Guests

We have some amazing guests and independent filmmakers lined up this year, who will be taking part in Q&As and other special presentations. You can check the Schedule Page for updates.

2022 Guests

  • BreeAna Miyuki Eisel

    BreeAna Miyuki Eisel is an actress from Portland, Oregon. She is an avid horror fan and loves all things sci-fi, gory and gross! Death in a Box is her horror film debut and she had a blast with the entire process. Her favorite horror movie is Aliens.

     

  • Alexandra Spieth – Stag

    Alexandra Spieth is a writer and director from Brooklyn. Recently she wrote and starred in BRIC TV’s original series, “86’d” and the original series “Blank My Life”, which spans 4 seasons. Alexandra has acted in over 20 professional productions, including work at Irondale Ensemble, Everyman Theatre, and NYC’s The Public Theatre. Her pilot “Immaculate” was workshopped at the Orchard Project. Alexandra began the festival circuit this summer with her written and directed horror-comedy debut feature “Stag”. Recently, “Stag” screened at Brooklyn Film Festival and Female Eye Film Festival (Winner of the “Best Thrills and Chills” Feature). The “Stag” team is thrilled to be at Portland Horror Film Festival!

     

  • Brian Sepanzyk – In the Shadow of God

    Brian got his start on set as a crew member, which became his film school. Having worked on such films as Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol as well as Cabin In The Woods, he’s taken this unique experience and branched out into writing and directing himself. “In The Shadow Of God” marks Brian’s second film.

     

  • Daniel Hickey – The Cookie Crumbles

    Dan Hickey is a writer, producer, director and community-builder. He runs the Seattle Horror Filmmakers group on Facebook, Meetup and Instagram and invites every horror filmmaker and fan to join whether you live in the Pacific Northwest or not. You can find his work on the Flender Brothers Youtube channel.

     

  • Emma Cogan – Baby Fever

    Emma Cogan (She/Her) hails from Portland, Oregon and is a horror-focused filmmaker. She is a Producer, Costume Designer, Art Director, and is co-founder of Monstrous Femme Films. Taking notes from Ken Russell to John Waters, Emma’s work explores the twisted side of the human condition through a queer-feminist lens; juxtaposed by surreal, technicolor, and campy visuals. On Monstrous Femme’s earlier works, “Fanatico” and “Camp Calypso,” Emma filled the roles of costume designer and co-producer. Most recently, Emma served as producer, art director, and costume designer on the team’s latest flick “Baby Fever”. Today, you can find Emma preparing for production on her directorial debut- “Penny & The Poppies,” a queer, retro-surrealist psychological horror set in the swinging ‘60s, slated for release in 2023. In addition to her independent work, Emma works as a casting and wardrobe assistant, having worked on productions such as HBO’s The Rehearsal and NEON’s Pig.

     

  • Esabella Strickland – A Conversation with E

    Described as a “Renaissance Girl” for her multitude of talents. 16-year-old Esabella A.K. Strickland is a Multi Award-Winning Filmmaker and Screenwriter, Award-Winning Actress, Media Host, and Writer. Esabella is also an Artist, and GenZ Influencer based out of Vancouver, BC. She is a young, raw talent who is a Neurodiverse advocate and empowering figure against bullying through the arts.

    *Unfortunately, Esabella is unable to attend, but you can interact with her on the Portland Horror Film Festival Discord Server!

     

  • Hannah May Cumming – Baby Fever

    Hannah May Cumming (She/Her) is a 24 year old horror filmmaker and the co-founder of Monstrous Femme Films. Growing up on half hour horror anthologies like Goosebumps, she was inspired to craft her shorts around that same type of 25 minute, three act plot structure – but with more adult subject matter. Her work is an amalgamation of campy horror, socio-political commentary, and her love of retro design and fashion. She directed, produced, and co-wrote the award winning neo-giallo short “Fantico” in 2018, and wrote, co-directed, and co-produced the retro summer camp creature featurette, “Camp Calypso” in 2019. Most recently she and her co-writer Alex won 1st Place in the Killer Shorts Screenplay competition for the “Baby Fever” script. In addition to her work at MFF, she also works full time in the local film industry as a Director’s Assistant and Production Coordinator, most recently on Crypt TV’s Girl in the Woods on Peacock and the indie horror feature, New Life.

