic novel entitled MARY about the fictional descendent of Mary Shelley. She started in the film industry as an actress and has appeared on shows like Heroes, Friday Night Lights, and Dexter, as well as horror films like Halloween II and the recent indie favorite, After Midnight.
Alexandre has written and directed numerous award-winning films and documentaries, many of which take on the role of unpacking the most influential works of master filmmakers, including 78/52 and Memory: The Origins of Alien. Mae Alexandre wedi ysgrifenu a chyfarwyddo nifer o ffilmiau a ffilmiau dofgen sydd wedi ennill gwobrau, ac mae nifer ohonynt wedi cymryd y rôl o archwilio rhai o weithiau mwyaf dylanwadol meistrau gwneud ffilm, gan gynnwys 78/52 a Memory: The Origins of Alien.
Gwneuthurwr ffilm/ysgrifennwr yw Brea Grant sy’n fwyaf adnabyddus am ei gwaith ar gyfer y gyfres Netflix, EastSiders, a enwebwyd ar gyfer Emmy. Yn ogystal â 12 Hour Shift, ysgrifennodd/serennodd hi yn y ffilm SXSW 2020, Lucky, a gyfarwyddwyd gan Natasha Kermani. Mae hi wedi ysgrifennu nifer o gomics gan gynnwys ei nofel graffig ddiweddaraf, MARY, am ddisgynnydd ffuglennol Mary Shelley. Dechreuodd yn y diwydiant ffilm fel actores ac mae wedi ymddangos ar sioeau fel Heroes, Friday Night Lights, a Dexter, yn ogystal â ffilmiau arswyd fel Halloween II a’r ffefryn indie diweddar, After Midnight. - 64 -
ANTHONY SCOTT BURNS
ROBIN INCE Robin Ince is probably best known for the Sony Gold award-winning Radio 4 series The Infinite Monkey Cage, but when he is not being kept rational by Brian Cox, he has an obsession with vampires, ghouls, shadmocks and dark arts. With Johnny Mains, he edited two anthologies of horror stories, Dead Funny and Dead Funny Encore. He is also the author of Bad Book Club, a celebration of Guy N Smith’s Killer Crabs books, and I’m a Joke and So Are You, a book about creativity, mental health and death.
A filmmaker very much in control of his art, Canadian filmmaker Anthony Scott Burns is fast making a mark in genre cinema. Anthony is also highly respected in the music world, under the title Pilotpriest, dedicating himself to the synth-wave genre where he’s developed a following in his own right. His latest film Come True, which brings together his own hypnotic score and visionary eye in one dark and electrifying horror, made waves at the Fantasia International Film Festival this year. We are delighted to be closing the festival with Come True, and welcoming Anthony to discuss it after the film. Mae’r gwneuthurwr ffilmiau o Ganada, Anthony Scott Burns, yn prysur wneud marc ar sinema genre, yn ogystal â chael ei barchu’n fawr ym myd cerddoriaeth synthwave, dan yr enw Pilotpriest, lle mae o wedi datblygu dilyniant ei hun. Gwnaeth ei ffilm ddiweddaraf Come True, sy’n dwyn ynghyd ei sgôr hypnotig a’i lygad gweledigaethol ei hun mewn un arswyd tywyll a thrydanol, donnau yng Ngŵyl Ffilm Ryngwladol Fantasia eleni. Rydym yn falch iawn o fod yn cau’r ŵyl gyda Come True, ac yn croesawu Anthony i’w thrafod ar ôl y ffilm.
Mae’n debyg bod Robin Ince yn fwyaf adnabyddus am y gyfres Radio 4 sydd wedi ennill gwobr Sony Gold, The Infinite Monkey Cage, ond pan nad yw’n cael ei gadw’n rhesymol gan Brian Cox, mae ganddo obsesiwn gyda fampirod, ellyllon, shadmociaid a chelfyddydau tywyll. Gyda Johnny Mains, golygodd dwy antholeg o straeon arswyd, Dead Funny a Dead Funny Encore. Ef hefyd yw awdur y Bad Book Club, dathliad o lyfrau Killer Crabs Guy N Smith, ac I’m a Joke and So Are You, llyfr am greadigrwydd, iechyd meddwl a marwolaeth.
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PAUL SHALLCROSS
NICKO & JOE
Silent film pianist Paul Shallcross is a staple part of the Abertoir Horror Festival, bringing his in-depth knowledge and passion for the silent era to the fore in his regular performances for classic silent horror films. He has toured many different venues around the UK playing many different kinds of music, but his association with Abertoir always brings him back.
Nicko and Joe have been confusing, disturbing and delighting audiences with their unique brand of comedy since 2004. Their infectious enthusiasm on stage and twisted creativity in their writing has resulted in many comparisons being made to other artists. These range from the surreal group They Might be Giants to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park.
Mae’r pianydd ffilmiau mud Paul Shallcross yn rhan hanfodol o Ŵyl Arswyd Abertoir, gan ddod a’i wybodaeth enfawr a’i frwdfrydedd dros y cyfnod mud i flaen ei berfformiadau ar gyfer clasuron mud arswyd. Mae o’n perfformio ar draws y wlad ac yn chwarae amrywiaeth o gerddoriaeth, ond mae ei gysylltiad gydag Abertoir yn ei ddod â fo’n ôl yma i berfformio cerddoriaeth newydd i’r cyhoedd am y tro gyntaf.
Mae Nicko a Joe wedi bod yn drysu, tarfu a swyno cynulleidfaoedd gyda’u brand unigryw o gomedi ers 2004. Roedd eu brwdfrydedd heintus ar y llwyfan a chreadigrwydd dirdro yn eu hysgrifennu wedi arwain at nifer o gymariaethau yn cael eu gwneud i artistiaid eraill, yn amrywio o grŵp swrrealaidd They Might Be Giants i ‘Trey Parker a Matt Stone’, crewyr South Park.
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GAVIN BADDELEY
DJ DELLAMORTE
Gavin Baddeley is an English writer specialising in the devilish and decadent, Gothic and macabre, with a special interest in the darker fringes of history. In addition to penning numerous books in these areas, he’s written for numerous, diverse periodicals and newspapers, ranging from The Observer and Knave, to Metal Hammer and Medieval History magazine. He has also made annually appearing at Abertoir part of his varied career, so let’s hope evil keeps giving him plenty more topics to share with us.
Dellamorte is a DJ who has been involved in more scenes and genres than we can reasonably list here. From Northern soul nights to being co-founder of long-running London breakbeat night Rocksteady, to lighting up late night radio as part of cult electronica trio Codex Machine. More recent times you could find him playing to local audiences on a regular basis, as well as at music festivals all over the UK – but for now, you can catch him here. Mae Dellamorte yn DJ sydd wedi bod yn rhan o fwy o sîns a genres na allwn ni restru’n rhesymol fan hyn. O nosweithiau Northern Soul i fod yn gyd-sylfaenydd o noson breakbeat hir-redeg Llundain Rocksteady, i oleuo radio hwyr y nos fel rhan o driawd electronica cwlt Codex Machine. Erbyn heddiw gallwch ddod ar ei draws yn chwarae i gynulleidfaoedd lleol yn rheolaidd yn ogystal â mewn gwyliau cerddoriaeth ar draws Brydain.
Mae Gavin Baddeley yn awdur Saesneg sy’n arbenigo yn y ddiawledig, y Gothig a’r erchyll, gyda diddordeb arbennig mewn ymylon tywyllach o hanes. Yn ogystal ag ysgrifennu nifer o lyfrau yn yr ardaloedd hyn, mae wedi ysgrifennu ar gyfer nifer o gyfnodolion a phapurau newydd amrywiol, gan gynnwys The Observer, Knave a Metal Hammer. Mae Gavin hefyd wedi gwneud ymddangos yn flynyddol yn Abertoir yn rhan o’i yrfa amrywiol, felly gadewch i ni obeithio bydd ochr ddrwg y byd yn dal ati i roi digon mwy o bynciau iddo ef rannu gyda ni.
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FESTIVAL T-SHIRTS & HOODIES ON SALE
WWW.ABERTOIR2020.CO.UK/TSHIRTS
ABERTOIR ONLINE 2020 We thought we’d out-done ourselves last year by literally launching the festival into space (sort of) to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Alien. And yet, here we are in the grand old year of 2020, adapting the usual festival into a cyberspace equivalent. Here the festival directors talk about what that process has been like.
Gaz
Rhys
At what point did you realise that this year’s Abertoir wasn’t going to be the usual one? It took a while to sink in and come to the conclusion we did. I’d say it was a gradual assessment of what was happening in the world and how long it was likely to last, and the effect on other festivals too. Certainly it was quite early we decided a physical festival might be too much of a risk, we certainly didn’t want to put all that time and energy into planning, with the uncertainty that people might not be able to attend!
At what point did you realise that this year’s Abertoir wasn’t going to be the usual one? We called it pretty early. We knew the uncertainty was a massive risk, so we decided we’d have the best chance of putting on the type of festival everyone expects if we moved online early. Whilst it was a painful decision at first, the three of us enjoyed the challenge of translating the physcial festival into a digital one. What’s been the most difficult thing to adapt to? The technology. Pivoting from a physical festival to an entirely online one in just a few months has been challenging. We’ve worked really hard to make things as simple as possible for everyone joining us. We *think* we’ve managed it.
What’s been the most difficult thing to adapt to? For me, I’m a bit rubbish with technology, so it’s getting my head around VOD and a completely new way of presenting films. We all agreed to replicate the traditional festival experience as much as possible by sticking to a schedule and bringing the audience along for the ride. We’ve always planned the festival as a journey from start to finish, so we think you’ll find it structured in a very familiar way.
What have been some of the benefits of taking the festival online? We know the journey is difficult for some and we’re looking forward to welcoming some new faces amongst our Abertoir regulars.
What have been some of the benefits of taking the festival online? No decoration! Seriously, you won’t believe the amount of chaos that goes into decorating the foyer with the weird and wonderful. But going online also has the benefit of being able to reach new people who haven’t been able to attend in person: by presenting what we feel is a traditional example of the Abertoir experience, we can share this with more people!
What do you think you’ll miss the most about the physical festival? Seeing everyone face-to-face! It’s nice to catch up and find out how our Abertoir family are. It’ll be different, but we’re hoping some of the online social spaces will give us that opportunity. Can you sum up the process of adjusting to the online festival in one word? Horrifying. Nah, joking – whirlwind.
What do you think you’ll miss the most about the physical festival? The audience and the big screen! Some of these films would be incredible on the big screen, especially our closing film Come True, but this is much better than not having a festival at all. The audience though, gosh I’m really going to miss the fun of meeting everyone again – that’s the main reason I do it! Can you sum up the process of adjusting to the online festival in one word? Brain-scrambling! - 70 -
ABERTOIR ANTICIPATION Nia
@diplobat93 Hey I can’t wait I joined Twitter just to follow you guys I came last year to some things super pumped for online festival!
At what point did you realise that this year’s Abertoir wasn’t going to be the usual one? I think quite early on. The Arts Centre closed in March, and a couple of weeks into that it felt like ‘wait, this is going to last while!’. We had to decide what we were doing with Abertoir early too, so that we were able to make the most of our time and resources without risk of all that work being undone!
@DarylRDavies I was a first-time attendee last year. You won’t regret it! #Abertoir2020
What’s been the most difficult thing to adapt to? Probably the screen fatigue – which I’m really hoping people don’t feel during the festival!
@horrorsenpaixxx happy monday - not!!!!! treated myself to some new gloves this weekend though, as it’s getting colder. not that i’ll be going outside much! #Abertoir2020
What have been some of the benefits of taking the festival online? It’s given us opportunity to try new things, for sure, and involve guests who normally might have been out of our reach. What do you think you’ll miss the most about the physical festival? Both the audience and the cinema experience, and I think those are intertwined things, really. Can you sum up the process of adjusting to the online festival in one word? Educational!
@InglebyJames Great to see that @robinince will be at Abertoir again this year. I want to learn more about the Killer Crabs. #Abertoir2020
@Not_Pilgrim Booked my pass for @AbertoirFest! I’ll miss my annual trip to Aber so much, but I’m excited for the online edition too. #abertoir2020 @HayleyARoberts @AbertoirFest Festival Pass Booked #Abertoir2020 @brunostrumpet November is going to be fun thanks to the nice people at Abertoir for coming up with a solution to hold the film festival. Looking forward to #Abertoir2020 @thisistasha It’s a great day to have booked an Abertoir pass, also this year I can hide behind all the cushions and none of you will know! @scaredsheepless Super easy purchase process for @AbertoirFest. Site bookmarked next to Grimmfest so I can get properly excited for both.
ROGER CORMAN & THE POE CYCLE PETER FULLER Roger Corman is one of the most prolific independent producers, directors, and writers of all time. The self-proclaimed king of the B’s has been making movies for 66 years, but it was his series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations in the 1960s, starring his muse in the macabre Vincent Price, that first showed critics there was more on his mind than cheap thrills. Between 1955 and 1959, Corman churned out more than 20 blackand-white pictures for the teenage market. Wanting to do something different, he convinced the chiefs at American International Pictures (AIP), Sam Arkoff and Jim Nicholson, to do a single 15-day horror film in colour. A life-long fan of Poe’s tales of terror, Corman settled on House of Usher, and it proved a hit for AIP. So much so, they wanted more sequels - and so the Poe cycle was born. So too was Corman’s winning formula - an artistic collaboration between his star Price and his talented crew. - 73 -
For Usher, screenwriter Richard Matheson provided a striking elaboration of Poe’s classic horror tale, while Price was born to play the sensitive aristocrat, Roderick Usher, who progressively descends into madness in his mansion steeped in pure evil. Photographed in vibrant Cinemascope by Floyd Crosby, decked out with Daniel Haller’s sumptuously baroque sets, and enveloped in a haunting score by Les Baxter, House of Usher put Corman on a new plateau. He’d go on to produce and direct seven more Poe-inspired films, with each one bearing his instinctive flair for style and story, they also look as rich and opulent as any of the movies coming out of the big studios at the time.
talents of Price and veteran stars Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. Horror and sorcery ensued in 1963’s The Haunted Palace which was Poe only in title. It was the first cinematic adaptation of a story by HP Lovecraft (The Case of Charles Dexter Ward). Still, both Corman and Beaumont successfully teased Lovecraft’s weird vision while also keeping within the spirit of Poe. Corman’s penultimate Poe picture was his most poetic and most visually captivating, 1964’s The Masque of the Red Death. Shot in the UK, this deep dive into the velvet darkness of the occult was a masterclass in mood, featuring a nuanced performance from Price as the devil-worshipping Prince Prospero and lavish photography from future auteur Nicolas Roeg.
Heavy in Freudian symbolism, Pit and the Pendulum (1961) featured a psychological-driven adaptation of Poe’s famous short story, a barnstorming performance from Price, and an excitingly staged climax - provided by Poe.
Corman then headed out into the Norfolk countryside for Tomb of Ligeia (1964), a heady brew of necrophilia, mesmerism and obsessive romance. Scripted by future Oscar-winner Robert Towne and gorgeously photographed by Hammer Films regular Arthur Grant it made for a stylish and atmospheric closing chapter on Corman’s Poe cycle.
After the 1961 racial drama The Intruder failed at the box-office, Corman returned to Poe with The Premature Burial (1962). This moody chiller started out being produced by Pathé Laboratories until AIP stepped in and bought the company hence why Ray Milland stars instead of Price.
Peter will moderate a live Q&A with Roger Corman on Sunday
Reviving the portmanteau format for 1962’s Tales of Terror, Corman continued to mine Poe’s obsession with death. But when the hilarious second story, The Black Cat, proved popular, Corman decided to go all-out comedy in the following year’s The Raven, which became AIP’s most successful Poe picture at the time. Although it had little to do with Poe (save using his classic poem), it successfully showcased the comedic - 74 -
PAUL SHALLCROSS ABERTOIR PIANIST
You’re a familiar and much loved face at Abertoir, and we’ve had the distinct pleasure of having you performing your music for over a decade. However, people may not know the person behind the music - have you always been a musician?
that I wanted to do nothing else but become a music teacher (the small classes, the fun and the holidays were also very persuasive) and I did this for thirty years, in the process writing lots of music for my pupils and, I hope, giving them the same opportunities that I was lucky enough to have had at their age.
