Patrons of the Rave Motion Pictures at the Mall of Louisiana this Friday can get an early dose of Halloween scares.
The theater is hosting the second annual Fear Fête Film Festival. The festival boasts a large and varied lineup with a number of local short films running alongside features from Austria, England and Italy.
Festival creator and Executive Director Derek Morris said this year’s festival and the films shown will be better than last year’s lineup.
“I was amazed at the difference this year compared to last year’s submissions and overall selections,” Morris said. “The quality and storylines are great, and I could not have asked for a better group of indie horror films.”
Though the films begin screening Oct. 5, the festival will host a pre-party and awards ceremony Thursday night at the Spanish Moon. Thursday is usually ’80s night at the bar, but the festival is turning it into a horror-themed ’80s night open to the public. The pre-party, however, is exclusive to those who purchase a VIP all-access pass to the festival.
Morris said the festival takes almost a year to put together. The coordinators began working on this year’s festival as soon as last year’s was over. Since then, Morris and others have been watching more than 100 submitted films, scoring each one, arranging selected films into categories and deciding winners in each category.
Films are arranged into screening blocks, such as the “Die Laughing” block of horror comedies and the “Zombie Invasion” block of zombie films. Each block lasts about two hours.
Morris said changes, like the new ticketing system, have been made since last year’s festival. Last year, patrons could only buy a $13 ticket that gave them access to two blocks of films, which lasted nearly five hours. Morris said this year, tickets can be bought for one block of films for $8, and the two-block ticket is still available. The VIP ticket gives access to all films.
Kd Amond, a local film director, is screening her short film “The Woodshed” at the festival Friday night during the “Psychoville” block. Amond said shooting the film locally was important to her.
“This film couldn’t have been shot anywhere else,” Amond said. “The production value added by locations such as Laura Plantation in Vacherie and the cornfields of the LSU Dairy Department are not common to student films.”
Amond graduated from LSU with a bachelor’s in English and a minor in film and media arts. “The Woodshed” was Amond’s graduate thesis and has screened in New Orleans and Los Angeles. Amond said she is excited for her first time at Fear Fête.
“Fear Fête is great because genre-oriented film festivals are a blast, but also few and far between,” she said. “Having a horror film festival in Baton Rouge is awesome.”
When: Friday to Sunday
Where: Rave Motion Pictures at the Mall of Louisiana
Tickets: Available online at www.fearfete.com or at the Rave theatre box office. $8 for one block of films, $13 for two blocks. $35 for all-access VIP pass, which grants access to all films and Thursday night pre-party.
