Wench Film Festival, India's first horror film festival will be held physically for the first time in addition to virtual screenings

The third edition of Wench Film Festival, India's first horror film festival showcasing films inclusive of BIWOC, LGBTQ+ women, and Non-Binary filmmakers will be held physically for the first time in addition to virtual screenings

~Founded by celeb hairstylist turned filmmaker Sapna Bhavnani, the festival will open with the Award-winning Mexican film Huesera: The Bone Woman, directed by Michelle Garza Cerver and close with The Nightmare, directed by Alice Wadding~ ~The festival will screen 23 Indian and International films in competition including Aarti Kadav’s sci-fi feature, The Astronaut and His Parrot starring Ali Fazal and Megha Ramaswami’s acclaimed short Lalanna’s Song starring Parvathy Thiruvothu and Rima Kallingal, apart from a special screening of the award-winning cult horror film, Tumbbad, a bunch of exciting talks and panel discussions with Vishal Furia (Chhori, Lapachhapi), Vikram Bhatt (Ghost, 1920, Creature), Anvita Dutt (Qala, Bulbbul), Gauri Shinde, Kaizad Gustad~ 8th March 2023, Mumbai: The 3rd edition of Wench Film Festival, India's first Horror Film Festival showcasing films inclusive of BIWOC, LGBTQ+ women, and Non-Binary filmmakers, founded by celebrity hairstylist turned filmmaker Sapna Bhavnani will be held physically for the first time in addition to virtual screenings. Award-winning Mexican film Huesera: The Bone Woman, directed by Michelle Garza Cerver will be the Opening Film and The Nightmare, directed by Alice Wadding will be the Closing film of the festival. Other highlights include a special screening of Tumbbad along with panel discussions and music performances. The physical screenings will take place from March 17-20 at Harkat Studio and Veda Factory while the virtual screenings will be held from 10 – 20 March 2023 and the tickets are available at Wench Film Festival Click here to check the trailer of the film festival: https://youtu.be/Not0t7hbGMA Click here to check the teaser of the film festival: https://youtu.be/U-sZroZtaXM The festival will screen 23 films in the competition out of which 19 will be available to watch online at wenchff.festivalsaints.com The films will be shown under three different categories, Blood Thirsty (More than 40 mins) Dwarves (10 to 40 mins), and Elves (Less than 10 mins). The jury judging the three different categories will comprise Annick Mahnert and Shari Frillot (Blood Thirsty), Alexandre Heller-Nicholas (Dwarves) and Namrata Joshi (Elves) Sapna Bhavnani, Founder of the Wench Film Festival says, “In the process of writing my new film Bearlike Man, I realised a palpable lack of female representation in the genre outfit of India. Over the three decades I looked at, 9.9% of directors were women. Horror comes with just 5.9% of directors being women and Sci-fi 2.8%. I find this statistic offensive. When I found out I was the first Indian woman director to pitch at BIFAN I knew I had to change gears and move the female gaze to the genre space that has eluded it for a long time. She added, “The goal of the Wench FIlm Festival is to highlight women but also to promote and celebrate the genre space that has been in our blood since birth. India is a country of many religions and each has their own superstitions and rituals and we are amazed that we don’t have a festival yet. We are happy to start the conversation and like all things that start first, building the foundation is of utmost importance as well as collaborating with people who have been instrumental in building the genre space. I met Vivek at Film Bazaar last year and he said he also was looking to start a horror festival - and bam here we are. He took my vision and scaled it. We have no doubt of the success of the festival and already have big plans for our halloween bash. When I hear Indians saying they do not like horror I laugh as we are the land of spirituality which starts with spirit. “ Vivek Ranghachari, Development head of the festival says, “I feel that genre cinema has been vilified and is not given the due that it deserves in our country. Worldwide, it is the most successful brand of cinema that has worked over the years with a dedicated audience. We feel that there is a dedicated audience in our country that is looking for quality cinema in this space, and we want to provide that to them through the Wench Film Festival. Through showcasing the best in the world, we want to lay the foundation for future Film-makers and technicians to embrace and make films in this genre.” With a selection of fantastical and off-beat movies, the festival is trying to bring the female perspective to the centre stage. The films will be shown under three different categories, Blood Thirsty (More than 40 mins) Dwarves (10 to 40 mins), and Elves (Less than 10 mins). Below is the lineup:

BLOOD THIRSTY - More than 40 mins | 4 FILMS ⁃ Huesera: The Bone Woman (WINNER) - MUMBAI PREMIERE Virtual screening is not available Highlights: Won Feature Film Competition Award at Morelia International Film Festival 2022 Blood Window Award & Citizen Kane Award for Best Directorial Revelation at Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival 2022, Prize of the City of Torino at Torino Film Festival 2022 Best New Narrative Director at Tribeca Film Festival 2022 Synopsis Valeria has long dreamed about becoming a mother. After learning that she's pregnant, she expects to feel happy, yet something's off. Language: Spanish Director: Michelle Garza Cerver Duration: 53min ⁃ THE NIGHTMARE - INDIA PREMIERE Virtual screening is not available Synopsis (SHORT) In the early 19th century, the paranoia created by the death of three women in a village triggers hatred towards a mysterious stranger.1880 in a village in mountainous Galicia: A series of mysterious deaths plague the region. All the victims are young women, and killed in strange circumstances. And the villagersbegin to suspect that the culprit is Naim, a strange neighbour who lives apart... without ever going out during the day. But Lúa, a young village girl who sees through their prejudices, will do everything she can to protect their most hidden secrets. Language: Spanish Direction: Alice Waddington Duration: 52 Mins ⁃ RUPTURE - ASIA PREMIERE - MALE DIRECTOR https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/rupture Highlights The film was nominated for the Best First Time Filmmaker at, Montreal Independent Film Festival 2022 Synopsis Mrs. Pospisil refuses to go to a nursing home despite her 80 years. But one day she discovers a crack in the wall of her old apartment, from which something sinister seems to spread quickly. But she doesn't even want to be impressed by that. So she declares war on the crack - if it's the last thing she has to do ... Language: German Director: Paul Ertl Duration: 53min ⁃ HONEYCOMB - INDIA PREMIERE https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/honeycomb Highlights Nominated for the Best Narrative Feature at the Slamdance Film Festival 2022 Synopsis Five small-town girls abandon their mundane lives and move into an abandoned cabin. Growing increasingly isolated, their world becomes filled with imagined rituals and rules but the events of one summer night threatehuen to abruptly end their age of innocence forever. Language: English Director: Avalon Fast Duration: 1hr 10min ELVES - 10mins | 7 FILMS ⁃ KAALIRAATHRI (INDIAN FILM - LIVE QNA - MALE DIRECTOR) https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/kaaliraathri Synopsis A mother and a son, who share a murky past, enter into an argument on the night of the Bharani festival. The mother suspects the woman in her married son’s bedroom to be a whore. The son doubts the mother’s sanity. The woman, Kaali, is mute. Gradually, the real, the imagined, the surreal and the mythical combine to create an atmosphere of horror. The horror is patriarchy. Language: Malayalam Director: Bishwas Balan Duration: 7min ⁃ Knit One, Stab Two (WINNER) https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/knit-one-stab-two Highlights The film was screened at Kill Valentine Film Festival and Final Girls Berlin Film Festival It will also be screened at the upcoming Renegade Film Festival 2023 Synopsis In this film, I ask, what happens when the woman knits in a horror film? What might the representation of knitting tell us about social and cultural expectations around gender, genre and age? I then draw on the potential for videographic work to disrupt stereotyped representations of aging women across over a century of horror cinema. Language: English Director: Alison Peirse Duration: 9min ⁃ Wolf Whistle https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/wolf-whistle Synopsis A young woman goes for a run. Once the sunsets, she finds herself vulnerable and alone in the park, but all is not what it seems. Language: English Director: Jennifer Handorf Duration: 5min ⁃ Hexatic Phase https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/hexatic-phase Synopsis When a sexual encounter becomes assaultive, Violet notices her tattoo dripping into the bedsheets. The next morning, she discovers a slick of clear viscous mucus in the crook of her arm. In an attempt to process the assault and the strange deterioration of her body, Violet calls her mother, only to have the validity of her story called into question. The erasure of her agency redoubled, Violet’s surroundings drip and pool around her. Her body violated and her truth negated, Violet melts away. Language: English Director: Ariel McCleese Duration: 6min ⁃ Sucker (INDIA PREMIERE) https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/sucker Highlights The film was officially selected at ScreamFest Horror Film Festival 2022 and FrightFest, The dark heart of cinema, London 2022 Synopsis Sam discovers her sister Caitlin has been infested by a monstrous, gigantic leech creature, that is slowly sucking her life force dry. Caitlin is reluctant to accept help and the sisters quarrel over how to deal with the parasite. Meanwhile, Sam struggles against the creature’s hostile, telepathic takeover, only to find that she herself has become a host... Language: English Director: Alix Austin Duration: 8min 