If I remember rightly I took to the piano, like a duck to water, at the age of six. A few years later I started composing but for a number of years I kept quiet about this part of my musical life. However, my school music teacher, who was a complete inspiration, discovered one of my compositions (I’d left it on his piano one break-time when he was in the staffroom) and thereafter gave me great encouragement and lots of opportunities for performing my music. I was so inspired by his example
What is it about silent film in particular that led you to go down this path, as opposed to any other form of musical performance? The local film society here in Brecon had programmed Metropolis in their 1996-1997 season. I was a member of the society and after one of its screenings that season the chairman - 75 -
asked me if I’d like to accompany the film. I remember thinking “that’s something new for me, I rather like the idea” and I straightaway accepted. That I’d never seen Metropolis, nor indeed any silent film (yes!), didn’t seem particularly relevant at the time. But once I’d got my copy of the film I was hooked. And the film society couldn’t have been too displeased with my performance because they asked me back (with different films) for many years thereafter. Four years after Metropolis I gave up my job as a school music teacher by which time the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales had got to hear of me. I did a lot of shows for them and word-ofmouth did the rest. 300 shows later I still get a terrific buzz from both the writing and accompanying of music to silent films.
end until I’ve finished the writing. For a Silent Horror Shorts programme my shot-list will take up between six and ten pages of foolscap. The first line in my first shot-list for a Silent Horror Short was: “0-00: Title; graveyard; woman enters.” It’s one of the films in the 2020 programme.
You’ve performed the Abertoir scores around the country, tell us about the experience of taking this music out to people who aren’t familiar with the festival. Who attends them? Without exception audiences have always been very enthusiastic and in many venues they’ve come back for more year after year. There’s been a huge range of people, from large city audiences to tiny village film societies but whatever the audience very few of its members have ever been fans of horror films. It is the curiosity factor that mainly attracts audiences to these films.
You don’t improvise the scores, you write them specially. Tell us about your own process of turning a silent short into a fully formed musical score. Composing has always been my first musical joy. Although I’ve improvised to films on occasions, I always feel I can do a better job by giving myself more time to think about both the film and the music. I’m always very meticulous with my films and after a first viewing of a film I watch it a second time writing out a complete shot-list with descriptions of the action. I have this in front of me all the time I’m composing; it’s like a map: at a glance I can see the whole film, I can see what I’ve written, I can see what I’ve got to write. I’ll put little comments on this shot-list like “repeat opening music”, “back to Eb P.19”, all of which help me give a structure to the music. Once I’ve written out the shot-list I never again watch a film through from beginning to
Will we ever get you to play to anything featuring snakes? Yes, I’m a real ophidophobiac. However, my silent film hero is Abel Gance (Napoleon) and he has a horror film which I’d love to play. So far I’ve only been able to watch it to the halfway point and then...
Paul’s selection of Silent Horror Shorts will piano accompaniment will screen on Sunday.
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WORLDWIDE DREAD
THE CULTURAL IMPORTANCE OF TECHNO-HORROR AMI NISA
The function of horror is to not simply entertain us, but to provide a cultural lens through which we can examine our collective fears. The current global pandemic has heighted our collective fears; our days are transformed through a fundamental dependence on the internet in the absence of physical proximity, and we move through the world increasingly mediated by technology. Horror has always been preoccupied with the dangers of technology; every new technological invention is haunted by the spectre of sinister possibility. Mary Shelley animated Frankenstein’s monster with electricity in 1818 and, over a hundred years later, the threatening potential of electricity is still a theme that troubles our cultural imaginary. In the 1988 film Pulse (Paul Golding, USA), the central antagonist is an aggressive pulse of electricity behaving as both serial killer and poltergeist. The pulse’s origin is thought to be paranormal; it travels from home to home through the power-grid, taking control of electrical appliances, destroying houses, and eventually taking lives. A malevolent entity manipulating electrical networks is also the central theme in Wes Craven’s Shocker (1989, USA). Shocker follows the story of Horace Pinker; a killer sentenced to death by electric chair, who makes a Faustian pact to transmute his soul into pure electricity. Like the pulse, Pinker in Shocker is threatening because he exposes and exploits total societal dependency on electrical networks. In the early 2000s, as mobile technology and the internet became quotidian, an analogous technological dependency theme emerged in horror cinema. In One Missed Call (Takashi Miike, 2003, Japan) ghosts can possess mobile phones, and in another film also titled Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001, Japan), spirits travel through the internet out into the physical - 77 -
world1. Unlike localised electric networks - as with 1988’s Pulse - the worldwide connectivity of the internet in 2001’s Pulse causes international destruction. The dangers of internet technology lie in both their global nature and accelerated pace; threats are no longer contained at an individual or local level, but move at increasingly accelerated speeds, across a planetary scale. More recently, some films have used the formal features of internet technologies to tell their stories; computer screens, phone screens, and apps are not just present, but are active agents of storytelling. A timely example of this is the COVID-19 lockdown horror film, Host (Rob Savage, 2020, UK). Host depicts a novel take on the typical sÊance-gone-wrong story, as the film takes place entirely on a fifty-minute Zoom call. Horror films using in vogue online platforms is by no means limited to the current pandemic; in 2011, Take This Lollipop (Jason Zada, 2011, USA)2 used Facebook Connect to make an interactive horror film about an online stalker, and in 2016, the film Sickhouse (Hannah Macpherson, 2016, USA) was filmed and released entirely on Snapchat. Another example of this trend is the 2014 film Unfriended (Levan Gabriadze, USA). Unfriended focuses on a group of teenagers who are killed by the vengeful spirit of their deceased classmate. Through webcam footage, Facebook posts, Chatroulette videos, and other online mediums, the action in this film is played out on a laptop screen. Although Unfriended is an effective horror film, the reliance on genuine online platforms to tell the story has quickly dated the film. Six years after its release; Facebook is still popular, but the demographic of Facebook users has dramatically shifted away from teenagers, and the once-popular Chatroulette has faded into cultural obscurity. - 78 -
Many of these social-media-based horror films tell quite conventional, reactionary revenge narratives; in Unfriended, the protagonists are the architects of their own demise because they were cyberbullies, in Host they mocked spirits, and in Take This Lollipop they shared their data with Facebook. The internet technologies in these films are treated similarly to the electrical power grids in Pulse (1988) or Shocker, a kind of neutral vessel that can be hijacked by sinister forces. They work as contemporary cautionary tales, with responsibility weighted heavily towards the individuals using these online platforms, with little attention to the structure of the platforms themselves. Social media is treated as a neutral thing that individuals decide to use in positive or negative ways - yet, in reality, technology is rarely ever neutral. A horror film that is cognizant of the politics of technological design is Cam (Daniel Goldhaber & Isa Mazzei, 2018, USA). Cam is the story of Alice Ackerman; a cam girl working on a pay-per-view website, who has her identity stolen by a digital doppelgänger. This digital doppelgänger is revealed to be the result of an antagonistic algorithm; based on Alice’s online persona and previous video uploads, the algorithm can generate new online content without the need for the real-life Alice. The algorithm is also able to perform a kind of digital necromancy, as Alice discovers the algorithm publishing new video content assembled from the likeness of a deceased cam girl. The main goal of the algorithm is to gain views and subscribers, as this ultimately translates into money. Cam makes no moral judgment on Alice and her profession – screenwriter Mazzei drew from her own experience as a cam girl for the story – depicting the pitfalls of her work as not unique to sex work, but due to the exploitation inherent to precarious gendered labour. Unlike other social media horrors, the film does not punish Alice for working as a cam girl, but problematises the severe power imbalance between the website and its content creators. The villain of this narrative is the fundamental sinister design of the pay-per-view website; this design prioritises capital above human life, and extracts labour long after with little regard for the individual. As we move through this pandemic and are urged to stay home, more and more parts of our lives now entirely play out on the internet; home-schooling, online classes, working from home (and horror film festivals). The internet has cemented itself as a crucial resource. Horror cinema will no doubt help us work through our collective fears of what this new period might bring, yet it is difficult to say whether platformspecific conventional horror films like Host will survive outside of this immediate moment. As the internet is increasingly entangled in our lives, horror films that examine issues of agency and neutrality—like Cam—are necessary because they expose the assumptions at the core of our understanding of technology.
Ami Nisa is a PhD researcher on found-footage horror film at Northumbria University. Although One Missed Call and the latter Pulse have an unmistakable cultural specificity to Japan, they have a thematic universality as both films were successfully remade for American audiences with little change to their central storylines (One Missed Call, 2008, Eric Valette, USA) (Pulse, 2006, Jim Sonzero, USA). 1
Recent activity on the Take This Lollipop website and YouTube page indicate an updated version may be coming soon. 2
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PETER STEVENSON
ABERTOIR ILLUSTRATOR
Our Abertoir audience are very familiar with your work through all your very distinctive poster artwork. Tell us a little about the man behind the art, how did you decide to pursue a career as an illustrator?
Ross, the illustrator of Horrid Henry and all the David Walliams books. Tony also illustrated children’s fairy tale books, and convinced me I could make a living with a paintbrush. I’ve always balanced my work between illustrating for children, and writing books of dark fairy tales for grown ups, including a collection of weird folk tales from Ceredigion.
