Vancouver-shot film wins prestigious prize
The Vancouver filmmakers behind a locally funded and filmed horror-comedy short have caught the attention of one of the biggest names in horror.
I Love You So Much It's Killing Them won best short film in the third annual Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival this week in Chicago, beating hundreds of other submissions. Campbell is perhaps best known as the leading man in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead franchise and is hailed as a cult icon in the horror genre. ILYSMIKT was produced earlier this year after being selected as a finalist in the Crazy 8s Film Event competition and awarded a production package. The film, which was short over the course of a week and a day, follows Vivian, a lonely serial killer who falls for a colleague — with terrifying results.
Joel McCarthy, director, editor and co-writer of ILYSMIKT, took some time this week to answer a few questions about the short film's entry to the festival circuit and what we can expect next. (As a hint, McCarthy says, “All we can say is it's big news, exciting news... and Bruce Campbell may or may not have something to do with it.”)
Q: What’s it like getting this recognition at the Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival?
A: We are blown away with excitement. This is the first festival for this film, and a great way to kick off the festival circuit.
What does Bruce Campbell and his work mean to you and to a film like I Love You So Much It’s Killing Them?
Bruce Campbell is one of the biggest heroes of the indie film world. He and Sam Raimi broke into the industry in the '80s by making the Evil Dead films without much resources or funding and now, 35 years later, he is still going out of his way to support indie filmmakers. I've seen almost everything he has acted in, read the books he has written, and follow his career like a fanboy. So being honoured by his film festival is beyond exciting.
What does this recognition tell you about the original seed of an idea for the film and about the team that worked on it with you? We got incredibly lucky with this project. My writing partner Mike Doaga and I wrote this script rather impulsively and we were shocked at the amount of people loved the script and wanted to work on it. We got to work with Tony Mirza, the director of photography from Once Upon A Time, producer Kelly Moore, who works as a location scout on Lucifer, and our star Alex Duncan played a major role on Legends Of Tomorrow. Our team usually works with small crews and small resources but for this project we really got to make something with Hollywood production value.
What are your thoughts on Vancouver’s film industry right now for people like yourself who are making a go of it?
Vancouver is an awesome place to create content. We have some of the best locations, best crews and amazing people who are willing to support local filmmakers. That being said, it has become more difficult for independent content creators with low budgets these days because you have to compete with the insane demand from the American productions that snatch up most of the resources and labour.