FanFilm Awards 2018 will be hosted in Pasadena, CA – home of the Tournament of the Roses Parade. We will be conducting our event in two separate venues:
(scroll down to see full schedule chronologically)
Tuesday | Feb. 6th – Children’s Theatre: East Wing
TIME
FANFILM TITLE
CONTENT
4:30PM
ZERO, LA SERIE – “Isolated Citizens”
Teen
5:00PM
Pechorin
Teen
6:45
The Sandman: Fear of Falling
Teen
7:15PM
MAN-AT-ARMS
Teen
7:45
Fallout: Wasteland Survival Guide
Teen
Wednesday | Feb. 7 – Children’s Theatre: East Wing
TIME
FANFILM TITLE
CONTENT
4:30PM
Batgirl Destiny Calls
Teen
4:45 PM
A Batman’s Tale- in the psychosis of the Ventriloquist
Adult
6:30 PM
Black Widow Origins
Teen
7:15PM
Stealth & the Silence: DC Comic Fan Film
Teen-Adult
7:45 PM
Harley
Adult
8:00 PM
The Cold Dance
Teen
Thursday | Feb. 8th – Children’s Theatre
East Wing
TIME
FANFILM TITLE
CONTENT
4:30 PM
Droids A Star Wars Story
Teen
4:45 PM
Star Wars Trials
Teen
5:00PM
Prop Wars Prop Harder
Teen
5:15PM
Star Wars Dark Legacy
Teen
5:45 PM
The Force and the Fury
Teen
6:00PM
Max Payne Retribution- Fan Film
Teen
7:00PM
Survivors: A Star Trek Fan Production
Teen
FRIDAY | Feb. 9 – Donald Wright Auditorium
TIME
FANFILM TITLE
CONTENT
3:00PM
Black Lightning – Tobias’s Revenge
Teen
3:45PM
Litter-ally A SAW Parody
Teen
4:00PM
Stranger Things: The Story of Henry and Dale
Teen
4:15PM
Deadpool The Musical
Teen
4:30PM
Superman Meets Batman
Teen
5:00PM
Black Sand- A Sandman Story
Teen
FRIDAY | Feb. 9th – Du-par’s: Private Room
TIME
PROGRAM
HOST
7:00PM
Welcoming Party Paid admission only. Attendees are welcomed by the Board of Azure Lorica Foundation, and are invited to enjoy the free food, Press photography, and dine before the Live Script Reading. Seating is limited.Tickets are sold at door, before and during event: $40 per seat.
Eugene Cordell
TIME
SCRIPT TITLE
AUTHOR
8:00 PM
Spinach Run
Neil Chase
8:20 PM
Suicide Squad: Hell Cometh
Jessi Thind
8:40 PM
You’re on Tumblr, Charlie Brown.
Bryan Balazar
9:00 PM
Star Wars VIII – The Last Jedi
Timothy Brummett
TIME
PROGRAM
9: 30PM
Award Ceremony Winners of each category will be announced among the Nominated Filmmakers and Scriptwriters – trophies & prizes will be distributed. Ceremony will close with a party.
Due to popular demand, we are extending the deadline to FanFilm Awards 2018!
“…only a limited time!”
Each year, we make it a point to give our filmmakers enough time to submit early, so that submissions would be viewed on time, before nominations are announced. Although, because the word spreading to a larger audience, through networks and friends, and friends of previous FanFilm Awards winners and nominees, we are making an effort to give more submissions more time. But be ready, Extended Deadline is here for only a limited time!
Extended Deadline:Nov. 30, 2017 Type Code:FFA2018EXT
Please share this code with everyone, and we look forward to your film and script submissions. Catch us for more at: filmfreeway.com/festival/FanFilmAwards
Before everyone gets back to school, we’re bringing you one last fanfilm festival – ending the summer with opportunity for volunteer hours, chances to flex your creativity, and some swag bags from your local comic book shops. Screening at the Chinatown Branch Library is Man of Tomorrow – a Superman FanFilm!
FanFilm Festival | Chinatown Branch Library
639 N. Hill St. | Los Angeles, CA | 90012 Aug. 19, 2017 | Saturday | 3:00-4:00PM
RSVP today and join us for our cause! Learn more: azure-lorica.org
Calling Film Makers and Screenwriters – the FanFilm Awards is open for submission! From videogames to books, we are accepting fan-based films, whether as scripts or fully produced works of art, you are invited to submit your piece to the FanFilm Awards – a festive day of screenings, readings, and one grand ceremony. Presented by the Azure Lorica Foundation, the FanFilm Awards will be hosted at the beautiful Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles, CA.
Calling Film Makers and Screenwriters – the FanFilm Awards is open for submission! From videogames to books, we are accepting fan-based films, whether as scripts or fully produced works of art, you are invited to submit your piece to the FanFilm Awards – a festive day of screenings, readings, and one grand ceremony. Presented by the Azure Lorica Foundation, the FanFilm Awards will be hosted at the beautiful Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles, CA.
SUBMIT NOW! Deadline: AUGUST 28, 2015 | $35
[ Catch the Early Bird Deadline: JULY 31, 2015 | $25 ]
ACCEPTING:
Short Films, Feature Films, Short Screenplays
Local, National, and International Films
(see rules and details)
The SAW saga has left its mark on the horror genre since it graced the screen with its premiere in 2004. For over a decade horror buffs have been exposed to the creations and ‘tests’ of Jigsaw. With such terror and scares, comes the opposite of humor and laughter. Comedic horror is nothing new, but is rarely pulled off right.
One of the few that have been able to create the perfect balance is none other than Beau McCombs with Litteraly a Saw Parody. It was no contest that he is our winner for Best Screenplay for the 2018 Fan Film Awards. His short had left our judges both holding onto their seats and rolling in them by the end of the film!
Here is our interview from Beau McCombs on his twist to the SAW universe and what inspired him to contribute his humorous take to the franchise.
What inspired you to create the film? Are you a horror film fan? What made you chose the SAW universe as the setting for your film?
I have two cats that I adore. However cat litter is hands-down the grossest substance on the planet, and I have to look at it, sift through it every day. Because my mind often wonders in ways like this but thought occurred to me “could I eat a box of cat litter to save my wife’s life?”, which opened the door to so many other questions: would it even be physically possible to eat that much cat litter? Could my stomach hold it all? If I were in this position, how would I approach it, litter first or clumps? Would it get easier as I ate more? What could someone hold over my head to convince me to do this? Each question held so many opportunities for comedy. And it just devolved from there.
The concept itself lent towards the Saw franchise, so that’s the direction I went. I’m not really a fan of the series, but I knew the concept and aesthetic, the sense of danger would transfer to comedy well.
Horror and comedy are a common combo genre, but very difficult to pull off. What balance did you give to both genres in your script? Did it start one way and end differently? Did the end product turn out the way that you originally visualized?
The horror part of the script is all in the setup, that first half page to page where the stakes are set. I knew it had to be played straight-It’s life and death. It’s a terrifying situation being chained in front of your best friend who is strapped to a death machine. The moment the cat litter comes out, it’s comedy- and it’s funnier because of those life and death stakes- like- how much does Colin hate cat litter? And I then I got to play with all those questions that sparked the script in the first place. The finished product is better and more disgusting than I ever could have imagined.
This being said, keeping to the SAW aesthetic with the way you played with the cinematography, was it difficult jumping out to the comedy and then back in? What were the fan liberties that you took and how did it balance with the SAW aesthetic.
My cinematographer Nich Musco and I wanted to shoot it as straight as possible, to light and shoot it like a horror film. We were asking each other how can we work Colin and Phil’s conflict into each frame? How horribly uncomfortable would it be for each of them? The comedy was going to come so much from the epic task before him, so we knew we needed to visually escalate this. Musco really worked magic on this. I had a kind of cooler look in my mind’s eye, and when he started lighting the set a sickly yellow, it threw me off guard. But once he had his frame up, I was like- “Oh. It looks EXACTLY like a Saw movie.” He nailed it.
I think the main liberty that we took with the franchise (besides the whole ridiculous concept) is having pig face present the entire time – though I’ve only seen the first two films, I don’t think he’s present when people are struggling out of there traps. But having him wheel in that TV really help set the horror tone right out of the gate
The plot revolves around this box of stale kitty litter. I see kitty litter box cake tutorials floating around the internet, but yours seems far more convincing to the real thing. Was creating the prop box a trial and error? How did you come up with the final prop?
It’s real cat litter.
