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San Diego’s Comic-Con International is the biggest event in the world devoted to genre pop culture. While the big Hollywood movies get the most mainstream press, there’s also a large, lesser known and promoted Independent Film Festival devoted to genre short films tucked away within the overall convention.

The Cci-iff, as it’s acronymed, runs completely concurrently with the convention with programming running from morning to night that includes films devoted to comic book-inspired movies, horror movies, sci-fi flicks, comedies and documentaries. There are also several panels on filmmaking sandwiched in between the on-screen entertainment.

The fest also gives out awards. This year’s juror panel includes filmmakers Steven-Charles Jaffee and Kyle Newman, plus entertainment journalist Borys Kit.

Programming blocks are broken up by genre and the full film lineup below gives the exact starting time of each short film. There’s also one feature film screening this year,...

We already told you about the horror/suspense and sci-fi/fantasy films screening during this year's Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival (Cci-iff), but a couple of zombedies slipped under the radar due to being included in the humor category. We have that info for you now.

All screenings and panels for the Cci-iff will be held in the Marriott Marquis and Marina, right next door to the Convention Center (next to the Hall A end). The Film Festival will screen in Marriott Hall 2, which is at the far (north) end of the Marriott lobby, outside of the building (follow the signage to get to Marriott Hall 2).

Summer of the Zombies - Friday, July 13th, 3:50-4:15

A charming and clever look at the zombie apocalypse through the eyes of a vegetarian zombie named Summer, whose veggie-loving tendencies are so deep-rooted they stick with her even as she wanders the...

The TromaDance film festival makes it into puberty with their 13th annual edition and you won’t want to miss where they’ve grown some hair on May 4-5 at Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, New Jersey. It’s two days of hormone-fueled short films, voice-changing features and a star-studded panel discussion.

Two features will be screening at the fest: Steven Kostanski‘s VHS throwback action sci-fi horror flick Manborg and the Trost brothers’ dance-fight video game frenzy The Fp.

The rest of TromaDance is stuffed to the gills with disturbing, grotesque and just downright freaky short films, including Greg Hanson‘s garbage disposal love story Sinkhole and Aaron Zegher‘s ghostly I See a Light. Short film blocks are broken down by theme, such as “Monsters,” “Zombies,” “Madness” and an absolutely not-for-kids “Saturday Morning Cartoons” collection.

Plus, on Saturday evening, there will be a panel discussion on the marketing...

With zombies being everywhere this day, it's pretty hard to do something clever with the subgenre, especially in short films where budgets and time can be ambition's biggest enemies.

Apparently no one told filmmaking couple Ashleigh Nichols and Eddie Beasley that because the pair's latest short film - Summer of the Zombies - manages to deliver a charming and clever look at the zombie apocalypse through the eyes of a Vegetarian zombie named Summer, whose veggie-loving tendencies are so deep-rooted, they stick with the ghoul even as she wanders the streets as an aimless ghoul in search of food.

Dread Central recently caught up with Beasley and Nichols and heard more from the duo about their experiences making Summer of the Zombies and what's up next for the filmmaking couple. We also heard more from Nichols about her experiences producing the 2011 horror comedy The Last Lovecraft: The Relic of Cthulhu...

For the second week of our month-long Indie Horror Month celebration, Dread Central decided to amp up the awesome and debut two fantastic short films on March 14th and 16th.

On Wednesday DC will present the hilarious short film Thirsty, which was directed by Dread's own Andrew Kasch and stars Joe Lynch, Tiffany Shepis and Michael Bailey Smith.

Then on Friday Dread will be hosting the zombie comedy short Summer of the Zombies, written and directed by Eddie Beasley and Ashleigh Nichols and starring Casey Gates and Barak Hardley; the short film will also accompany our exclusive chat with the indie filmmaking couple.

Make sure to check back here on Wednesday, March 14th, for our online premiere of Thirsty, and then head on back this Friday, March 16th, for the debut of Summer of the Zombies in honor of Dread Central's Indie Horror Month, which runs through March 31st.

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San Diego's Horrible Imaginings is teaming up with the Viscera Film Festival to celebrate Women in Horror Recognition Month with a two-night event that starts off with a theatrical presentation of monologues and continues with an international horror shorts program that includes our own Heather Wixson's "Paper Rock, Scissors".

It all happens Wednesday, February 8th, and Saturday, February 11th, and both nights will be free of charge! The venue is the Tenth Avenue Theatre and Arts Centre, 930 Tenth Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101. If you can make it, be sure to RSVP at the Facebook Event Page.

The monologues are entitled "Identifiable Faces" and feature the creative and acting talents of Kiki Yeung, Clarissa Thibaux, Nzinga Asantewa, and Lauren Holliday.

Following the live theater and a brief intermission with light refreshments, the short films will begin! Here's the list so far:

"Nursery Crimes" by L. Whyte (Scotland)

"The Party's Over...

It’s that time of year again! It's film festival season, and we've got yet another one for you. This one goes out to all of you in the Big Bear Lake, California, area. Listen up because the Big Bear Horro-Fi Film Festival has dropped the names of the films and directors in this year's line-up.

Running from September 30 to October 2, the Big Bear Horro-Fi Film Festival features a panel of judges that includes composer Harry Manfredini, Felissa Rose Esposito Miller (Sleepaway Camp), and Tom DeSanto (X-Men, Transformers) and a slate of 8 feature films and 16 shorts.

From the Press Release

The Big Bear Horro-Fi Film Festival selection committee has announced the line-up of films for the 3rd annual festival. The announcement comes from the fest's co-directors, Jamie Kristen and Christopher Gaida, who partnered with seasoned veterans of the horror and science fiction genres to determine which films would be included.

Henry Saine is the director behind The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu a film that mixes the humor of such Gen X styled comedies such as Reality Bites, Clueless, Floundering, etc. It then throws in some sci-fi with, of course, some horror. After all, this does have Lovecraft in the title and you couldn't do this type of film without some horror elements. Saine was all to bring a seamless quality to the narrative of the film making it so that the various story tangents flowed with one another, instead of feeling jerky or uneven. In The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu, Jeff an ordinary guy that is stuck at a dead end job with a boring life, but when a strange old man gives him an Ancient relic and tells him that he is the last bloodline of H.P. Lovecraft, He and his friend Charlie embark on an adventure...