INTERVIEW - Abertoir Horror Festival, 2012
to pause long enough to give it a go? GB: There’s always a lot of baggage that comes with a “horror festival.” I see it occasionally referred to as “Abertoir Film Festival” which is fine by me, but perhaps indicative of people’s feelings about it as a genre. Horror is such a wide encompassing word as you say, and while so many classic tales of horror are embraced by everyone (Frankenstein being a good example) there’s still a stigma attached that people have trouble seeing past. One excuse (which hurt us greatly) was that we weren’t allowed a certain film because the distributor wanted “a more upmarket audience.” It’s attitudes like that which we sometimes come up against and shows a level of ignorance that is sadly all too common. We aim to show people the depth and importance of the genre, and as such manage to get talks, panel discussions, articles, theatre performances of classic literary tales and even silent film with live accompaniment. Horror is one of the most interesting (and much more academically studied) genres; it’s not just about chasing people around in the woods. We’re quite selective as a result of this (maybe too selective) but we manage to put on a schedule which appeals to all kinds of tastes in the hope that the average person might find something interesting along with the fans.
Geek Syndicate
NEB: I think the variety of events we stage each year helps to draw people who might be a little nervous about the genre. I think particularly with our theatre and music shows, people who attend them individually might take pause and think, ‘hang on, this is showing as part of a horror festival?’ Film-wise, I think that we’re careful to screen classics, as well as new films. It’s important, and as Gaz says, we’re quite selective about those new films. That’s not to say we wouldn’t show a film that wasn’t wholly original or inventive, but it would have to be a damn fine film of people running around the woods for us to select it! GS: You began the festival originally to coincide with (Wicker Man director) Robin Hardy’s publicity visit to the Aberystwyth Arts Centre. Did you have any previous experience in events organisation or did you learn on the fly? Looking back now, did you have a clear idea as to what you were getting yourself into? GB: Well, it was never intended to be as big as it is now, and I certainly had no previous experience in running a film festival. It’s something that’s very much grown as a result of listening to the fans, but I’ve never lost sight of why it was originally set up: as an answer to the lack of genre film festivals in Wales. I never imagined that seven years later it would have grown into a six-day international festival, and the calibre of guests (Herschell Gordon Lewis, Victoria Price, Lloyd Kaufman,
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As part of our Abertoir season, I’ve managed to snag a quick interview with Festival Director Gareth Bailey and Assistant Director, Nia Edwards-Behi. Here we’ll discover some of what it takes to set up a film festival, the highs and lows of the past six years, and some of what we have to look forward to in 2012. GS: Thank you both for joining us here. Welcome to the Geek Syndicate. GB: Thank you Dion! It’s a real pleasure to be able to talk about the festival with you (my brain isn’t geared up to talk about anything else at the moment!) NEB: Thanks a ton for letting us chat, Dion! GS: A lot of people will see the word ‘Horror’ and just say “That’s not for me.” They don’t see the vast spectrum of tastes that it can cover. How do you get them