 ⁃ FURIA (INDIA PREMIERE) https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/furia Synopsis The film deals with the problem of growing anger, frustration and aggression that seeks an outlet. The heroine of the film is a person who loses control of her anger. Losing herself in emotions, she cannot stand the tension. The animation shows suppressed anger and imaginary physical violence. It refers to commonly formulated thoughts or intentions: my blood is flooding... my nerves are choking, I will tear him to shreds .... I am about to kill someone .... etc. Language: No Dialogues Director: Julia Siuda Duration: 5min ⁃ IT TAKES A VILLAGE (LGBTQ+) (ASIA PREMIERE) https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/it-takes-a-village Synopsis This short was written by Glamhag and Sarah Squirm (NBC's SNL) and is an action packed short inspired by Rosemary's Baby. Made in Chicago. Language: English Director: Glamhag Duration: 7min DWARVES 10- 40 mins | 12 FILMS ⁃ THE SOFTBOY https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/the-softboy Synopsis The Softboy is an creepypasta audiovisual that narrates the encounter with the Softboy, a soft and gentle being. The non- spectral, non-monstrous, but terrifying figure of the Softboy serves as an archetype to unravel soft masculinity and its role in the sophistication of gender violence.(Project funded by Ayudas Injuve 2021) Language: English, Spanish Director: Laura Tabarés Duration: 16min ⁃ AALO / The Light (INDIAN FILM - MALE DIRECTOR) https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/aalo-the-light Synopsis MOTHER and DAUGHTER are left alone in the house to navigate the grief of SON’s unnatural disappearance. As they slowly start descending into delirium, DAUGHTER tries to emulate behavioural traits of he brother, where as MOTHER starts talking to the LIGHT. It becomes DAUGHTER’s responsibility to stop mother from meeting the same fate as SON while dealing with her sorrows. Language: Bengali Director: Soham Kundu Duration: 23min 
 ⁃ Violet Daze https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/violet-daze Highlights Winner – Best Horror Film Audience Award, Cannes Short Film Festival 2022 Finalist – Continue Short Film Initiative Quarter Finalist – ScreenCraft Horror Concept Contest Awarded – ScreenCanberra Production Funding Synopsis Violet and Daisy have been best friends since they were five. Total besties. BFFs. Joined at the hip. How close can two best friends get? What would they do if anyone tried to separate them? Language: English Director: Clare Langsford, Marisa Martin Duration: 15min ⁃ Three Ways to Dine Well https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/three-ways-to-dine-well Synopsis I had three aims for this film. First, I wanted the audience to discover that women worked in major roles on such horror classics as The Shining, The Evil Dead and Rosemary’s Baby. Second, I wanted to illuminate little known horror films helmed by women, such as Nettie Peña's Home Sweet Home.Third, I wanted to showcase the work of women horror filmmakers from across the globe. Sit back, enjoy, and prepare to stack up a TON of new viewing recs. Language: English Director: Alison Peirse Duration: 21min ⁃ LALANNA'S SONG (INDIAN FILM - LIVE QNA) Virtual screening is not available Synopsis Lalanna’s Song is a cautionary look into small acts of hate taking place in this age of abundance. Two young mothers, Miriam and Shoby, encounter twelve-year-old Lalanna whose ways unwittingly unsettle them, and they take deceptively small measures in setting her straight. Director: Megha Ramaswamy Duration: 34min ⁃ The Astronaut and his Parrot Virtual screening is not available Synopsis An accident causes a spaceship to explode and an astronaut tumbles out of it. He starts floating and falling in space and frantically tries to connect to someone. Language: Hindi Director: Arati Kadav Duration: 15:34 mins ⁃ ABNORMAL PRIME TIME (INDIA PREMIERE) https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/abnormal-prime-time Synopsis Seoul has changed day and night due to the extreme UV rays caused by the climate crisis.Born in 1992, her younger sister In-Kyung, who lives with her older sister who works at her job, lives as a freelance insurance agent during the day and sleeps at night.One day, In-Kyung gets a phone call from her sister telling her to come out right away at midday when everyone is asleep. Language: Korean Director: Kirin SINN Duration: 14min ⁃ Spiralling