Here are the winners of the 2022 Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival. After 2 years of being virtual it was great to be in person again. With so many great films picking winners was a difficult task. We wanted to give an award to everyone but had to narrow it down to the Best of the Best. Feature FilmsJury Award Best Feature - Living with Chucky Audience Awards Best Feature - The Headmistress Best Director Feature - African Kung Fu Nazis Best Screenplay Feature - The Headmistress Best Actress Feature - Natalie Terrazzino- Night Shift Best Actor Feature - Xander Berkeley- Alchemy of the Spirit Best Supporting Actor Feature- Lloyd Kaufman- #ShakespearesShitstorm Best Supporting Actress Feature - Sarah Clarke - Alchemy of the Spirit Best Ensemble Feature - Malibu Horror Story Best Cinematography Feature- Alchemy of the Spirit Best Gore Feature -#ShakespearesShitstorm Best Villain Feature - Hitler - African Kung Fu Nazis Best Fights Feature - (tie) Night Shift and African Kung Fu Nazis Short FilmsJury Award Best Short - Cutter Audience Award Best Short- Pre-Existing Best Director Short - Cutter Best Screenplay Short- Cook with the Heart Best Actress Short- Nadia Alexander -Cutter Best Actor Short - Christian Bachini - Escalation Best Supporting Actor Short- Caleb Harris - Papa Voodoo Best Supporting Actress Short- Stacy Leland - Meatball Soup Best Ensemble Short - Pre-Existing Best Cinematography Short- Ryoko's Qubit Summer Best Gore Short - (tie) Escalation and Cutter Best Fights Short - Daggers Drawn Wisconsin Short FilmsJury Awards Best Wisconsin Short - One Foot In
Audience Award Best Wisconsin Short - A Key for Death Best Director Wisconsin Short- A Key for Death Best Screenplay Wisconsin Short- Blossom and the Decrepit Man Best Actress Wisconsin Short -Abby Marten - Snacks Best Actor Wisconsin Short- Seymour Muchmore - A Key for Death Best Ensemble Wisconsin Short - Severance Payback Best Cinematography Wisconsin Short - One Foot In Best Gore Wisconsin Short - The Cure Best Villain Wisconsin Short -Peter - Severance Payback Best Fights Wisconsin Short- The Cure
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![]() Passes on sale now at FilmFreeway. Individual tickets on sale at AvalonMke.Com . Thanks to everyone that tuned in for this years Virtual Festival. Our amazing jury picked the winners for Feature Film, Short Film, and Wisconsin Short Film. We also awarded Best Director, Screenplay, Actor, Actress, supporting role, gore, and cinematography. These were difficult decisions and congratulations are in order for everyone who submitted this year for all the truly great films. Without further ado here are the winners.
We are excited to announce the selections for the 6th Annual Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival and it is our largest selection of films yet. This year we have more features, more shorts, and more short blocks. No matter what your genre interests are you will find them at this year's festival. And if you want to watch everything we got a great deal. The Nightmare Pass is only $60 and you get access to every movie. tdff2021.eventive.org/passes/buy
Want to know the best way to see the films. Here is how we recommend you do it. Of course the best way to do it is get a pass and have access to everything. https://tdff2020.eventive.org/passes/buy/nightmare_pass. and then follow the schedule below.
Tickets on Sale now at www.timescinema.com Thursday April 4th7 pm - Livescream - Dir. Michelle Iannantuono- 66 minutes -Presented By Midwest Gaming Classic A popular video game streamer accidentally starts playing a haunted game, with deadly consequences for himself and his fans. Pre-feature - Supine- Dir. Nicole Goode - 25 minutes 9 pm - Twisted Monster Short Block - 107 minutes - Presented by Milwaukee Paranormal Conference Monsters fuel nightmares and make some great villains. We assembled a block of film that feature some of the scariest monsters. It could just be the boogeyman in your room, vampires looking for their next kill, or a killer dinosaur on the loose but whatever it is sure to fill you with dread.
Friday April 5th7 pm - Twisted Wisconsin Shorts - 112 minutes Wisconsin has some talented filmmakers. We assembled that greatest and most twisted filmmakers for this years festival. Stay tuned after the block for a Q&A with attending filmmakers and the presentation of the Backbone of Wisconsin Horror Award to Mark Borchardt.
10:00 pm - Opening Night Party Featuring RatBatSpider (pass holder or purchased ticket for any session required for entry into opening night party) -We moved our opening night to Thursday but are keeping our Opening Night Party on Friday. This will be a great time to mingle and meet filmmakers and other great horror fans. Midnight - Amazon Hot Box- Dir James Bickert - 83 minutes An American college student named Penny is erroneously apprehended during a dissident round-up in the banana republic of Rattica. She is incarcerated into the island penal system overseen by Wardress Von Krupp who is constructing the world’s greatest information extractor. Crocodiles, religious zealots, psycho inmates and voodoo-based experiments block her every escape. Life is cheap and the jungle explodes in Amazon Hot Box. Saturday April 6th12 pm - The Next Kill- Dir. Mike McCutchen- - 80 minutes The first animated feature film at Twisted Dreams. After the city’s deadliest serial killer breaks out of jail, the aging Texas Ranger that put him away comes out of retirement to stop the monster’s rampage, this time for good. Violence and hilarity ensue as the city is thrown into chaos with explosions, gun fights, car chases, and more!. Pre-Feature - The Man Who Beat the Man - Dir. Ryan Kruger - 4 minutes 2 pm - PANEL DISCUSSION -Short Cuts: The Art of Short Filmmaking - 40 minutes - More info on the panel can be found here 3 pm - Twisted Thrills and Kills Short Block- 97 minutes Presented by Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee Killers, haunted paintings, cowboys can all be found in this block. This block will scare you and keep you tense. No time to relax during this block.
