The COMPASS of Horror International Film Festival

October 28 th to November 9 th 2006

SPAT-C provided critical capacity building support to a group of young people to develop their programme activities and a film enterprise (Compass Film Intl ltd) which has made remarkable progress in the short space of months. They are now poised to put on their first ever Film Festival on the genre of ‘horror films' at some of the most prestigious venues in Bristol . The festival will showcase the best of horror films from across the globe ( Japan : ‘Rampo Noir'; Canada : ‘Ginger Snaps', ‘Nigeria End of the Wicked' and England : ‘The Dust Devil'

In attendance will be top most film artist and film directors from Japan , Nigeria , Canada and Sweden as well as film academics from Brunell University , University of Bristol , and University of West England .

The film presentations have been marketed in a way so as to attract diverse audiences, rather than the usual horror film buffs, so as to widen audience participation of films from across the globe. Each film is followed by a discussion session between the audience, academics, and actors and directors present.

Films include - 'Ginger Snaps' - which may do for Werewolves what Buffy did for Vampires. The Werewolf has held a diverse and powerful grip on the Western imagination for centuries. Imagined variously from a cannibalistic and heretical wolf-man to a cursed innocent who remains timid, harmless and god-fearing, it is only through the sensationalism of gothic fiction and the visceral imagery of cinematic horror that the Werewolf has become associated with the lunar cycle and the contagious bite. By developing a feminised space within the more muscular body horror genre of An American Werewolf in London and The Howling, Ginger Snaps expands the Werewolf myth in a vital new direction.

SPAT-C Support has been acknowledged by the festival organisers in these words – “Thank you for hours of work, the invaluable advice and the unwavering commitment', ‘invested in the Compass of Horror”

The artfully presented programme brochure conspicuously acknowledges the SPAT-C contribution to the Festival, along with that from Brunell University, Film International, 20 th Century Fox and others.

The festival organisers plan to develop a national profile and in March 07, hope to bring the festival to Sheffield audiences.

For further details see http://www.compass-film.co.uk