into desire (INDIAN FILM - LIVE QNA) (INDIA PREMIERE) https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/spiralling-into-desire Synopsis Spiralling into Desire is a Movement X Film collaboration that traces a woman's descent into her deep body to access and retrieve her true autonomy. This experimental film is set at the intersection of cinema, movement arts,psychology and spirituality. Inspired by the practice and discipline of authentic movement and natural dreamwork, the film builds on both - the creative process and the witnessing process, as it explores the question ‘how do we hold desire in our bodies’. Language: English Director: Roohi Dixit Duration: 16min ⁃ AMISSA ANIMA (ASIA PREMIERE) https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/amissa-anima Highlights Winner - Screenplay & Teleplay Competition at Austin Film Festival 2018 Winner - Jury prize at Athens International Digital Film Festival 2021 Winner - September Award at Boden International Film Festival 2022 Winner - best director and best film award at Canberra Short Film Festival 2022 Winner - Festival award at Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival 2022 Winner - HIFF award at HALO International Film Festival 2022 Winner - best director award at Munich Film Awards 2022 Winner - Best Short Film award at New Wave Short Film Festival 2022 Winner - best director award at Roma Short Film Festival 202 Winner - best short film award at Short Film Factory 2022 Winner - International Competition Best Short Film at Stockholm independent film festival 2022 Winner - SPFF Trophy at São Paulo Film Festival 2022 Winner - January award at Tokyo International Monthly Film Festival 2022 Synopsis Four boys survive on the seedy night streets of St Kilda’s red-light district in Australia in the 1980s, relying on their wits to score food and drugs. The fragile balance is broken when an act of betrayal pushes them to take action. Based on true events. Language: English Director: Tatiana Doroshenko Duration: 15min
 ⁃ EN FIN DE CONTE (ASIA PREMIERE)
 https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/en-fin-de-conte Synopsis Apprentice filmmaker, Juan makes a documentary portrait of Coco, a thirty-something-year-old marginal. The film is quickly called into question when Juan discovers that Coco thinks she's a fairy in a disenchanted society. Language: French Director: Zoé Arène Duration: 20min ⁃ GROWING (WINNER) (INDIA PREMIERE)
 https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/growing Highlights The film was screened at the Gerardmer Film Festival, Vienna Shorts 2022, Concorto Film Festival, New Point Of View, 2021, Ouedis Film Festival, New Directors/New Films Festival, Court Metrange & Nowe Horyzonty Synopsis
 Ewa’s life is seemingly monotonous, but the accompanying soundtrack makes for real cacophony. In the foreground, there are calls from a nagging mother, or tirades by nursing lecturers made in a robotic tone. Exposed to a mixture of good advice, prohibitions and conservative nonsense, Ewa’s mind begins to play tricks on her. „Growing” is a commentary on the limitation of the right to abortion and the related situation of Polish women, which the film discusses in the horror convention. Language: Polish Director: Agata Wieczorek Duration: 17min ⁃ PLASTIC TOUCH (LGBTQ+) (ASIA PREMIERE)
 https://wenchff.festivalsaints.com/movie/plastic-touch Highlights: Winner - Cine Disidente award at LesGaiCineMad, Madrid International LGBT Film Festival, 2022 Synopsis A sex doll called Lucy wakes up in the bedroom of a doll brothel. She lives with Mina, another doll. Together they watch TV: their window to the real world. They imagine themselves living far away. Language: Spanish Director: Aitana Ahrens Duration: 11min ABOUT WENCH FILM FESTIVAL 2023 Wench Film Festival is India's First Horror / Sci Fi / Fantasy Film Festival inclusive of BIWOC, LGBTQ+ women, and non-binary filmmakers.``Women '' includes all those who identify as a woman. Period. At the Wench Film Festival, our intention is to showcase female filmmakers who don’t just have the ability to tell origin stories but to go beyond normative roles, mediums, and genres to tell good stories. This is encapsulated in our slogan -‘Shaping Perspectives By Shifting the Gaze.' WFF supports, encourages and celebrates women and non-binary storytellers by not only providing a platform to showcase their craft but also through film screenings, discussions, and professional development opportunities as well as incorporating International Women's Month in its programming. The festival is sponsored/partnered by MovieSaints, Absolut Glassware, Gaysi, FinalDraft, Pratilipi, Yali Dreamworks. Visit the website for more info https://www.wenchfilmfestival.com/ About Sapna Bhavnani As a pioneer entrepreneur, Sapna Moti Bhavnani founded the hair salon Mad O Wot 16 years ago in Bombay. Through her versatile avatars such as writing