Portland Horror Film Festival, H. P. Lovecraft, Bruges International: Film Festival Guide: January 27 2025
Portland Horror Film Festival, H. P. Lovecraft Film Fest, Bruges International Film Fest: Film Festival Guide: January 27, 2025 from Films Gone Wild.
These festivals have been screening for at least 5 years, supporting diverse genres, run times and celebrating indie film.
Is your film festival a seasoned standout with three or more years of success?
Get listed in our Film Fest Guide by submitting to editorfilmsgonewild@gmail.com. Send us a link to your website and film freeway page.
Portland Horror Film Festival
Portland Horror Film Festival™ is a multi-day international festival of terror, bringing horror from around the world to creepy Portland, OR, a tree-filled land with a deep and dark history. We’re looking for innovative films in all horror genres, from independent filmmakers, small studios, and students anywhere in the world.
PHFF is one of MovieMaker Magazine’s Top 50 Genre Festivals, and OVER 90% OF OUR SELECTIONS ARE MADE FROM FilmFreeway SUBMISSIONS! Submit with confidence, knowing that (unlike some festivals) nearly our whole show is built on indie submissions and that we fully watch and consider each submitted film.
PORTLAND HORROR FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL, GENDER, AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN HORROR!
We understand the importance of representation of all skin colors on screen and behind the camera. If you are a Black or Indigenous filmmaker, there is a new free category for you, but you must first fill out the application form at http://portlandhorror.com/bipoc
Submitted films can be ANY HORROR GENRE, from supernatural to psychological to dark fantasy to blood and guts. Freshness is key. Give us new dark worlds, on the Earth, beneath it, outside it. Give us sunny afternoons filled with dread, nights filled with the unknown. Give us vast vistas of horror, or small moments of fear. (PLUS If your film is particularly LOVECRAFTIAN, we’re also the organizers behind the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival® – now in its 29th year – which you can submit to at filmfreeway.com/hplovecraftfilmfestival)
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
• Fresh scares and films that delve deep in the darkness.
• Horror films that have never had a general release to the public – they shouldn’t be commercially available on DVD, or already be on a streaming service (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)
• Films generally less than 2 years old – we’ll consider films of any age, but generally want newer horror projects.
•. Films that are (at least) Portland, Oregon premieres.
WHAT ELSE DOES OUR AUDIENCE WANT TO SEE?
• OCCULT HORROR – bring on the devils, demons, and witches!
• MORE MONSTERS! Fun makeup effects, demons and beasties, furry critters, and anything else with a physically monstrous element. Of course, they also love taut horrors of the human mind and bloody killers!
Learn more and submit your film here:
https://filmfreeway.com/PortlandHorrorFilmFestival
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The H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival® has been showing international independent Cosmic Horror films and Weird Tales to slavering hordes of fans for almost three decades in Portland, OR and in satellite events around the world.
This is not a general horror festival, so please be aware of the works of Lovecraft and the kinds of short & feature films showcased at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival:
• Cosmic Horror: the insignificance of humans in a dangerous universe, think ALIEN, THE THING, & THE MIST, NOT alien invasion or abduction films.
• Occult & Supernatural Horror: Weird cults & evil alien gods! Not Devil-worshipping cults
• Uncanny ghost stories: in the vein of M. R. James & Henry James, not paranormal hauntings
• Adaptations of stories by H. P. Lovecraft, or stories he inspired
• Adaptations of stories by authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert W. Chambers, M. R. James, Robert E. Howard, Stephen King (when he’s cosmic, not when it’s vampires or werewolves), Clive Barker, and other authors who were inspirations for Lovecraft, and those who were inspired by him.
Kind of films not typically selected for the festival:
• Alien invasion or abduction films – 99% of the time these are not Cosmic Horror (hint: it’s not just SF Horror, and it’s not about outer space). Please look it up! We’re not a Sci Fi festival. That other 1% sometimes is Cosmic Horror, but those films won’t be about Grays or Lizard people or flying saucers. That’s not us.
• Films about the “Craft” of “Love” – NO romantic comedies or tales of love lost! “Lovecraft” is the name of a popular HORROR author from the 1920s and 30s.
• General horror, vampires, werewolves, etc. are never selected.
• Horror that is purely Human vs. Human, such as stalkers and serial killer films. Some leeway for supernatural killers and cannibals, depending on context (again, read some Lovecraft to see what we mean).
Learn more and submit your film here:
https://filmfreeway.com/HPLovecraftFilmFestival
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Bruges International Film Festival
The Bruges International Film Festival showcases innovative independent cinema by emerging artists from around the world. The festival provides a platform for films with a unique voice and message, regardless of how low the budget might be. Aiming to inspire, motivate and award new talent.
Focusing on the art of filmmaking rather than on the box office, the festival aims to introduce quality, non-mainstream films from global filmmakers as well as local talent. By recognizing the important role independent films have in the history of filmmaking, storytelling, and culture, the Bruges International Film Festival wants to help empower the next generation of artists.
Bruges International Film Festival takes pride in its astute selection process. It is known for discovering hidden gems that later go on to successfully thrive at A-list festivals, with some films even catching the eye of the Academy Awards. For its inaugural edition in 2021 for example, the festival selected and awarded ‘Ala Kachuu – Take and Run’, directed by Maria Brendle, which was nominated in 2022 for an Oscar in the Best Live Action Short Film category.
The 5th edition will take place in October, 2025 at Kinepolis Brugge.
Bruges International Film Festival is
– A Cannes Film Week© qualifying film festival
– An IMDB qualifying film festival
– Named as one of the Top 50 Emerging Film Festivals worldwide by Final Cut Magazine.
– A ‘Climate Neutral Film Event’, powered by TreePlan.org.
Learn more and submit your film here: