Legendary filmmaker Albert Pyun says influence of PollyGrind felt as far as Cannes Film Festival

LAS VEGAS - May 24, 2013 - PRLog -- In describing the PollyGrind Film Festival, MovieMaker once wrote "What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay there."

Prolific filmmaker Albert Pyun can attest to that.

It's been a long time coming for his most recent release, H.P. Lovecraft's Cool Air. Shot over two days in 2006, the film had its U.S. Premiere at PollyGrind last year and was just released May 21 on DVD and VOD by Wrekin Hill Entertainment by way of LionsGate.

Pyun spent this past week at the Cannes Film Festival and Market in Cannes, France, selling the film to overseas distributors. He says he owes much of the project’s current interest to PollyGrind, which is currently accepting entries for its fourth installment this October.

"To understand how powerful the PollyGrind name is, we screened Cool Air in October to close the fest and seven months later it’s coming out all across North America," said Pyun, whose credits include The Sword and the Sorcerer, Radioactive Dreams, Cyborg, Captain America and Dollman. "Not many $10,000 micro budgeted movies get releases that quickly; all due to PollyGrind's reach and impact worldwide. Dozens of the foreign buyers from around the world came to our sales agent's Cannes booth with PollyGrind press clippings and announcements in hand."

Pyun’s other two films that played PollyGrind last year, Road to Hell, a spiritual sequel to Streets of Fire that dates back to 2008, and Bulletface, an ultraviolent noir crime film from 2010, have benefited as well.

“Cool Air will close sales in 10 territories,” Pyun said. “Bulletface will close six territories, limited due to graphic content. Road to Hell has received 52 requests for screeners including Starz Australia and two big Japanese distributors, so hopefully those deals will close a week or so after the market. But clearly (this has been) the best market for my films since 2000. I am so grateful to PollyGrind for creating a launch pad for unusual films.”

Road to Hell won Best Fantasy Film and Bulletface won Best Crime Film. Both are future LionsGate releases, as is Christopher R. Witherspoon’s Rage, a 2011 official selection.

An international film festival steeped in artistic freedom, PollyGrind celebrates individuality, diversity, creativity, and empowerment by showcasing the work of filmmakers with defiantly independent visions.

Named one of 2012's “25 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” by MovieMaker, PollyGrind has seen its official selections earn distribution deals from not only LionsGate, but Alternative Cinema, Showtime, IFC Midnight, Hannover House, Synapse Films, Cult Epics, Autonomy Pictures, and a slew of other reputable outlets.

“There's very few film festivals - Sundance, Toronto, Fantastic - where a screening in the fest's program so directly translates to distribution deals and foreign sales,” Pyun said. “PollyGrind is unique in that it selects films that live on the edges, margins and in the shadows and brings them to the attention of mainstream distributors. That's the miracle of what Chad Clinton Freeman's built in PollyGrind, a festival not about pedigree or stars but about imagination, creativity and ideas.”

In all, more than 50 official PollyGrind selections have gone on to nab distribution in the festival’s first three years. Twenty-three of those played last year’s event, which was called “epic” by Las Vegas Weekly and "mind-blowing at its best" by CouchCutter.com. In the first month following last year's festival, the top three winners signed distribution deals and began to cultivate remarkable word-of-mouth.

Chris Sun’s masterpiece Daddy’s Little Girl had its U.S. Premiere at PollyGrind and went on to win the festival’s top jury prize. Sun signed with worldwide distributor Fries Films. Daddy’s Little Girl won best director, best overall individual performance by actor Michael Thomson and best screenplay.

The Video Diary of Madi O: Final Entries (First Runner Up and winner of Best Found Footage Film) and Shane Ryan's My Name is A by anonymous (Second Runner Up and winner of Best Arthouse Film) both signed with Wild Eye Releasing after world premiering at PollyGrind.

“My Name is A by anonymous is the best reviewed film I've ever made,” said Ryan, who has four distributed films, including three that were theatrical releases, under his belt.  “It’s sparked interest all around the globe. People everywhere want to see it, but none of this matters to most festivals and distributors because there’s no big named star in it and the budget was a minuscule $500.

“Chad wanted to screen it in 2011, but waited patiently an entire year for the film to get rejected by every single festival we entered and shot down by every distributor we contacted,” Ryan continued. “Finally, I let Chad screen it at PollyGrind in 2012. Is he offended I wanted ‘bigger guys’ to play it first? No. He gladly premiered the film, nearly two years after its completion, and then it instantly gets picked up by Wild Eye Releasing for DVD distribution. I seriously can’t think of a better festival or person that you could know in showbiz.”