5 pm - Fang - Dir. Adam Steigert-74 minutes One night, one drug induced murder, turn local junkies Chloe Romero (Melodie Roehrig) and Joe Spencer (Theo Kemp) into criminals on the run. With no place to hide, they take a road trip to a distant relative's house, only to find they're not running from the law, but for their lives as they're stalked and hunted by creatures of unknown origin. Pre-feature A Sweet Life - Dir. Max Milner - 7 min 7 pm - How Rednecks Saved Hollywood Hosted by Joe Bob Briggs - 120 min Spend a fast-and-furious two hours with America’s drive-in movie critic as he uses over 200 clips and stills to review the history of rednecks in America as told through the classics of both grindhouse and mainstream movies. You will learn: · The identity of the first redneck in history. · The precise date the first redneck arrived in America. · The most sacred redneck cinematic moments. · How Thunder Road, the Whiskey Rebellion, the tight cutoffs worn by Claudia Jennings in Gator Bait, illegal Coors beer, and the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash combined to inspire the greatest movie in the history of the world. · Why the redneck is the scariest monster in all of film history, with visual evidence. · The existential difference between Forrest Gump and Sling Blade. · The reason God loves rednecks. . . . and dozens of other historical facts that you didn’t realize you needed until Joe Bob deposited them in the rear lobe of your brain. Please note this is a SPECIAL EVENT and no passes will be accepted for this show. 10 pm - Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Spook Show - 128 minutes This year's spook show will feature performance by the Dark Hatter along with some of the craziest, goriest, and most violent films of the festival. Movies include
Sunday April 7th12 pm - Twisted Comedy - 97 minutes -
Sometimes you need to mix a few laughs with your horror. This year we had some great horror comedies that we just had to have a full block of them. You will laugh and you will scream.
2 pm- PANEL DISCUSSION -How to Get Your Film Distributed - 40 minutes - More info on the panel can be found here. 3:15 pm - Straight Edge Kegger -Dir. Jason Zink - 81 minutes A young punk and a houseful of drunks square off against the gang of militant straight edgers that he's abandoned. 5 pm - Twisted Reality Block - 108 minutes People love movies to take them to different worlds, but some worlds you might not want to go to. These films take you to the dark realms where technology brings terrifying realities, post apocalyptic worlds have deadly consequences, and a genie can turn your life upside down.
7:15 pm - Lake Michigan Monster - Dir. Ryland Tews - 78 minutes The eccentric Captain Seafield hires a crew of specialists to help him plot revenge against the creature that killed his father. After several failed attempts, Seafield is forced to take matters into his own drunken hands. What began as a simple case of man verses beast, soon turns into a rabbit hole of mysterious unknowns and Lovecraftian hijinks. Lake Michigan Monster -- banned in four lakes! Pre-Feature- Tryst - Dir. Jac Kessler- 26 min 2 pm Sunday April 7th at the Times Cinema A panel discussion with talented filmmakers who were able to get their film pick up for distribution. Moderator - Ross Bigley![]() Ross Bigley is an award winning filmmaker with over 60 short films and four features to his credit. He has also worked as an editorial cartoonist, photographer, graphic designer, and as a freelance illustrator. His art work and photography have been displayed in the Fredrick Layton Gallery, Firehouse Gallery, ArtCentric Gallery, and The Warsaw Academy of Poland. Additionally, he was co-owner of the ArtCentric Gallery from 1997-99. In 1995, he founded The Milwaukee Video/Film Festival at MATA Community Media, now called the Milwaukee Short Film Festival, and serves as President of the Board of Directors to the Milwaukee Independent Film Society. Ross also teaches filmmaking and story structure at his alma mater, The Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He also has worked as a script consultant for Producers Tim Lonsdale (Species, Speed), Chris Webster (Hellraiser, Heathers), David Striet (Species, River's Edge) and performed rewrites for the production, Brain Food. Currently, he has formed a production company with Bai Ling and Glen Popple to develop feature films on a property he created, Yellow Hill. Panelists![]() Jay Thornton is a writer, screenwriter, filmmaker, gadfly, binge-eater, and non-practicing humanist who—as one half of the Thornton Brothers, along with his brother Chris—has optioned original features, sold pitches, been hired on assignment to write original screenplays and to adapt literary material, optioned one original TV show, scored a development deal on another and is deep in post-production on their directorial debut, the homegrown indie horror-thriller feature CACTUS JACK. Member of the WGAw and represented by Rosa Entertainment and United Talent Agency. ![]() Jay Sapiro is a partner in the motion picture production company Three Tortured Minds, and has been a producer and director for more than 20 years. Jay’s first feature-length horror film, The Nursery (co-producer, co-director, post-production supervisor, editor), was picked up by Uncork’d Entertainment and released internationally in 2018. The Nursery was awarded “Best Actress in a Feature – Madeline Conway” and “Best Director” at Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival. It also screened at The Chicago Horror Film Festival and The Halloween Horror Picture Show. ![]() Christopher Micklos is a writer, director, and partner in the motion picture production company Three Tortured Minds. His first film, The Nursery (screenwriter, co-director, co-producer), was distributed internationally in 2018 by indie horror distributor Uncork'd Entertainment. Micklos and co-director Jay Sapiro won Best Director honors for The Nursery at the 2018 Twisted Dreams Film Festival. |