a bitingly intimate weekly column for Mumbai Mirror and Mid-Day, authoring a self-help book for teenage girls Style O Wot, launching the avant-garde clothing line SoFake, to producing One Billion Rising at Carter Road (2013), acting in award-winning plays like NIRBHAYA – a searing testimonial play which won the Amnesty Freedom of Expression Award, The Fringe First Award and The Angel Herald Award in 2013 for cracking open the cone of silence around sexual and gender-based violence in India to JATINGA in 2017 –inspired by Kamathipura and highlights human trafficking worldwide; she traverses mainstream success with just as much ease as she skirts the underground youth art and culture movement. Sapna Moti Bhavnani is best known as Producer/Director of the award winning documentary Sindhustan (2019) which is about the largest migration of a culture (Sindhi) in history told through tattoos on her body. Sindhustan has won 11 Awards, travelled to 23 international festivals and is now streaming on MovieSaints. In July 2020 Sapna launched her production company called Wench Films to empower the feminine gaze and push women talent from India to the world. Keeping the Wench philosophy “Shaping Perspectives by Shifting The Gaze” she founded Wench Film Festival in 2021 and has successfully finished 2 editions while spotlighting 174 women. The 2022 edition was India’s first genre film festival which showcased 44 films directed by women. Her second hybrid feature My Dog IS Sick was an official selection at the prestigious Visions Du Reel Film Market and World Premiered at New Horizons International Festival in 2021. The story for Sapna’s next feature Bearlike Man was officially selected at NAFF (The Network of Asian Fantastic Films) presented by Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2021 making her the first Indian Woman Director to ever get selected. She has been invited back to BIFAN in 2022 as an official mentee at the Fantastic Film School. She is currently developing a Docu VR series on sexual assault I Did Not Scream, a documentary on one of the first Cabaret Bars In Bombay (Blue Nile) managed by her father titled Finding Tamiko The Tomato while finishing a book - Chapter One for Harper Collins. The rest, like they say, is herstory. Filmography Actor – Scattered Windows Connected Doors (2013) Actor – Nirbhaya (2013) Actor – Jatinga (2017) Writer | Producer | Director - Sindhustan (2019) Actor | Producer – Janaan (2020) Writer | Producer - Ek Tha Khan (2021) Actor | Writer | Director | Producer - Mera Kutta Bimaar Hai (2021) Actor | Writer | Director | Producer – Cataclysm (Post Production) Short Profiles of the Jury Annick Mahnert Born in Geneva, Annick Mahnert studied at the New York Film Academy and worked as a production assistant at Roger Corman’s Concorde-New Horizons. Back in Switzerland, she worked at 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Pathé Cinémas and Frenetic Films, before joining Celluloid Dreams, handling sales and acquisitions. Since 2013, she has been working as a freelance producer, acquisitions consultant as well as specializing at the Austrian Film Institute for film funding and the Zurich Film Foundation for marketing and distribution grants. Her latest production, The Long Walk (Mattie Do, 2019), had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival Giornate degli Autori in 2019. She’s a programmer at the Sitges Film Festival, the Director of Programming at Fantastic Fest in Austin and the Executive Director of the Frontières Co-Production Market. Shari Frillot Shari Frilot (born June 18, 1965) is an artist, filmmaker, and chief curator of the New Frontier program at the Sundance Film Festival. She is the director of two short films (Fly Boy, 1989 and Strange & Charmed, 2003), and one documentary feature (Black Nations/Queer Nations?, 1995). Frilot has been chief curator of the New Frontier program since 2007, where she leads programming of new experimental American film and has developed an exhibition space at the Sundance Film Festival which hosts "digital artworks, media installations, and multimedia performance,"including cinematic and artistic projects that make use of virtual reality technology. Alexandre Heller-Nicholas Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is an award-winning film critic and author of the book 1000 Women in Horror (2020) and many other books on cult, horror and exploitation film including Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study (2011/2021), The Giallo Canvas: Art, Excess and Horror Film (2021), Eyes Without Faces: Masks in Horror Cinema (2019), and Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality (2014). Namrata Joshi Namrata Joshi is an Indian film critic based in New Delhi. Originally working for Outlook, she remained there from 1999 till 2015, when she joined The Hindu. She won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2004.