4 Screenings for Our Film Representing Different Responses to Covid

Our film Cassandra has upcoming screenings in 4 different festivals, which were all supposed to be “in person” but now together represent the range of responses possible by festivals to COVID – 

IN A THEATRE

GenreBlast

Sept 5 4 p.m. in the half-full with masks/socially distanced Alamo theatre Winchester, VI

https://www.genreblast.com/2019-schedule

                (with the awards ceremony on Sept 6 where we’re nominated for best film, best horror short, and best fx in a short)

OUTSIDE

Atlanta Underground Film Festival,

Sept 5, 830 p.m.

outdoors at Art&Industry, Atlanta GA

http://www.auff.org/2020shorts5.html

                (this will be our third screening in the Atlanta area BTW)

DRIVE IN

Blackbird Film Festival, Cortland, NY

GreekPeakMountainResort’s OutdoorCinemaTheater, Oct 3, 1115 p.m., in the Unleash the Beast block

http://www.blackbirdfilmfestival.com/schedule2020/Blackbird_Schedule_2020_PRINT.pdf

VIRTUAL

Oct 1-4 Virtual

Milwaukee Twisted Dreams, schedule TBD

 And of course we continue to be streaming on Alter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptdm6sr1d_0

Thanks for checking out Cassandra in any city/context. And stay safe/healthy.

Congrats to Jenny Hagel!

Congrats to my ex-student/alumna of NU's MFA in Writing for Screen+Stage program Jenny Hagel for her 2020 Emmy nomination for writing as part of Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Jenny Hagel on a panel at Northwestern, moderated by Dave Tolchinsky

What's in the Box?

My son sent me this piece that samples SEVEN. “What’s in the Box??”

https://open.spotify.com/track/6krePyBjPsnPH5AkHzylJx?si=ez7OeKqmQ2WCuXexvLCT9g

Which lead to our conversation/thoughts for the day:

Horror and thrillers are both about opening a box. In fact ALL drama is about that. If you don’t have a box or a door that needs to be opened, something is missing.

Horror though may be that you open the box at the beginning of the movie and then have to deal with the consequences. The Ring for example.

Thrillers you don’t open the box until the end; earlier you’re trying to figure out where the box might be and what’s in it. So What’s in the box?? IE Silence of the Lambs getting to the house at the end.

New wave of horror: They never opened the box. They’re dealing with the consequences of someone else’s fault/opening a box. Us – they’re dealing with a box someone else opened. So more on the edge of science fiction/institutional. Or no reason for the horror, so no one opened any box, horror just happens. . . 

Your thoughts?

Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

5-star review for Cassandra

Humbled by this 5 star review of my film. “ From its simple yet fluctuating premise to its omnipresent haunting score, from the impressive practical effects to the believable performances, from some truly original designs to thrills that feel earned, the film hits every beat and does so with aplomb. Tolchinsky has created a piece of horror that scares you, makes you think and leaves you amazed. ” Thanks to critic Alexander Erting-Haynes. 

The whole review is here:

https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/post/cassandra-short-film-review?fbclid=IwAR2S0ZADrubp5jELwb-TDUpB0xEiKNwSg4XBkNxLbsefIE9yfRd43LdBTlg

Portland Shakes Interview

Interesting to come across an older interview, to see what I was thinking about and working on a few years ago. Some things have changed, but what hasn't:

Be fearless. Be persistent. Be a nice person in real life, but be a total monster in your writing. Write monsters. Write monstrously. Write the scene you can’t see in real life but it would be great to see. Write a dark wish. Write something that will change the world. Write something that you get up in the middle of the night to reread. And reread and reread. And don’t let the bastards get you down. 

https://portlandshakes.org/interview-with-playwright-david-e-tolchinsky/