I think illustration chose me. I was making my own illustrated books when I was 4, just from folding and cutting a sheet of paper to make 8 or 16 pages. And I loved the darkness of fairy tales from a young age, so it felt quite natural to illustrate them. It soon became clear that art college was the only option, despite everyone telling me I’d never make a living. Back then, as now, I was influenced by illustrators and writers like Mervyn Peake, Tove Jansson, Paula Rego, Arthur Rackham, Angela Carter and film-maker artists like Jan Svankmejer, Lotte Reiniger and Georges Melies, all of whom were rooted in fairy tales. At college I was lucky enough to be taught by Tony
Not only in Wales, but all across the world, you’ve also got a successful career as a storyteller. For you, what makes you so passionate about this artform? Storytelling is at the root of it all. I loved listening to the old storytellers when I was a kid, there’s something about the immediacy and spontaneity of it, remembering the tale you’ve heard and finding your own words to tell it to someone else. We’re lucky enough - 80 -
to have a wonderful tradition of oral storytelling here in Wales, mostly in the Welsh language, that’s funny and scary at the same time. There was an old belief in Wales that when you meet someone for the first time, you tell them a story, then they tell one back, and only after three days of storytelling do you ask them how they are.
based on the visual appearance of the posters for the films you are showing during the festival. Usually, an hour later we have a rough pencil sketch which I then work up into a more finished drawing that I send to you. We then pass it to and fro until we arrive at the final image. It’s very much a collaborative effort, at least until I start painting.
Storytelling and illustration are two aspects of the same art form for me. In a book, the illustrations complement the written words, while in storytelling I use images to complement the spoken words. There’s a Japanese tradition of kamishibai that developed in Osaka and other cities in the 1930s where the storytellers rode round on bicycles and told tales in the street whicle showing hundreds of drawings in a box made to look like a toy theatre. The style of the kamishibai artists developed into manga and anime. And I use crankies, a tradition from Appalachia, of a great long illustrated scroll that’s wound through a large wooden frame while a story is told. These images are a universal language.
Illustrating for a horror festival is part of storytelling for me. Those old Universal horrors in the 1930s were all based on oral folk tales of vampires and werewolves and monsters collected by madcap 19th Century folklorists. We had those oral stories here in Wales too. Though Welsh vampires tended to live in furniture and bit you while you were asleep. And we have plenty of werewolf tales. I’ve just written and illustrated a graphic novel called Wolf-girl Comes to Wales, which is based on old Welsh and Cherokee folk tales and follows a wolfgirl as she leaves America.
How long have you lived in Wales and, given that your storytelling brings you all over the world, what keeps you rooted in Aberystwyth?
Designing the poster for Abertoir is a yearly headache for you. You get thrown random images in no particular order and begged to make magic – how difficult is it dealing with us compared to your other work?
I’ve lived in Wales most of my life, originally on Pen Llŷn. After I finished my studies, I settled in Aber over thirty years ago. I love the mixture of culture and landscape and people here, which is the root of all my stories. People stop me in the street and tell me tales, and I have the National Library and Ceredigion Museum here for research, and of course the best Arts Centre in the land for performing the shows. My work then spreads out across the world.
Well, I’m not just saying this to get in your good books, Gaz, but working with Abertoir is always a pleasure. It pulls together my love of illustration and folklore and of course Vincent Price. We’ve developed a very informal way of working, which I like. You and I both prefer conversation to electronic communication, so we sit down over a coffee at the Arts Centre and I draw while you describe your ideas, often
Only last year I carried an exhibition - 81 -
of Welsh folk art from here to an arts centre in an old Welsh settlement city, Morgantown in West Virginia. And then I went to New Zealand to tell stories of the tylwyth teg (the Welsh fairies) in a Māori meeting house. Storytelling is part of an international community, but it all starts here. Without Wales I’d be living in a house without a foundation.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination with illustrations by the Irish artist Harry Clarke. Vincent’s voice curls around the sound of the words. And hey, the film has Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff playing sorcerers. What’s not to love? I’ve been brought up in a culture of the dynion hysbys, conjurers, cunning men, who make potions and spells to cure, charm and curse. I’ve written about these characters and done paintings and portraits of them. They are the root of the characters in The Raven. And just to finish, what a treat it was to hear Victoria Price talk about her father’s love of art and how he saved all his pocket money to buy engravings and etchings. What a man.
Finally, you’re always being asked to draw Vincent! Purely out of curiosity, what’s your favourite Vincent Price movie? Oh, it has to be The Raven. Vincent was born to be the voice of Poe. I’ve loved Poe ever since I was given a copy of
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THE SOLITARY SANDS A SHORT STORY BY CALLUM McKELVIE I came up with the idea of The Solitary Sands way back in April during Lockdown. When it came time to find a piece for the Abertoir brochure it seemed like a natural fit. However, as I prepare to celebrate Abertoir alone - it’s pretty obvious to see where some of the themes may have emerged. Don’t think of this as a sad little story. Think of it as what all horror is and should be: catharsis, a genre through which we can expunge and explore our worst fears yet have fun doing so. I hope you enjoy - CM *** Jack stood alone, with nothing but the sand and the setting sun surrounding him. As the night approached and another day of emptiness came to an end, the sky became a fiery crimson. In the distance, the jagged, angular rocks of the Carizo Badlands cast eerie shadows against a ruby horizon. Jack wiped his brow. His face was hot and already the skin was starting to crisp. The sweat had dried and a thick coating of sand and dirt made his stubble itch. The Anza Borrego. - 84 -
The largest state park in California, the Borrego was slap bang in the middle of the Colorado Desert and consumed one fifth of San Diego county. It could burn you up in the day and freeze you at night. If you sheltered in its rocks, the creatures that lived there would bite without a moment’s hesitation. If you were lucky, you’d just get a small scar, if not…well you’d know about it. And there was something else here. Something Jack didn’t want to think about. The distant roar of an engine, drew his attention and he watched as the Sherriff’s jeep pulled away from the Badlands and headed back towards town. Evidently, the search had been fruitless. Jack trudged up to his truck and got in, he didn’t want to be here when night fell. But as he pulled away, he made the mistake of glancing back out towards the rocks and for the briefest of seconds saw something pink and red limp awkwardly among them, its body wet and shiny. - 85 -
Jack’s hands gripped the wheel and fresh sweat poured from his brow.
figure of which he spoke. “Camping in the Borrego,” he continued.
***
“Picked a good night for it. Weather’s clear,” Jack mused. “There ain’t never a good night for it,” Jeff replied. Everyone knew he hated the place and seemed to think it hated him too.
It was two nights prior that Jack had first met the cherubic young man with the dark eyes, in the place where everyone met anyone - in Jeff’s bar.
Jack considered briefly questioning this remark then wisely thought against it. Despite five years in residence it had been made abundantly clear to him that he was the outsider here, it didn’t do well to ask questions.
For a watering hole in the middle of nowhere, Jeff’s was a pretty typical establishment. Well-worn bar stools lined a chipped and battered bar, whilst cheap ‘Americana’ (tin-road signs, faded prints and an old guitar) hung on the walls. Dust covered bulbs gave off little light and the air was filled with the stench of nicotine and mildew. And always, proudly serving customers, was Jeff himself.
*** It was later that night that the events which would lead to the Stranger’s disappearance were set into motion.
his
Jack had sat and drank his beer in silence as he always did before heading home to a relatively unpleasant meal of beans and stale (just about toasted) bread. Now, it was eleven and he stood smoking a cheap cigarette on the porch. The town was quiet and still, only the distant howl of coyotes and the chirp of crickets emanating from the vast wastes of the Borrego could be heard.
Six feet tall with a stomach almost as wide, Jeff was as stereotypical as his establishment. A coarse grey beard lined his face, merging into a mane of even coarser hair, upon which sat a red trucker hat. Every night Jack would enter Jeff’s bar and there he would be, with the same old faces surrounding him.
But the stillness was broken as the door to Jeff’s Bar was thrown open and a small figure was hurled violently into the street.
Except the night that the little Englishman sat alone in the corner. The Stranger couldn’t have stuck out more if he tried. Short, slim and in his mid-twenties, he was a complete physical contrast to the sea of broad bellies and greying beards. Instead of greasy, sand matted hair, the young man wore a veritable plume of golden curls.
For a moment, Jack saw Jeff’s large form silhouetted imperiously and heard the low threatening rumble of his voice. Then he was gone and the Stranger was alone. With a sad shake of his head, Jack approached the Englishman and introduced himself.
“New face huh Jeff?” Jack said, balancing himself atop his usual stool.
