Two emerging young queer filmmakers from America and Australia are set to scare UK audiences with the premieres of their genre-bending debut features at this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest, London, which runs 24th – 28th August 2023. Teenagers George Baron and Alice Maio Mackay herald exciting new voices of diversity from the LGBTQ+ community that are finding queer expression and representation through the horror genre.
Eighteen-year-old George Baron is an LGBTQ writer, actor and director. A genre-bending surrealist noir set in the 1950s, The Blue Rose marks his feature directorial debut. It follows the one-night journey of two rookie detectives, as they set out to solve a seemingly clear-cut homicide, only to find themselves in an alternate reality of their worst nightmares. The film was inspired by an Immersive Theatre Art Show he directed in February of 2020, featuring many of the same characters in the film — all inspired by the artwork of Sophia Victoria Frizzell.
Alice Maio Mackay is an 18-year-old transgender award-winning filmmaker. Her debut feature film So Vam, featuring stars BenDeLaCreme and Etcetera Etcetera from Drag Race, premiered at Salem Horror Fest 2021, winning awards, and critical praise. T-Blockers is her third queer horror feature with performances from Etcetera Etcetera, Cassie Workman and Joni Ayton-Kent
Other FrightFest films that will appeal to queer horror fans include actor Nicholas Vince, who played Chattered in Nightbreed and collaborated closely with Clive Barker. recounting his personal coming out story in Thatcher’s Britain and overcoming his own demons in I Am Monsters!
Additionally, Eddie Suzy Izzard, fresh from the success of her one-woman West End show Great Expectations, stars with Simon Callow in the world premiere of Doctor Jekyll, a reimagining of the classic horror story. The film also stars Lindsay Duncan.
Full FrightFest program details: & ticket https://www.frightfest.co.uk/ FrightFest 2023 runs 24th to 28th August at the Cineworld, Leicester Square and The Prince Charles Cinema.