Kidding. Finding a substitute cat litter was a challenge. I had considered Using real cat litter, but with sugar water and melted chocolate and playing the role of Colin myself, because there is no way I would be able to ask an actor to do that. But I knew I needed to be behind the camera on this one. I watched SOOO many tutorials on the litter cake, and tried making one myself, and it just didn’t sell as the real McCoy. I was on the hunt for the holy trinity of dusty, gritty, and clumpy. I got a couple boxes of whole oats and steel cut oats and started with a food processor, breaking the whole oats into dust. The color was way off, so I tried throwing food processed Booberry cereal in, but it didn’t help. However, adding in water and letting it sit gave the perfect texture. I had resigned myself to fixing the color in post, but My cinematographer’s sickly yellow lighting covered for me.
What the main character has to do in the film is pretty terrible. When writing the script, what motives did you use to push the main character to eat the box of litter? Did you know when you started writing it that there had to be a certain relationship to drive the plot between the two characters?
The whole story sprang forth from the cat litter, rather than vice versa- so I was coming from it backwards. I just knew it needed to be life and death, friendship, and guilt.
I usually don’t see the characters or the plot until after that first strong image or question comes into my head, and then I build around that.
What do you hope SAW and Horror fans can take away from your film? Is there anything you were hoping to add to the universe with this film?
The whole story sprang forth from the cat litter, rather than vice versa- so I was coming from it backwards. I just knew it needed to be life and death, friendship, and guilt.
I usually don’t see the characters or the plot until after that first strong image or question comes into my head, and then I build around that.
Thank you for sharing your humorous screenplay. What are some other works from you and your team that we can look forward to?
I’m wrapping up a stop motion music video this weekend, and will hopefully finish post on that in a few weeks. The video is titled 7-20-12 by Peter Stewart.
I’m writing an adaptation of a one act play that we’re hoping to shoot in a few months.
Also writing a feature length action comedy, that would be so much fun to shoot. We’ll see about that one.
The Fan Film Awards has been showing fan films for the past 4 years. A popular fandom that we often receive submissions from is Batman. With the newest addition to the villains from this universe taking center stage since the release of Suicide Squad, it seems like the Dark Knight has since shared his spotlight with the ever growing cannon.
Among this line up of Gotham villains, Mr. Freeze is one of the more iconic of the several menacing personalities. Yet, as fans there isn’t that much in understanding his motives to the life of crime. David Strano, Director of The Cold Dance, sought to answer this. In his film we get to get personal with the ice man himself and his origins before he turned to his life of crime.
Here is the following commentary interview from David Strano on Mr. Freeze’s origins and love story:
Your film is beautiful. And adds a new depth to the Batman Universe. What made you decide to create a film about Mr. Freeze?
I grew up watching Batman. I used to run around in the classic Adam West costume fighting imaginary baddies. But I was inspired by The Batman Animated Series that began in 1992. I was always drawn to Mr. Freeze because I found him to be a tragic/sympathetic villain. He never chose this life. He was forced into it. I was fascinated with his origin. How Freeze is trying to save Nora’s life so he can be Victor again. I always wanted to show their relationship pre-freezing and pre-accident.
The film is first and foremost a love story. What dynamic with both of the characters relationship were you aiming to portray? We slowly realize towards the end who the characters truly are in the Batman Universe. Was this how you had originally envisioned it?
It was always my intention to keep the characters a secret. No one really knows Nora’s name or what significance she holds to one of the most famous Rogues in Batman’s Gallery so we could get away with saying her name. At first I wanted to have references to Batman and Gotham City but my cinematographer thought it’d be better if we just focused on the two of them and springed it on the audience at the end.
As far as portraying the characters. I wanted to show Victor as a loving and caring husband. And when Nora reveals to him that she is dying, Victor doesn’t want to let go. He wants to control her to fit his needs and becomes obsessed with finding a cure. And when Victor betrays Nora we can see how he was easily turned to a life of crime. We see his Cold Heart.
There is so much symbolism in your film. Can you walk us through some of them? What were your thoughts as a Director adding these nuances to the film?
I wanted to portray Nora as a free spirit. In the opening we see her dancing out in the cold. She knows she’s dying, she knows it’s the end, she just wants to do whatever she wants and live life. At the end of the scene where they fight I wanted to show Victor looking at a ballerina trapped in a snow globe. Unfortunately, I never found a snow globe like that so I just went with the ballerina statue. It was supposed to symbolism how Victor wanted to trap this free spirit and lock her away to try and save her.
There is a very monochromatic palette that you chose to work with the film. What made you go with this as your filming aesthetic?