“Got a rough reception huh?” He asked, helping the smaller man to his feet.
“English fella,” Jeff responded, polishing an already shining glass and pointing his two beady eyes directly at the petite
The Englishman dusted himself off; - 86 -
“People don’t like strangers. People especially don’t like strangers that ask questions.” It was a simple statement; he expected or desired no sympathy. Jack liked that.
“Wait!” Jack called after him. “What do you want out there anyway?!” The Stranger turned and once again Jack felt the steel blue orbs looking deep into him. He uttered a simple word, before strutting off into the distance.
“Preaching to the converted brother.” His response caught the Stranger’s attention, who looked him up and down, playing the words over in his head.
“The Spectre.” And Jack was alone with the night.
“You’re not from here?”
A sudden stillness filled the air. The sounds of the crickets and coyotes were gone. Not even the wind broke the deathly stillness. Shivering a little, Jack walked quickly home. As he went, the large figure of Jeff stepped out into the darkness and watched him go.
Evidently, Jack’s Louisiana drawl had finally been noticed. Jack shook his head; “Moved here some five years ago. Got a job in the garage and stayed ever since.” The deep blue eyes of the stranger narrowed. “You know the area?”
*** The sun was setting as Jack loaded his truck at dusk that Friday. Not that there was much to pack, they would sleep under the stars, all the better to keep a watch - just in case.
Jack shrugged. “Well enough, I guess.” “How about the Borrego?” This caused Jack to pause a moment. Rarely did a local talk of the Borrego much after dark.
Jack let that last thought hang for a moment. Just in case? What was it they would see? Hell, what was it they were even looking for?
“Well enough I guess…” “Fifty Dollars.” The words were direct, the offer quick and to the point.
Jack had been around a bit. Never one to settle down, he’d travelled far and wide and every little border town, forgotten backwood and bayou had had a story to tell. Legends, spoken of in strange, frightened whispers. Superstitions - but none quite like those of the Borrego.
“What?” “Fifty Dollars. I need a guide, to show me the Badlands.” The Stranger’s words were hurried now, his eyes glancing at the imposing figure in the window of Jeff’s Bar.
And none like the Spectre. Five years in residence or not, Jack was painfully aware of his position as an outsider. He drank alone, worked alone and was only spoken to when necessary. As such he had been tortured and teased by a selection of tantalising hints before he was able to obtain the entire legend of the Spectre.
“The Badlands? What the hell do you wanna go there for?” “I’ll pay cash. If you’re interested meet me here at eight on Friday.” And suddenly the Englishman was heading into the distance. - 87 -
“Gotta remember boy, back in the old days, out there was prospecting country,” old Bob Williams had begun on a night like any other in Jeff’s bar. “Pegleg Smith’s days, when folk come near and far hunting for Gold.”
empty waste. Few who’d even talk of the Borrego once the sun had set. Few who’d talk of the Spectre when it hadn’t.
Perhaps the description was intended to be evocative or quaint but Jack struggled to suppress a grin, the several beers he had consumed up to that point not helping.
Sure, they’d trade with him, say good morning but there was Borrego and there was ‘Not-Borrego’. Jack’s scorn had forever marked him as ‘NotBorrego’.
“Well one night, one such old dog pitches his tent out by the Badlands, ties his horses and settles down,” Williams continued.
***
Jack’s laughter had been his biggest mistake.
Jack met the Stranger as arranged and drove them out into the waiting desert. It was nine thirty before they were finally able to sit and enjoy the simple meal that Jack had prepared. They pitched camp some few hundred yards from the Badlands, finding a relatively soft patch of sand upon which to make their beds. This they had done in silence and the task of making a fire had been completed in much the same fashion.
“At midnight, he wakes up and sees some fella out there in the darkness, shining a light. Fearin’ he’s after his horses he creeps out for a closer look.” Silence had fallen in the bar now, Williams’ wheezing tones all that could be heard. “Out there in the Badlands…hobbling and limping…looking for something… he saw it. A man but not quite a man, darting over the rocks. A man with no skin and no flesh just clean white bones picking his way among the boulders.”
But it was now, as they rested having eaten, that Jack felt compelled to question his companion. “Mister…I’ve gotta ask…what the hell you doing out here looking for the Spectre?”
Much to old Williams’ dismay Jack had roared with laughter.
The Stranger smiled softly for a moment and lent back against a rock. Taking a swig from one of the beers they had brought with them, he said:
In the years following this event, he’d managed to discover that most of the townsfolk believed it to be the ghost of a prospector, hunting for the supposed ‘Phantom Mine’.
“Why do you think people believe in heaven, Jack?” Surprised, Jack pondered the question, then shrugged: “Cos they’re afraid to die?”
A lantern carrying Skeleton? That was it? Phantom Mines and ghostly apparitions? It was no better than the stories of the Rougarou back home.
Evidently it was not the response his companion had been searching for, as the stranger shook his head.
Yet for some reason, in the dark of the night when the Townsfolk headed home to their beds - Jack found few of them willing to glance over at the vast
Jack tried again: “Cos they can’t bear losing folks. They wanna see them - 88 -
again.”
true horror of his companion’s quest dawned on him.
Now a smile began to creep across the Strangers’ mouth. “And why might that be Jack?” he spoke like a teacher to a pupil.
“So you’ve dragged yourself out here looking for the ghost of some old prospector? Christ, where else have you been? How long have you been-”
The arrogance of his companions’ tone caused Jack to flush. “Hell, I don’t know. Why’s it matter anyway?”.
But the steel blue eyes were on him now and boring into his soul. He had said enough. Jack found himself catching his words as the cherubic face glared at him with a ferocity that made his skin prickle. Out in the distance, a Coyote howled.
The Stranger leaned forward, the flames casting a glow that transformed his cherubic features into something hellish. “Because they can’t bear the thought of being alone. Can’t bear the fear that, when their few short years are over, they’ll be cast into the dark like everyone else. Every friend they treasured, every love they felt – will have meant nothing. They’ll be alone again.”
The Stranger sat back and raised his bottle to his lips. “Get some sleep, I’ll take first watch.” *** Jack awoke to the light of a lantern.
The Stranger repositioned himself against the rock, the darkness around them seemed a little thicker now.
Groggily, he forced his eyes open. The gentle breeze had blown sand over the lids and he spent some moments clearing them. When he had, he saw that the fire was out and the moon hung high in the sky. He checked his watch after midnight.
“Loneliness Jack, worst feeling of all. We both know that.” Jack watched his companion as he sipped at his beer and looked out into the wastes. “You’ve lost someone haven’t ya? Someone close?” He asked softly.
The Stranger’s bed was empty. Jack looked out towards the Badlands and saw a faint glow, moving and bobbing among the rocks. The motions were awkward and the light shook and wobbled. It was a strange, eerie light. Deep, dark and emerald, it cast uncanny shadows and Jack could not be fully sure that he wasn’t dreaming.
The Stranger said nothing but cast his eyes down, his golden curls shining in the light of the flames. “That’s why you’re here ain’t it? Hunting spooks? You’ve gotta know ain’t ya? If this is the end…or if there’s something else?”
Then he saw the figure and knew he was awake.
Jack thought of all the little towns he’d visited, all the legends and ghost stories he’d heard. He thought of the Strangers’ accent. He thought of this little Englishman half way across the world looking for phantoms and the
It was tall, at least some six feet and moved with a strange gait, not as if its legs were broken but almost as though it was still learning how to walk. It hobbled and stumbled among the - 89 -
rocks, the light shining brilliantly off its sand bleached bones. The head turned and Jack felt his stomach churn as the empty sockets and rows of teeth grinned into the night.
That horrifying, joy filled, innocent laugh of a child. *** It was nearing three am by the time Jack left the Sheriff and stumbled down the high street. The night sky was peppered with stars and only the sound of the crickets and his thoughts accompanied him.
The Spectre. Jack quietly rolled out of his sleeping bag and shuffled across the sand. Where the hell was the Stranger? Had he run off? Left Jack alone?
He said only that he’d awoke to find the Stranger gone. He didn’t mention the thing. Didn’t mention the screams.
Then he saw him, the slim form stood defiantly in the thing’s path. The Stranger’s eyes were a mixture of awe and horror as he watched the creature he so desperately sought.
As Jack approached the edge of town, he became aware of a faint glow. Momentarily, his heart skipped a beat and he thought of the limping thing and its unnatural emerald light. Yet, as he came closer, he saw old Jeff, seated on the porch outside his bar, an open beer in his hand. A lit lantern swinging gently from the rafters.
