Screening

About From Dark Carnival to Diabolique: A Panel on The Life and Death of an Independent Genre Film Festival

Genres:

Please join the Diabolique International Film Festival committee for a panel that will look back on the history of the festival, offering insights for filmmakers and film festival planners in the process. DIFF is a nine-year Bloomington institution, beginning as the Dark Carnival Film Festival in 2007. Since then, its committee members have gone on to work on and produce multiple feature films (Found, Headless, The Legend of Wasco), and a number of the festival's selections have become favorites in the indie-horror scene (The Taint, Some Guy Who Kills People, Motivational Growth.)

This panel discussion will be in the form of an extended on-stage conversation between several committee members of the Diabolique International Film Festival, moderated by DIFF Co-Program Director Joshua Coonrad.

Scott Schirmer studied film theory and media production at Indiana University, where he received grants for achievement in filmmaking and video art. For the last ten years, he worked as a commercial video producer and editor and now devotes all his time to feature film production. His feature directorial debut, Found, played at over 40 festivals around the world and won numerous awards before finding distribution in North America, the UK, Australia, and Germany. Scott then produced Headless and The Legend of Wasco. His second directorial effort, an erotic creature feature, is currently in post-production. From 2010 through 2014, Scott served on the steering committee of the Diabolique International Film Festival.

David E. Pruett studied fine arts and film at Indiana University and has worked on a variety of movie projects as writer, producer, prop builder, effects artist, and actor. Over the past 10 years, David has been involved with several film festivals, and founded Dark Carnival, one of the first genre film festivals in the state. He currently works as both a full-time and freelance video editor.

Leya Taylor is a videographer and editor based in Bloomington, Indiana. She studied Cinema and Literature at Indiana University and has production-managed numerous independent films. Leya wrote and starred in the highly successful Guignol play,Bloomington After Midnight and is also one of the principal organizers of the Diabolique International Film Festival, now in its ninth year. In 2011 she shot and directed the documentary Hosting Horror: The Legacy of Vampira. In 2012 she co-produced and photographed the award-winning Found, and later photographed its spin-off Headless in 2014. Leya made her feature directorial debut co-directing The Legend of Wasco in 2015.

Arthur Cullipher is the owner of the Clockwerk Creature Company, a full service shop that offers a wide range of practical effects, including make-up and appliances, masks, props, creature animatronics, and full body suits. Arthur is a graduate of the Joe Blasco School in Orlando, Florida, where he studied advanced make-up effects and prosthetics. He has more than 15 years of practical experience and has provided special effects for dozens of projects, including the award-winning Found. His directorial efforts include the cult shorts Come, Roses: A Goremance, and The Adipocere Child, as well as the Found spin-off gorefest, Headless. He is also one of the founders of the Diabolique International Film Festival.

Shane Beasley is an illustrator, lighting technician, actor, musician, and special makeup effects artist based in Bloomington, Indiana. He has been working with the Diabolique International Film Festival since its inception. He works regularly with the Clockwerk Creature Company and contributes custom masks to Bloomington's annual Krampus Parade. In addition to producing and helping with special effects on Found, Shane also appears as the sadistic ‘Headless’ Killer in the movie and its feature film spin-off. In 2015, Shane made his directorial debut co-directing The Legend of Wasco.