The tenth anniversary of The Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF) is nearly here, and today they’ve announced their first wave lineup! The festival’s tenth edition will feature the North American premiere of Jonas Trukanas‘ Lithuanian slasher We Might Hurt Each Other and closing night film Trim Season from Ariel Vida. Welcome Villain will also be on hand to present Sam Curtain’s Beaten To Death, which the fest is describing as a “feral flick.” At the intersection of found footage horror and black metal, you’ll find Patricio Valladares’s Invoking Yell, a ’90s-set found footage horror centered on a Chilean, all-lady black-metal band. That’s checking a hell of a lot of boxes for us!
Of course, the fest will be showing some love to the short films as well, with the return of short film program WTF( Watch These Films), spotlighting “a deranged dozen of the year’s strangest and most magical shorts peppered with returning fan favorites.” If you can’t make it to Chattanooga, you don’t have to miss out on all the fun entirely. This year, the fest is offering a virtual block of shorts they’ve dubbed Fun Side Epics. The block consists of eighteen short films that feel like mini-features. That’s eighteen films with over five hours of runtime, curated from all over the world.
On the documentary side, Satan Wants You directors Steve Adams and Sean Horlor dive into the widepsread “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s, including never before heard recordings of Michelle Smith (of discredited Michelle Remembers infamy). And if you’re looking for live events, you’ll have boat parties and the return of Stephen Scarlata (Jodorowsky’s Dune) and Josh Miller’s (Violent Night) Best Movies Never Made podcast. This special episode will tie into the podcast’s Tales From The Crypt salute, with a Dead Easy deep dive and special guests.
In-person screenings and events are taking place June 23 – 25 at The Read House located in downtown Chattanooga, with the virtual component of the festival taking place June 23 – 29. Take a look at some more feature and live event highlights below, and visit the official CFF website for the complete first wave lineup, tickets, and more.
FEATURES
Beaten to Death
Director Sam Curtain | Australia, 2022
Presented by Welcome Villain
Synopsis: A desperate choice leads Jack down a path that leaves him beaten and bruised as he struggles against man, nature, and his own insanity.
*Virtual only.
Invoking Yell
Patricio Valladares | Chile, 2022
Synopsis: Set in 1997 South of Chile, a trio of metalhead twenty-something girls venture into the woods to shoot their demo tape for their black metal band, Invoking Yell, while also documenting the eerie and unsettling process of recording psicofonias in the woods for the final track.
*Virtual only.
Molli & Max in the Future
Michael Lukk Litwak | USA, 2023
Synopsis: A billion years in the future there is magic, sentient robots, and demigods. Meanwhile, Molli (Zosia Mamet) and Max (Aristotle Athari) bump into each other across the course of twelve years, four planets, three dimensions, and one space cult. One of them is able to fly, while the other is half-human/half-fish.
*In-person only.
Satan Wants You
Directors Steve J. Adams, Sean Horlor | USA, 2023
Synopsis: This documentary centers around the shocking story of how a young woman and her psychiatrist helped ignite the global Satanic Panic with their bestselling memoir Michelle Remembers.
*In-person and virtual.
The Last Movie Ever Made
Nathan Blackwell | USA, 2022
Synopsis: With the world about to end, Marshall convinces a group of friends and strangers to help finish the sci-fi movie he abandoned in high school.
*Virtual only.
Trim Season
Director Ariel Vida | USA, 2023
*Closing Night Film
Synopsis: Jobless and searching for purpose, Emma and a group of twenty-somethings from Los Angeles head up the coast to make quick cash trimming marijuana on a secluded farm in Northern California. Cut off from the rest of the world, they soon realize that the estate is harboring darker secrets than any of them could imagine, and it becomes a race against time for Emma and her friends to escape the dense woods with their lives.
*In-person only.
We Might Hurt Each Other
Director Jonas Trukanas | Lithuania, 2022
*North American Premiere | Presented by Screambox
Synopsis: Inspired by local legends, WE MIGHT HURT EACH OTHER follows a group of privileged high school classmates. After these classmates destroy a set of life-size wooden statues during a wild graduation party, a mysterious killer begins picking the group off one by one.
*In-person and virtual.
EVENTS
CFF Boat Float, hosted by Jonah Ray
*Sponsored by Vinegar Syndrome
The infamous boat party returns to CFF! Held on Chattanooga’s famed Southern Belle Riverboat, this year’s Boat Float will be a sprawling triple-decker brouhaha. Comedian Jonah Ray will perform and then continue the evening as host, with performances by Chattanooga-based band Lillian, Texas’ Strange Joy, and Ohio’s Slug.
Best Movies Never Made
Join hosts Stephen Scarlata (producer, Jodorowsky’s Dune) and Josh Miller (writer, Sonic The Hedgehog, Violent Night) as they explore the most legendary movies never made. In this special CFF edition, they’ll take part in this year’s TALES FROM THE CRYPT salute, and talk to Gil Adler and AL Katz about DEAD EASY.
Dad’s From the Crypt
It wouldn’t be right to have a TALES FROM THE CRYPT Salute without the Dad’s from the Crypt podcast, which is dedicated to the HBO series Tales from the Crypt. Hosted by Jason, Jody, and Mando they chat about episodes and give some dad wisdom along the way.
L8 Night Ghouls
Pretty h8 Machine and Crazysexyghoul discuss all things horror and sci-fi! Episodes feature guest filmmakers, musicians, friends, and more! Join them if you dare…