As the Spectre’s gaze met the Stranger’s, the skull seemed to glow with an even brighter light than before. The two empty sockets blazed and the rows of white, crooked teeth broke into an obscene parody of a smile. With a speed it previously lacked, the Spectre lumbered towards the Stranger and Jack watched helplessly as the grinning thing moved ecstatically to touch the small, quaking form.
The empty chair and bucket full of beers made the invitation clear. “How you feeling Jack?” the gruff voice asked quietly, with a gentle inflection Jack had not known it possessed.
For a moment, both faced each other. Boy and beast. Then Jack watched in utter terror as long bony fingers sunk into soft, pale flesh.
“Felt better,” he responded, slumping down into the chair and reaching for a bottle. For a while, neither spoke and the two men were alone with the sounds of the wind and the crickets. Fireflies danced around the lantern.
The Stranger let out a scream of anguish as crimson stained the sand. Jack ran into the darkness, his body slamming into the side of his truck. Climbing in, he fumbled with the key, desperately seeking the ignition. The engine roared into life and Jack slammed his foot on the accelerator.
“You saw it didn’t you?” the old man said, his gaze directed out across the desert. Jack said nothing, his silence all the response Jeff needed.
The screams got further and further away until Jack was left only with the sound of his own sobbing. The Stranger’s screams and the Spectre’s laugh rang in his ears.
“I seen it too ya know,” Jeff began. ”Back when I was just a young-un. Got lost way out there one night. Had half the town - 90 -
lookin’ for me, whilst I holed myself up near Superstition Hills and waited to be found. That was when I saw it, limping and a giggling across the rocks.”
“Then one night, back in the old days, there’s some prospector sleeping under the stars. This thing…this thing finds him…and it…”
Suddenly the huge body turned and faced Jack, the grizzled face staring deep into his own.
The old man’s voice trembled. ”It takes his bones…” “It ain’t out there hunting for no phantom mine,” Jeff continued “It ain’t no soul back from the dead. It’s out there looking for a body, Jack. It wants to be like us and whatever it is…it’s got itself a nice set of bones…and now...”
“And if you seen it too Jack, if you’ve heard it…you know it ain’t no prospectors ghost.” Jeff’s words rattled Jack. He felt a cold sweat form on his brow as a gust of wind caused the lantern to sway and the rafters to creak.
Jeff leaned towards Jack and as he spoke, the night air fell deathly still.
“Well for Christ’s sake then Jeff…what the hell is it?” Jack responded.
“It might just try and find itself a skin…” ***
The old man leant back in his chair and gulped at his beer. “Desert’s old Jack. So very old…and how many people do you thinks been living in it? Odd ranch hand sure, odd crazy person too but no one who stays for long and not near the Badlands. Prospectors and travellers, that’s all. Lonely place.” Jeff’s eyes met the horizon and he looked out towards the Borrego.
The next day, as he drove out of the desert following the failed search for the little Englishman, Jack tried not to think about the old man’s words. Tried not to think of the pink and red thing shambling through the rocks. “It might just try and find itself a skin.” He remembered the Stranger and the Spectre, the cold light of the desert moon as they faced each other. One searching for death, the other searching for life. Different, but the same. Both alone.
“Places, like that,” the old man continued “they ain’t like other places. Other places change, get buildings put on them, people, even cities. Deserts stay empty and dead…except…”
The next day, hidden amongst the rocks of the Badlands, they would find the body of the Stranger. The flesh torn from the bones.
Jeff suddenly swigged his beer again, more violently this time. His hands shook, causing some to splash down his front.
***
‘What if…what if there was something… growing out there…maybe from the desert itself, from all the loneliness, the emptiness…and it sees us with our little lives and gets jealous…”
The Solitary Sands and all characters and concepts created within are the property of the author. Full copyright remains with the author and no section may be reproduced without their express permission. For contact details and news of the authors other work, please visit: https://calcarcosa. wixsite.com/website.
Jack felt himself get suddenly cold, despite the warm night air. - 91 -
HORRIFIC WOMEN MARCELLA REES-GRAY The horror genre has always had an interesting relationship with the representation of women, be it exploitative of women in some ways or empowering in others. While this debate continues today, there is more to think about in considering horror films directed by women. Female directors will face a lot more criticism on the basis of their gender. With horror being such a controversial genre when involving women - whether that be as directors, actors, characters or even spectators - I wanted to consider
some recurring themes from female perspectives of female experiences. Women have been directing horror films for decades. It is important to remember that a film directed by a woman does not automatically mean it is free from facing feminist criticism, but it can still offer a nuanced perspective often unrecognised in the genre. Sexuality is a complicated and often fluid concept that is explored in - 92 -
many horror films and often has an overarching role in films directed by women. Metaphors for sexuality are often used to present anything sexual as negative. This can be dependent on the type of gaze that the spectator is invited to share. On its release, Jennifer’s Body (2009) was considered to pander to the male gaze, however more recently it has been labelled a ‘cult bisexual’ film with progressive themes of sexuality.
Stephen King’s Carrie, directed by Kimberly Peirce. Whether through her discovering her telekinetic powers or her getting her period, the imagery used in the film represents the specific experience of coming of age. Carrie is continuously shamed for her femininity by her obsessively religious mother or the girls in her school. When she finally embraces her womanhood, she becomes an empowered character despite her questionable acts of violence. The overall feeling is that of a woman reclaiming the parts of her that society aims to criticise.
One of the interesting ways in which this film explores sexuality for women is through a scene that is considered a metaphor for rape, when Jennifer is sacrificed to the devil by a band of men in return for fame. The scene is brutal and while the plot is not bound by realism, the idea of Jennifer being held against her will and physically assaulted by men who have a lot of influence is all too real. It is a way to view the idea that trauma, particularly for women who have been violated, can impact their future actions and the way they are viewed, as seen in Jennifer’s character throughout the movie.
Similar to Raw, this idea of something considered taboo is a part of becoming a woman and the reaction we have to it decides the type of women we become. For me, when a woman directs a film it feels more authentic to a personal view of ourselves. Approaching female experiences in a horror film lensed by a woman is important to consider regardless of the film’s surface content. It is also exciting to embark on something meaningful in such a horrific way. The film industry as a whole has too few female directors in comparison to their male counterparts, but with horror being a genre that brings so many different people together it is arguably more crucial to give recognition to the female directors in the genre and the way they represent female experiences.
Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016) follows a vegetarian veterinary student who goes to college and develops a craving for flesh following a gruesome hazing ritual. The horror genre commonly uses hunger as a way of representing sexual lust so this idea of the main character, Justine, craving flesh acts as a symbol for her sexual awakening. It is graphically portrayed as something violent, and not often associated with female characters, lending to it a particular perspective through a female lens.
Marcella Rees-Gray is an undergraduate student of Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University
The idea of ‘coming of age’ is something we see in many horror films with female protagonists. Take for instance, the 2013 remake of - 93 -
SONIA BIBLE
DIRECTOR, THE WITCH OF KINGS CROSS
The Abertoir programming team were truly invigorated when they saw The Witch of Kings Cross, learning about a fascinating and over-looked character in occultism and art history. We’re grateful to the documentary’s director Sonia Bible for revealing a little more into the process of making the film and the incredible Rosaleen Norton. Sonia, what an incredible subject you’ve found in Rosaleen Norton! I’m so grateful to have learned about her from your film – though a little annoyed at myself for not knowing about her sooner! I wonder if you can tell us a little about how and when you first discovered her story?
She wasn’t supported by the art world in Australia and still isn’t actually, so noone helped her exhibit internationally. She was creating visionary art at a time when surrealism was hot property in Europe and the USA, but she was never included in any of the exhibitions in Australia.
I discovered Rosaleen Norton’s story when I was making my first film, Recipe For Murder, about women who poisoned their husbands with rat poison in Sydney in the 1950s. I was reading books about bizarre crimes and researching tabloid newspapers from the 1950s, and articles about Rosaleen kept popping up. After completing Recipe For Murder, I decided that I wanted to make a feature documentary for international film festivals, so researching more about Rosaleen Norton seemed like a good place to start.
Another reason is that it’s very difficult to access her work. Most of the artworks are held in private collections, many in the USA, so the public just haven’t had the chance to see it. No major galleries in Australia own any of her work. It took me over two years to unearth two major private collections, and document the art, so the film is like a moving exhibition. The dance sequences are wonderful additions to the film. What was the process of finding a choreographer and then casting the right dancers – especially Kate Elizabeth Laxton in the pivotal role?
I suppose it’s obvious really, but why do you think Norton isn’t better known? Is there any particular insight you have after getting to know her story so deeply?
Finding choreographer Maya Sheridan happened as a chance meeting through an old work colleague. She had asked to meet with me because her partner was thinking about making a documentary about 80s breakdancing. I went along, had a chat about documentary filmmaking to
There are many reasons why Norton isn’t better known, but I think the main reason is that it was hard for her to reach an international audience for her work. When the book The Art of Rosaleen Norton was banned in Australia in 1952, customs prevented the book from being posted overseas. - 94 -
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her husband and then asked her about her dance school and choreography, and it went from there.
and society’s fear around what she represented. Over time, the art really grew on me. The more I learned about the symbolism and philosophy behind the art, the more I loved and respected the work.
Maya Sheridan played a major role in the casting of the dancers because I didn’t want to put a call out and get inundated with applications. I only wanted to audition two or three dancers for each role. Being a oneperson production, I had no assistants or administration support, so I had to keep the processes simple. Maya sourced dancers from her network and we were very happy with the team that we selected.
I did a lot of background research into Greek and Pagan mythology, the teachings of The Kabbalah and Aleister Crowley. Although, for me, it was the philosophies of Carl Jung that really helped my understanding. I took a six-week class at Sydney University in Carl Jung and Alchemy, at a time when I was stuck with the film.
I found Kate Elizabeth Laxton by putting a call out on the main casting website only two weeks before the shoot. I originally had another actress lined up, but she fell through at the last minute. I was super stressed and had almost given up, when Kate’s agent called me and said they thought she looked like Rosaleen. I met Kate in a café, offered her the role on the spot and said, ‘by the way can you come to a rehearsal with the dancers tomorrow!’
Ultimately, the making of the film has been a spiritual journey and a time of great personal growth for me. I am not the same person as I was seven years ago. I value different things now. I am less concerned about people rejecting my work as a filmmaker. I know it has been created from the heart and that is all that matters. Finally, it seems to me that Norton’s brand of witchcraft is ripe for a revival – do you hope people might take a little of Rosaleen with them after seeing the film?
We all had a lot of fun in the dance rehearsals and Maya helped create an intimate, safe and trusting environment for the team.
Absolutely yes. I think every individual resonates with something different in the film. Whether it’s witchcraft, paganism, visionary art, philosophy, feminism, humour, sexuality, or simply having the will to do what you want with your life; I hope there is something for everyone.
I wonder if before embarking on the film you had any personal interest or involvement in witchcraft or occultism? And if by the end of the process of making the film you’ve found yourself seduced by Norton’s worldview? Before making the film, I had never had any involvement with witchcraft or occultism, beyond getting my tarot cards read and practising yoga. The story attracted me because I was interested in the outsider story, the media’s portrayal of Rosaleen,
Huge thanks to Sonia for her time and her insights – and for bringing Rosaleen Norton’s story to life. You can see The Witch of Kings Cross on Friday.
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ABERTOIR GRINDHOUSE COFFEE AVAILABLE FOR DELIVERY UK-WIDE 01970 612888
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SIDHARTH SRINIVASAN WRITER/DIRECTOR, KRIYA
We’re proud this year to present the European premiere of Indian horror film Kriya as part of the Abertoir 2020 line-up. Writer and director Sidharth Srinivasan was kind enough to answer a few questions about the film for us, and explains that the horror of Kriya is indeed distinctively Indian. Thanks so much for your time, Sidharth! I wonder if we might start from the beginning – please tell us a little more about the ritual that is central to the film. Was this the starting point of the story for you?
diktat that only a son or male relative must officiate a parent’s death. These beliefs called into question the role played by the most sacrosanct of Indian entities – the family - and its constant struggle with tradition and modernity.
I have always been fascinated by depictions of ritualism in cinema, be it The Devil Rides Out, The Wicker Man, or, more recently, The Wailing. In this regard, I have a particular fascination for Japanese cinema. Kobayashi’s Hara Kiri immediately comes to mind as does Nagisa Oshima’s iconic film Gishiki (The Ceremony) which left a lasting imprint on me as it lacerated Japanese traditionalism with surreal social critique.
In fact, the rituals brought into focus a surge of emotions I was forced to confront – the fear of losing a loved one, the regression to superstition as a crutch to cope with loss and the crushing faith in patriarchal customs and practices – blinding both men and women with the reassurance of social sanction. Funerary practices in India vary from region to region, community to community, but I focused on certain common features and customs, and subverted them for narrative purposes. What is depicted on-screen is loosely based on fact but - being a ‘black funeral’ - it is entirely a figment of my imagination.
The ritual at the heart of Kriya was very much the starting point for my film (‘Kriya’ loosely translates to last rites). My creative instincts were stirred, in particular, by the funeral ceremony of someone known to me – a revered upper-caste family man. Not having attended many such rituals, the elaborate last rites were an eyeopener which gave me no succor but left me profoundly disturbed instead, and were to eventually serve as the genesis for the story.
Your film explores matters of caste and of traditionally gendered roles, is there anything in particular that made you want to explore this? Kriya was born out of an acutely personal reaction to what is happening in my country, where religious fundamentalism and chauvinistic persecution are ripping India apart (the recent Hathras gang-rape of a Dalit girl by upper-caste men and its subsequent
Attending these ceremonies, I came face-to-face with long-entrenched Indian themes such as the desire for a male offspring, the belief in widow self-immolation on the husband’s funeral pyre (‘sati’) and the sacred - 98 -
cover-up by the administration is a glaring example). I felt compelled to creatively explore my sense of discomfort, both as a Hindu and as a male, but I wanted to do this in an altogether iconoclastic fashion, not as a privileged filmmaker looking down paternalistically from his ivory tower through the prism of social realism. The intention was not to be didactic or on the nose, but to be subversive and rattle the cage.
him in other corners of the world. The descendants of the original owner, a respected Muslim gentleman, currently occupy the bungalow, one joint family on the first floor and the other family on the ground floor. My brief to my location manager was simple – I wanted a ghost house – the stuff of gothic tales and Ramsay Brothers films. It was make or break, if we couldn’t get the right location Kriya could never happen. The solution was a no-brainer – Peeli Kothi alone fit the bill and had also served as a shoot location in the past - but there was a massive catch nobody had factored in. Apparently, there was a property dispute between the first and ground floor and we were caught smack in the middle of it. To make matters worse, the head of the ground floor family, a voice of reason who had promised to convince the upstairs people, departed for Mecca on Hajj!
I like to think of Kriya as a reinvention of the social drama, a twisted genreinflected tale which sets out to subvert the sanctity of the Indian family and ritual tradition, exposing their inherent patriarchy and debasement of women. What was filming like – how did you come across such an incredible location? Filming Kriya was incredibly heady, almost akin to an out of body experience. We shot the film in just 10 nights and the entire cast and crew were totally invested in the script and worked like a well-oiled machine. We were hell-bent on getting the film in the can on schedule, sans compromise, which we somehow managed, don’t ask me how! I don’t think I could ever do it again but having said that the intensity of the shoot permeated every frame of the film, creating a sense of urgency and claustrophobia which extra budget alone could never achieve.
With barely a month to go and no assurance of getting the location, me and my 1st AD went on a recce of the city, scouring every inch of old and new Delhi. We must have checked out close to 50 bungalows during that period, some good, most indifferent, but none came even remotely close to Peeli Kothi. The few times we came close to securing a location, the deal fell through for one reason or another and I was on the verge of postponing the shoot indefinitely, as a lot on money had already been spent.
The house that served as the central location for the film is called Peeli Kothi (‘The Yellow Mansion’) and is a heritage structure constructed during the Raj as a bequest by the Viceroy to one of his loyal Indian officials. Apparently, it was designed and constructed by a British architect and there are two other similar commissioned structures by
Finally, with barely days to go, my location manager Nagar swung into action and pushed the head of the family – I am eternally grateful to his power of persuasion - who had just returned from Mecca. Miraculously, the warring families buried the hatchet and agreed to let us shoot on their premises. But there was yet another - 100 -
catch…
I can’t wait to get a reaction from the great unwashed. It should be rather interesting as I’m sure they haven’t seen anything even remotely like Kriya before.
The entire film was shot while the bungalow, believe it or not, was occupied. We would dress and light up one room and wrap all scenes in it, while the occupants would temporarily relocate themselves in other rooms and so on. There were a lot of doubts voiced about this but having finally secured my dream location I threw caution to the wind and took the plunge. Thankfully, both joint families were super cooperative and accommodating and ensured principle photography was smooth. Truth be told, I think even they relished having a film crew over as house guests, some excitement in life…
What do you hope that international audiences take from your film? Social commentary aside, I hope that international audiences can appreciate an arthouse horror film deeply rooted in another culture, sans zombies or vampires or other generic tropes. Many Western viewers have totally got the social critique and confrontational gender politics of the story but expressed ignorance about the meaning of the rituals depicted onscreen. In response to them, I just want to echo what Tara Devi, the matriarch’s character in the film says – “Rituals are not to be understood. They are to be followed”.