     

  • Jason Affolder – Shadow of a Silhouette

    Once upon a time in the midwest,
    Jason Affolder was born on a freight train.
    after mastering the art of karaoke,
    he began traveling the world and making up movies.
    he fights fires in his spare time.

     

  • Jenna Mahmoud-Bosco – Plantae

    Jenna (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker and actress from New Jersey. Her character-driven work centers women of color, marginalized communities, immigrants, and the experiences of being first generation in the USA. Her half hour comedy Lady Liberty was selected for the inaugural 2021 Black List Muslim List, a finalist for the 2020 Warner Brother’s Writer’s Workshop, as well as a second rounder of the episodic labs at Sundance, the Black List x WIF, and the Austin FF. She is a recipient of the 2021 New Jersey Council on the Art’s Individual Artist Fellowship in screenwriting. Jenna is the creator and star of New Heights web series, and recently wrote, produced and directed a short film, Baladi (My Country), which won best short in the women filmmakers’ category at Big Apple Film Festival and the Audience Award at Mosquers Film Festival. Jenna is currently developing a coming of age feature film and comedy pilot.

     

     

  • Jennifer Wolfe – You Will See Us

    Jennifer Wolfe is an author and screenwriter whose works include the novels WATCH THE GIRLS, THE KILLING JAR, and STRUCK. Her first produced feature, CONFESSIONAL, premiered as a Shudder exclusive. The short film, YOU WILL SEE US, is her directorial debut, and was an official selection of the Portland Film Festival, the Portland Horror Film Festival, the Atlanta Horror Film Festival, the Ax Wound Film Festival, the Spokane Film Festival, the San Francisco Indie Short Festival, and the Sin City Horror Festival, where it won Best Screenplay

     

  • John Skipp – Doppelbanger

    John Skipp’s 2021 Splatterpunk Lifetime Achievement Award encapsulates his long, weird, colorful career as a Rondo award-winning filmmaker (TALES OF HALLOWEEN), Stoker Award-winning anthologist (DEMONS, MONDO ZOMBIE), and New York Times bestselling author (THE LIGHT AT THE END, THE SCREAM) whose books have sold millions of copies in a dozen languages worldwide. His first anthology, BOOK OF THE DEAD, laid the foundation in 1989 for modern zombie literature. He also co-wrote one of the gnarliest episodes of Shudder’s CREEPSHOW Season One.

    From splatterpunk founding father to bizarro elder statesman, Skipp has influenced a generation of horror and counterculture artists around the world. His latest (and last book) is DON’T PUSH THE BUTTON. His two new albums are CRY ME A RAINBOW and THE ANTIDOTE TO FEAR. And his new film (showing here) is DOPPELBANGER.

     

  • K/XI

    K was born in London (UK) in the 80’s and comes from a Pakistani background. She grew up watching horror movies and reading gothic, horror, and classic literature, with a particular interest in death rituals across ancient cultures. She discovered Stephen King’s ‘The Shining’ at the age of 10, and Blatty’s ‘The Exorcist’ in the first year of high school, after her parents caught her watching the film. K took a keen interest in Jungian Dream Psychology at the age of 11, and she is a self-professed Jungian.

    Over in Pakistan, K’s uncle owned a video store; she spent most of her childhood summers in Pakistan watching as much as she could. She loved hearing stories and Pakistan was filled with tales of jinn and churail. In 2007, she created Bad Wolf Films, and has since written, directed and produced, over 15 short films, gaining various official selections and awards internationally. ‘Maya’ is her debut feature film, originally filmed in 2014. After this she created ‘Black Lake’, which had its world premiere at the Women in Horror Film Festival in February 2020, and was nominated for 5 awards; ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Film’, ‘Best Cinematography’ (which it won), ‘Best Score’ and the ‘Indie Spirit Award’.

