Welcome to Behind the Fest, Backstage’s questionnaire series with film festival figures looking for that next big festival hit. Featuring behind-the-scenes insight from the organizers and programmers at Sundance, TIFF, Cannes, and more fests from around the globe, these tips might just hold the key to your indie film success story!
Beyond Fest, the highest-attended genre film festival in the U.S., returns to the Mission Tiki Drive-In of Montclair, California for its 2020 festival kicking off Oct. 2. All summer long, the fest had a residence at Los Angeles’ American Cinematheque with sold-out showings of repertory films and new releases.
“What we saw immediately when we took the risk with these shows, they were selling out in one minute,” says Beyond Fest programmer Grant Moninger.
This year’s lineup includes the world premiere of werewolf flick “The Wolf of Snow Hollow” paired with Joe Dante’s “The Burbs”; closing night will feature body-swap slasher “Freaky” from director Christopher Landon (of “Happy Death Day”).
Backstage spoke with Moninger and fellow programmer Evrim Ersoy about how Beyond Fest became the next great summer destination for L.A. cinema fans—plus what lies ahead.
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What distinguishes Beyond Fest from other film festivals?
Evrim Ersoy: Our first and foremost mantra is, what would we like to see? You as a fan, what would you like to see? I’d like to see David Cronenberg’s entire filmography in L.A. with him there and all the guests. So let’s do it; however complicated or big the work may be, the starting point is what do we love? How can we support it and how can we share it with an audience who appreciates it?
Grant Moninger: There’s a great sense of community. It’s bringing the filmmakers to the audience and it’s an escape for everyone to go to and watch new films. So it’s a festival that shows brand new films that haven’t come to screens yet, as well as repertory anniversary titles, and then very obscure films.
What goes into the programming of old and new titles?
Ersoy: A lot of discussion and a lot of time. I’m firmly of the belief that we should check out any new title from up-and-coming directors that we might connect with on an emotional level, on a cinematic level. What would we do for [filmmakers in repertory] who could be celebrated in a way that hasn’t been done before and bring these films to a bigger audience, pay tribute to this individual who’s given their life to filmmaking, right? What can we do that celebrates the very art of cinema with the films that we love?
Talk about the screenings you’ve been doing at Mission Tiki and other year-round screenings.
Moninger: When everything got shut down, Cinema Tech reached out to the Mission Tiki. We took a risk on going out there and we said, “Hey, I think we can bring the Beyond Fest audience an hour and a half drive from Los Angeles out here. I think people need to see movies. People can see each other from a distance and know that they’re not alone and enjoy some awesome, crazy sick movies.” So it was a lot of greatest hits.
And what we saw immediately when we took the risk with these shows, they were selling out in one minute, two minutes, three minutes. And so we knew the audience wanted it, and it was there and they’re willing to travel. And everyone had a really great time. It gave people a destination every week to know that at least there’s one great moment you’re going to have that week.
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Ersoy: Take a risk. People are hardwired to go towards films they know or love. And sometimes when you take a risk, it really can change the way you interact with cinema altogether. You can see something that completely blows your world. And the other one is to have an open mind and think about why a film is playing. Your first reaction might be that you don’t like the film, but also think about why the film might be playing, what the film means. And sometimes that kind of [question] can open a dialogue about why you might be strongly disposed to dislike a film. And talk to the filmmakers! As inapproachable as they may seem, a lot of the time they’re dying to hear from the audience, what they thought of the film, what it meant to them.
Any advice for early career filmmakers?
Moninger: Get your film to Evrim. He has a great eye for finding these smaller films from around the world and showcasing them. And this is why the people should invest in going to see these little films, because sure enough, within a year, two years, either the filmmakers themselves or the film will have blown up and been on some streaming service and then everyone will be talking about it. So my advice is if you’re a small filmmaker, get your film to Evrim.
What’s a great film you’ve seen recently?
Ersoy: I really love “Ammonite.” It played recently at TIFF and for me it really captured something very human, and I was in tears by the end of it. And just to throw in, I also love from our own Beyond Fest lineup, “The Dark and The Wicked,” which, for me, is an incredibly atmospheric, really scary, beautiful little piece.
Moninger: If I could just throw out a film that I always bring up, “Knightriders,” this George A. Romero film, which may come off as a silly exploitation motorcycle jousting film—it is actually very deep and about independent filmmaking and fighting the dragon and trying to keep your group together and persevere over things. So I think any struggling filmmaker or any filmmaker should watch that film, not only because it’s an amazing film, but the message behind it is a secret to George Romero, a little message for all of us.
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