Tickets are now on sale for a new festival featuring “weird, spooky and deadly” short films made by northerners.
Rylund Johnson is part of a small team of people organizing the first Still Dead Film Festival, which he described as “a low-budget rip-off version of Dead North.”
The popular Dead North short film festival was launched in 2012 by Jay Bulckaert and Pablo Saravanja. Northern filmmakers produced around 240 northern horror, fantasy and science fiction films for the annual festival before it went on indefinite hiatus in 2020.
“Still Dead is a bit of a pun to test the waters and see if a more amateur version of a Yellowknife horror film festival can make a comeback,” Johnson said, adding he was involved in the making of several Dead North films over the years.
While Still Dead is inspired by Dead North, he said the creators of the former film festival are not involved in the new festival.
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The premier screening of the Still Dead Film Festival is set to take place at Yellowknife’s Capitol Theatre on February 16 at 7pm.
It will feature 21 original short films in the horror, fantasy and science fiction genre, all of which must involve in some way a “heart” element. (Dead North also required that filmmakers incorporate specific elements in their entry, with the requirement changing each year.)
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Johnson said, adding there is a lot of talent in the territory.
“This is really the filmmakers’ festival. People have put their heart and soul into this.”
Tickets for the Still Dead Film Festival are now available for $10 online. The screening is open to all ages.
Johnson said around 200 tickets are available and 70 tickets had been sold as of Wednesday afternoon.
