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Grindhouse Film Festival

Filmmaker Chad Clinton Freeman announces grindhouse film festival

JANUARY 13, 2010 — He’s been called the “new champion of unabashed B-movie sleaze” by ArrowInTheHead.com. Now it looks like filmmaker and promoter Chad Clinton Freeman (Killer Biker Chicks, Silent Night Zombie Night, Super Undead Doctor Roach) is doing his best to live up to that title. Freeman has announced plans for an event called The Polly Staffle Grindhouse Film Festival to be held at the Sci-Fi Center in Las Vegas this coming May.

The festival, which will take place May 13, 14, 15 and 16, is going to consist of four days of programming in the tradition of grindhouse theaters with double features each day, bookended by trailers and music videos.

“Thanks to the Sci-Fi Center and various events like Fangoria’s Trinity of Terrors, Xanadu, IndieMeet and the filmmakers like Ted V. Mikels and Ron Atkins that live here, Vegas is slowly becoming a hotbed of genre cinema,” said Freeman, a member of the Exploitation Film Preservation Society since 1996. “This is my contribution and since CineVegas is on a hiatus this year, it just seems like the perfect time to get this thing going.”

PollyGrind is currently calling for entries for the festival. Submissions are being accepted January 13 untill March 13. Freeman hopes to announce the official lineup by April 13. All films are required to be submitted here or online via Withoutabox.com.

Submission categories include Blood-o-Rama (Horror/Gore Feature Competition), Frontiers Anew (Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Adventure Feature Competition), Area-X (Exploitation/Underground Feature Competition), Weirdville (Arthouse/Cult Feature Competition), Crime Time (Thrillers/Action/Film Noir Feature Competition), Short Film Competition, Music Video Competition and Trailer/Ad Spot Competition.

“The PollyGrind is all about the darker side of cinema,” said Freeman, a fan of Herschell Gordon Lewis and Doris Wishman. “We want edgy. We want sexy. We bloody. We want cool. So any and all genres are welcome as long as they’ll fit into the festival’s programming.”

Freeman says each night of the festival will be similar to what Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez did with “Planet Terror” and “Death Proof,” but he hopes to better represent what he calls “thegolden age of b-movies when exploitation, sexploitation and gore was alive and well as the bastard child of cinema.”

In keeping with the grindhouse theme, Freeman’s plan is to include burlesque dancers and a 10-minute intermission between double features each night. After the second feature, there will be a Q&A with all the filmmakers in attendance and a meet and greet with the audience for photos, autographs, selling of wares and casual chatting.

“Our aim, as has always been the case with PollyStaffle.com, is to celebrate individuality, diversity, creativity and empowerment,” Freeman said. “I want this to be a festival that is more than just a festival. I want it to be an experience. I want it to be fun, but also an intimate educational experience for the audience and the filmmakers.”

In addition to looking for entries, Freeman is also looking for sponsors for filmmaker prizes and audience giveaways.

Located at the northwest corner of the Commercial Center (right off Sahara on 2520 State State, Las Vegas, NV 89109), the Sci-Fi Center is a comic book and film geek’s paradise. Owned by William Powell, the store houses a true grindhouse movie theater dubbed “The Underground Screening Room” that showcases arthouse, horror, cult, science fiction, fantasy and independent cinema not usually available at traditional theaters in Sin City.

Mitchell Wells

Founder and Editor in Chief of Horror Society. Self proclaimed Horror Movie Freak, Tech Geek, love indie films and all around nice kinda guy!!

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