Has the film screened in India? What has the reaction been like? Nope, the film hasn’t screened in India yet. Though I’ve been approached by a couple of festivals here, Indian films require censor certification or ministry clearance to be screened domestically and we haven’t secured that yet. We’re still figuring out how to share the film with an Indian audience.
Tremendous thanks to Sidharth for his time. You can experience Kriya for yourself on Thursday. - 101 -
BLEED WITH ME
AMELIA MOSES, WRITER/DIRECTOR LEE MARSHALL, PRODUCER/ACTOR LAUREN BEATTY, ACTOR Bleed With Me is a striking film about vulnerability and paranoia. Three of the key players involved – writer/director Amelia Moses, producer/actor Lee Marshall and actor Lauren Beatty – kindly spoke to us about the story behind the film. Amelia, you’ve made waves in the horror scene with your short films in recent years. What was it like approaching your debut feature – did you face any new challenges?
skew that into a more twisted story what if someone created a narrative that their friend who they idealize is actually a monster. Even though Bleed With Me is a horror film, I wanted the dynamics between the characters to feel real and grounded. I find interpersonal dynamics really fascinating so there were specific things in terms of female friendships that I wanted to examine. Female friendships can have a certain intensity to them; they can be oddly both loving and strained at the same time.
Amelia: I think when you’re directing a short, you can kind of visualize the whole thing at once but with a longer form project it’s difficult to have that macro view. So, I was very aware of that going into the shoot; I was worried about how the film would all fit together. The biggest thing I learnt from my short was to trust myself and follow my instincts, so I tried my best to bring that same approach to the feature. Of course, there were budget and logistical challenges as well but that’s just filmmaking!
The performances in the film are stunning – Amelia, did you provide any particular guidance in how to approach the characters or, Lee and Lauren, did it all come from you? What was the process?
Bleed With Me feels like such an intimate and personal story, in many ways. I wonder where the inspiration for this story and these relationships came from?
Amelia: It was definitely a big collaboration. The characters are quite ambiguous in a lot of ways so I let Lee and Lauren bring their own insights into their characters as well. During the rehearsals we talked a lot about the dynamics and tried to look at the nuances in the characters. Because the film is told entirely from Rowan’s point of view, I especially let Lauren make a lot of her own decisions regarding Emily. She’s an enigma to Rowan so
Amelia: I think the main thing that inspired me was something I had observed both in myself and those around me, which is the way we can all project certain narratives onto one another. We believe that certain people around us have it better off; they are happier and more confident. So I was curious to see what would happen to - 103 -
I had to also let her be an enigma to me (and thus to the audience). I was lucky that both Lee and Lauren had a good dynamic because there were a lot of vulnerable scenes between their characters and I think they both trusted each other a lot to allow themselves to be that vulnerable.
develop her from the inside out. What was shooting in the cabin like, especially in such wintry weather? Amelia: The cabin location had its quirks for sure! What you see in the film was very much our experience on set - power outages, snowstorms, etc. The place was quite isolated so I think it helped get the cast and crew into the mood of the film - but it was a nightmare on a logistical level! I’ve done two Canadian winter shoots now and I think I’m done with them!
Lee: Thanks so much! It certainly didn’t all come from me. My performance came out the way it did because we collaborated. Amelia wrote this dark, compelling script - which I loved reading - so she drew a really solid blueprint for my character and she gave me free reign to fill in the details. I really settled into the character when I was in costume, in the cabin, in the scene with Lauren. Rowan really emerged on set. We tried things and in between takes, we’d ask: Is this working? What would work better? We figured it out together.
Lee: The cabin was on a hill, and the stairs up the hill got snowed in so getting to set was an adventure! It was also so cold that the well froze, and we didn’t have running water for the shoot. Plus, the outdoor scenes were very cold: I’m actually barefoot in the snow in a nightgown at one point. That’s real. (The average temperature in February in Quebec is -4C to -13C, and some of the days of our shoot were colder.) But I’d say the weather actually made my job easier as a performer. When it’s that cold, you can’t really second guess yourself: you just need to get the shot!
Lauren: Wow thank you! As both Amelia and Lee mentioned, the process of finding these characters was really collaborative. A lot of things lent themselves to the performances I think - for example, Amelia’s amazingly eerie script really came to life on set in that wintery, isolated cabin. The generosity of both Lee and Aris Tyros as stellar performers made it really hard not to settle into character when they were leading by example - and lastly, Amelia is such a patient and giving director, her style of directing was exactly what we needed. She let us play scenes instinctively and also knew when her input was necessary, which as an actor makes you feel a lot more like an artist than a canvas. She gave me a lot of freedom with Emily as she said, and that was very powerful for me - I got to make a lot of my own decisions about Emily and her backstory that really helped me
Lauren: Oh it was definitely interesting! As I said above, it really lent itself to the atmosphere of the story and the characters though. The entire cast and crew had to get really close since it was such a small space, but that was definitely a gift because everyone started to feel like family. With so many women on set the vibe was already so warm and felt so safe - which was quite the juxtaposition of what was going on outside! My favourite tidbit is that I had a broken leg at the time and had to be brought up and down the hill to set every day in a SLED… It took about 3 people to do it safely. Needless to say, our crew were superheroes! - 104 -
Amelia, you’ve written that you’re not interested in the ‘strong female character’, but rather in flawed female characters, as we see in Bleed With Me. I’d love to hear some further thoughts from the three of you on this…!
and powerful. That being said, even the ‘strong & powerful’ female character has to have some flaws to be relatable. I read a review from someone comparing both Amelia’s recent features (Bleed With Me & Bloodthirsty), and they said both films feature ‘women who are allowed the same capacity for monstrosity as men.’ I fucking (sorry, can we swear?) LOVE that sentence and I couldn’t agree more. There is something SO powerful in that.
Amelia: For me, I think that expression (‘strong female lead’) has lost some of its meaning and I worry that it creates a false sense of female representation. I think it’s important to see female representation across the spectrum of human experience. And, on a personal level, I’m interested in seeing flawed, complex and nuanced female characters. I think there’s a fear that a female lead has to represent all women which is literally impossible, and in turn there’s a fear of creating female characters who are “unlikable”. But we would never discuss male characters that way.
Lee: There’s this really dangerous idea going around that women are innately good, that we are somehow more nurturing, more emotional. Strong female characters embody this dangerous idea: they’re perfectly good and brave (and obviously gorgeous). But perfect is boring. Sometimes unloveable. I don’t want to watch a movie about someone who is perfect, and I certainly never want to play a perfect character! It’s inhuman.
Lauren: The fact that these women/ their friendship is flawed is one of the main reasons I was drawn to this project. I totally agree with Amelia that we need to see female representation in the same way that we see male from complex and messy, to strong
Thank you to Amelia, Lee and Lauren for their time. You can watch Bleed With Me on Friday. - 105 -
Mills and Doom (Deceased) 101 things to cook your dead lovers Exclusively for Abertoir 2020 Miss Doom has created a killer cocktail and two deliciously devilish dishes from three of her favourite films. A kiss of death to anyone who can guess from which film inspired each .
“When therapy doesn’t work try Satanism” Martini Absolut Vanilla Vodka infused with Clitoria flowers, shaken not stirred with vermouth. a dash of The bitter truth celery bitters and twist of lime.
Richard makes Jane drink her medication. She tells her sister ‘’They’re concentrated vitamins ,and every time I take them I throw up’’ . ‘’And he’ll keep filling you with vitamins when, All you need is a really competent psychoanalyst‘’ ... its all orgy from then on in .
Don’t let Weirdos in or pick up anything from the beach’ Seaweed salad A spicy seaweed salad. Arame, Kombu and Samphire lovingly tossed in sesame, chilli, soy, glass Vermicelli and tofu finished with black sesame seeds. Best eaten from the safety of your own home, not during the witching hour or from anywhere in the Vicinity of Antonio Bay.
Breasts a La Bathory aka Dessert of Eternal Youth Two succulent breasts oozing with pandan mousse. Enrobed in white chocolate, perfumed with cardamon temptingly bathe in a delightfully sweet virginal blood stained sauce. Remember Ladies its really important where you source your bodily fluids from if you want to preserve that youthful appearance.
Angela Wooi is a horror loving Kent based multidisciplinary artist working in installation and textiles.