     

  • Nathan Crooker

    Nathan Crooker is an award-winning filmmaker who found his voice through horror. He has made several award winning shorts such as “Playback” (which went viral!) and “Midnight Delivery.” Crooker is also an accomplished producer having recently created and produced the 2021 horror anthology Isolation, helming some of the genre’s most innovative directors such as Larry Fessenden, Dennie Gordon, Bobby Roe, and Andrew Kasch. He also produced the horror feature Before Someone Gets Hurt, starring Michael Welch from Twilight. Last year Crooker founded his production company Ghost Gang. Speaking to contemporary social issues in the genre world, Ghost Gang champions artistic collaborations with prolific and original voices and strives to push the boundaries of horror, while creating a unique visual language. #NOFILTER, is a proof of concept for the feature of the same name. He is currently in preproduction on a feature he wrote and will direct, called Play With Me.

     

  • Rollyn Stafford – Zombies Like To Watch

    Rollyn Stafford works primarily as a director, actor and stand-in in Portland, Oregon. Credits include ‘Grimm’, ‘The Librarians’, Chuck Palahniuk’s ‘Romance’, ‘Zombies Like To Watch’, ‘1 Dead Dog’, ‘Road to Bob”, and ‘Exorcist: The Fallen’. When not making movies, Rollyn works for the Portland Art Museum/NW Film Center and follows Bob Dylan on tour.

     

  • Sara Canning – In the Shadow of God

    Sara’s credits include The Vampire Diaries, War For The Planet Of The Apes, Hello Destroyer, A Series of Unfortunate Events as well as Superhost which is currently on Shudder. As well as being an award winning actress, she is a writer and director herself as her love for film expands to all facets.

     

  • Sofie Somoroff – Love Is a Fire

    Sofie Somoroff is going through filmmaker puberty. Her recent directing work is primarily coming to terms with her bodily functions, including a series of musicals about living in Los Angeles: MY FIRST NIGHT IN LOS ANGELES, about a girl learning self-love while crashing in her friend’s living room, and MY WORST NIGHT IN LOS ANGELES, about needing to poop while on a Hinge date; and her horror short, LOVE IS A FIRE, about an acidic yeast infection. She’s a born and bred New Yorker, based in Los Angeles, with extremely strong opinions about bagels. Her work’s been recognized by the New York State Senate, where she was honored as a Woman of Distinction. You can see more of her work at sofiesomoroff.com

     

  • Stephen king Simmons

    37 years young. Born and raised in SLC, Utah. At age 12, instead of lemonade stands, he was creating haunted houses out of his parent’s basement. In 2005, founded a local cult hit multi-art horror show titled “An October Evening”. He has gained a cult following on Youtube with his adaptations of “SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK”. His favorite hobbies are ghost hunting, collecting macabre memorabilia and watching old black/white silent films. “THE PARKER SESSIONS” is his first feature film which is based on his own personal experiences with past trauma, depression and night terrors.

     

  • Steven Mosley – Plantae

    Steven Mosley (He/him) is an award-winning producer, director, and visual artist living in Los Angeles, CA. He has worked as a producer for ABC, VH1, Lifetime, TruTV, Cinemax and HBO, and has directed commercials featuring a range of celebrities from Heidi Klum, Dule Hill to the Impractical Jokers. As Vice President of creative marketing at ABC, Steven is committed to executing compelling campaigns with a focus on fresh storytelling and innovative visuals. He believes that the best creative is fostered from a diverse and inclusive team of individuals. Steven explores his passion for filmmaking outside of the office by producing and directing web series and short films that have been featured in numerous film festivals. His most recent directorial project, Going Both Ways, a comedy about the trials of parenthood and sexual identity, won best web series at the Big Apple Film Festival. His other artistic passion is painting, and his neo-expressionist portraits have been shown at NYU and written about in the NY Times. His hobbies are poorly singing “This is How We Do It” at karaoke, making travel films with his partner Jenna, and taking care of his over 40 house plants.

     

  • The Summers Brothers – I’ll Be Back Tomorrow

    Twin brothers Robert and Russell Summers are The Summers Brothers. Writers/producers/directors based out of Austin, Texas. Their production company Grand Scheme Productions creates narrative films as well as branded content. The Summers Brothers’ short films have played in film festivals around the world and won multiple awards. Currently, they’re working on a feature film among other projects.