The monochromatic palette follows Nora’s arc in the story. As opposed to the traditional color arc of many films where they become more bleak as the arc develops. We chose to move towards a more colorful arc as Nora accepts her time is getting shorter. As Nora accepts her fate we allow the world to become more colorful as she has a better appreciation for the littler things as most people do when they are forced to stare down a shrinking timeline. Nora is not a depressed character. She is a character that understands that things are out of her control and is at peace with this. After the injection in the last act we see the world become bleak again since that peace has been stolen from Nora.
Nora was a ballet dancer. Creating some beautiful bits of cinematography for the film. Was this something true to the Batman universe or your creation? What were your motives in pushing the plot with this?What would you like Batman fans to take away from your film? What would you like them to know about Mr. Freeze and Nora?
I never read a Mr. Freeze comic that talked about Nora. It was only what I saw in the Animated Series. And even in that they don’t go in depth with her backstory. I just assumed his wife was a dancer because in the show, whenever Mr. Freeze spoke about her, he was holding a ballerina statue carved from ice. I focused on that because we don’t see that in Fan Films. The whole point in making this short was to do something completely different than what you’d see in most Fan Films. I didn’t have the budget to make the Mr. Freeze we know from the comics. And I didn’t have the budget to combine that while pitting him against a guy in a Batman costume. I used my budgetary constraints to focus more on the dramatic side of these two characters. Showing Nora accept her fate through dance I found to be more powerful than just saying it.
Thank you for sharing The Cold Dance with the Fan Film Awards. Are there any other films in the works that we can look forward to?
I’m developing a Lex Luthor short film, but that won’t be out for quite some time. I love villains. I hope fans of Batman and fans of Mr. Freeze enjoyed my short and if you want to follow me you can find me on instagram @david___charles. I’m so grateful that the people at Fan Film Awards picked my film. Thank you!
For those of you who missed the screenings, here is David Strano’s The Cold Dance:
Near, Far, and In-between, thank you for everyone who helped make Fan Film Awards 2018 a big success.
When we first started the Fan Film Awards, we put it onto the inter webs as a call to participate in the greater nerd community. Small in it’s beginnings; it was created to draw film creators, actors, and cinephiles to join our current project at the time: Ninjacon, an anime cultural festival, that was creating a community of fans interested in the indie scene of nerd lifestyle. Four years later, we stand from less than a dozen submissions our first year to over a hundred and growing. Fan Film Awards has branched out as a strong stand alone force, molding itself into Azure Lorica’s largest yearly event. It has connected us with people from all over the globe, displaying some of the finest pieces in independent film making.
You– fellow contributor and participant is what has makes this festival so great! We simply put out the desire, but it was you that created the reason for this event to grow and thrive. On behalf of the Board and myself, we are truly humbled with your extensive response to our film festival. It’s always such a pleasure to see your actively choose to submit to us and joy to meet you when you join us for the screenings and award ceremony.
This year was was our second year at the Pasadena Central Library and Dupar’s Bakery. With such overwhelming response, we might be in need of yet another space next year to accommodate the growth of the festival. Thank you for all that made the trek by plane, car, and train to join us this year. We look forward to seeing all of you new and returning faces in the years to come. We would also like to thank the growing number of donations from old and new patrons, it is with these donations that we are able to expand the festival, and continue to carry out as a 501c3 charity. We are also grateful for our business donors who help us to create a warm and productive atmosphere for all who participate and allow us to give attention to even the minuet details. We would also wish to draw attention to our volunteers, as this charity is entirely driven by 50+ volunteers strong: all who wish to bring art with a message to a greater community.
A very special thank you to all film creators who had submitted to the festival. I am always blown away by the beautiful work that comes pouring in from around the world. This year did not disappoint! Last but not least we would like to congratulate all of our Winners!
To continue support for the Fan Film Awards, and others events sharing the same cause, we encourage you to subscribe to our mailing list for updates on events, promotional interviews of our film winners, and other projects to come. This wraps up Fan Film Awards 2018, Azure Lorica is grateful for your continuing support to make this event and many others a reality.
Cheers! Stefanie Warner CEO/ Creative Director of Azure Lorica
It is our honor to announce the winners of the FanFilm Awards 2018!