Wild Eye Releasing has been a sponsor of the festival since 2011. After attending last year, label curator Rob Hauschild decided he wanted his company to be more involved. This year Wild Eye Releasing will be hosting a panel on distribution and giving away distribution contracts and consultations to festival winners.

Mike Davis’ retrosploitation film President Wolfman (Best Editing and Most Creative) is among the other 2012 PollyGrind winners to sign with Wild Eye.

“PollyGrind is the real deal,” Davis said. “While many mainstream festivals shy away from alternative voices, PollyGrind embraces them and provides an unapologetic forum for movies that may not fit into a ready made category.”

Davis announced May 17 on Facebook that Wild Eye will handle President Wolfman’s worldwide DVD distribution and the Bosko Group will handle its VOD.

“Indie filmmakers need to be extremely careful when navigating the world of distribution,” Davis said. “It's very easy to get burned. Chad recommended Wild Eye, who I'd heard of, but Chad's blessing made me confident they would be a company I could entrust with my movie.”

Tom Martino’s Race War: The Remake, a Best Dark Comedy winner, was snatched up by Wild Eye too and is slated for an August release.

An IMDb qualifying event, PollyGrind has been said by Withoutabox.com to revel “in the bold, the exciting, and the avant garde” and “single-handedly redefined what to expect during the film festival experience.” Past festivals have included concerts, burlesque and art shows, as well as a zombie red carpet walk and cupcake eating contest.

As one of the first festivals to screen, embrace, and award the underground gems Slime City Massacre, The Bunny Game, Dear God No!, Ratline, Hate Crime, The Gruesome Death of Tommy Pistol, and Adam Chaplin: Violent Avenger, PollyGrind “lives to champion underdogs by turning them into beloved sensations,” Withoutabox wrote in a recent spotlight on the festival.

Before Jen and Sylvia Soska's American Mary success, their debut Dead Hooker in a Trunk won numerous awards at PollyGrind. Before Calvin Lee Reeder starred in the hit V/H/S or directed The Rambler feature, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, he won best director at PollyGrind.

Additionally, Randy Moore’s 2013 Sundance film Escape from Tomorrow was a 2012 official selection and Craig McIntyre’s L.A. Maniac (formerly The Los Angeles Ripper), which is slated to be released this fall by Lloyd Kaufman’s distribution company Troma, played the festival in 2011.

“I believe Chad is on a quest to create a community of filmmakers, screening venues, distributors and fans, who all have the same goal: to keep making great movies,” Davis said. “As PollyGrind grows, I'm proud to see his passion and efforts coming to fruition.”

PollyGrind was founded in 2010 as a festival that pays homage to the spirit of the highly creative and innovative works of indie film pioneers of the past such as Herschell Gordon Lewis, Ted V. Mikels and Doris Wishman.

"It's all about creating as much as you can with whatever you have," said Freeman, who pointed out Dave O'Shea's Day Job, John R. Hand's Scars of Youth, Frank S. Petrilli's Play Hooky, Sean Cain's Breath of Hate and Abraham Dieckman's Trash and Progress as past festival standouts that are still undistributed. "The festival and the films that play here are cut from the same cloth as Reservoir Dogs, Clerks, El Mariachi, Blood Feast, The Blair Witch Project, Slacker and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Hopefully just as those films have all lived on for decades and inspired an uncountable number of filmmakers and films, PollyGrind and its grinders can do the same."

Scheduled to take place October 9-13 and accepting entries until July 31, the festival offers special discounted categories for women and girl filmmakers, all filmmakers under 18, Nevada filmmakers and films, debut and sophomore features that have not had world premieres, as well as films that have been rejected from other festivals. New this year is also the addition of a screenplay competition.

In addition, award winners from the previous year receive a waived entry fee and filmmakers that win one of PollyGrind’s big annual awards nab free entries for life.

PollyGrind selections have screened at Sundance, Telluride, Another Hole in the Head, Fantasia, Raindance, Fantastic, Toronto International, Arizona Underground, Chicago International, Austin and more. It's films and filmmakers have been covered by Variety, Hollywood Reporter, National Lampoon, Fearnet, Fangoria, Dread Central, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Indiewire, Diabolique Magazine, HorrorUnlimited.com and Arrow in the Head.

For more information on PollyGrind, please visit http://www.PollyGrind.com or http://www.Facebook.com/PollyGrind.

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