BEST PICTURE Black Sand – A Sandman Story
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Max Payne Retribution – Fan Film
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY Harley
BEST ANIMATION Star Wars -Dark Legacy
BEST DIRECTOR David Strano for The Cold Dance
BEST ACTRESS Deborah Smith in The Force and the Fury
BEST ACTOR
Troy Honeysett in Superman Meets Batman
BEST SOUNDTRACK Paul Bianchi for Deadpool The Musical
BEST COSTUME Black Lightning: Tobias Revenge
BEST FAN REPRESENTATION The Wanderer
BEST SCREENPLAY (film) Litter-ally A Saw Parody by Beau McCombs
BEST SCRIPT (non-film) You’re on Tumblr, Charlie Brown. by Brian Balazar
Winners of the FanFilm Awards receive their winning title in their category, their sword-award, and marketing assistance from the Azure Lorica Foundation.
A big thank you to Mr. Dean Warner for making the awards!
We’d like to thank & recognize our Nominees
NOMINEES FOR BEST PICTURE
Litter-ally A Saw Parody
The Cold Dance
Deadpool The Musical
NOMINEES FOR BEST SCREENPLAY
The Cold Dance by David Strano
Superman Meets Batman by Kasey Baker Black Sand- A Sandman Story by Bernhard Pucher
NOMINEES FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Kacey Baker for Superman Meets Batman
Elvis DelBagno for A Batman’s Tale: In the psychosis of the Ventriloquist
Anthony Pietromonaco for Star Wars – Dark Legacy
NOMINEES FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Deadpool The Musical Star Wars – Dark Legacy
A Batman’s Tale: In the psychosis of the Ventriloquist
NOMINEES FOR BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
The Force and the Fury
Black Lightning: Tobias Revenge Stealth & Silence: DC Comic Fan Film
NOMINEES FOR BEST ANIMATION
Prop Wars :Prop Harder
Droids a Star Wars story
Man- At- Arms
NOMINEES FOR BEST COSTUME
Deadpool The Musical
The Force and The Fury
Fallout: Wasteland Survival Guide
NOMINEES FOR BEST SOUNDTRACK
James O’Connell for Black Sand- A Sandman Story Ross Bugden for The Cold Dance
Ronald Mair-Gruber for Survivors: A Star Trek Fan Production
NOMINEES FOR BEST ACTOR
Phil Biedron in Litter- ally A Saw Parody
Sid Phoenix in Black Sand- A Sandman Story Aris Juson in The Force and the Fury
NOMINEES FOR BEST ACTRESS
Allison Powell in Black Widow: Origins
Ashley Van Egeren in The Cold Dance
Jaqui Verdura in Harley
NOMINEES FOR BEST FAN REPRESENTATION
Survivors: A Star Trek Fan Production ZERO, LA SERIE – “Isolated Citizens”
Stranger Things: The Story of Henry and Dale
NOMINEES FOR BEST SCRIPT
Star Wars VIII- The Last Jedi by Timothy Brummett
Suicide Squad: Hell Cometh by Jessi Thind
Spinach Run by Neil Chase
Fan Film Awards 2018 was a charity event, supporting Azure Lorica. For more information, visit: azure-lorica.org/campaigns
We wish to thank our Sponsors & Hosts
Award Ceremony Host EUGENE CORDELL
Sponsored Podcast THE FAN FILM BOYZ PODCAST
1st Floor: Children’s Theater
EUGENE CORDELL
1st Floor: DRW Auditorium Host
EUGENE CORDELL
Our Honorable Judges
Stefanie Warner
Diana Keeler
Eugene Cordell
Our Producers
Eugene Cordell
Stefanie Warner
Special Thanks to FFA’18 Ensemble
Derek McAlister
Calvin Devereaux
Brenda Nascimento
Paul Carpenter
And to our wonderful volunteers who’ve helped us make this event happen – Thank You!
FanFilm Awards 2018 is a film and screenplay festival, premiered at Pasadena Central Library, in Old Town Pasadena, CA, on February 6-9, 2018. Award Ceremony premiered at Du-par’s Restaurant and Bakery, in Pasadena, CA, on February 9, 2018. Produced by Azure Lorica Foundation, a nonprofit 501c3 charity for the arts. For more information, please visit:
Tuesday | Feb. 6th – Children’s Theatre: East Wing
The Fan Film Awards has been showing fan films for the past 4 years. A popular fandom that we often receive submissions from is Batman. With the newest addition to the villains from this universe taking center stage since the release of Suicide Squad, it seems like the Dark Knight has since shared his spotlight with the ever growing cannon.
Winners of the FanFilm Awards receive their winning title in their category, their sword-award, and marketing assistance from the Azure Lorica Foundation.
