VHS 2019
Promo photo from the film “Helsinki Mansplaining Massacre”
In 2019, the VHS grew into a two night, four program event featuring 32 short films, and the West Coast premiere of Lisa Ovies’ horror comedy throw back gem Puppet Killer starring local Vancouver celebs Alex Paunovic, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Richard Harmon, Lee Majdoub, and Lisa Durupt.
Cast of the Feature Film Puppet Killer by Lisa Ovies. Pictured here Richard Harmon, Aleks Paunovic, and Johannah Newmarch
The festival kicked off with a filmmaker meet-and-greet at East Vancouver’s gritty and cool Libra Room for rustic food platters and a champagne toast, giving the filmmakers and festival organizers a chance to meet, make connections, and share in the excitement.
VHS 2 delivered some truly exceptional films from Canada, the US, and abroad, with notable highlights including Ilja Rautsi’s Helsinki Mansplaining Massacre which was awarded the VHS Audience Choice Award for the gory and side-splitting mishaps of our heroine as she navigates, negotiates, and finally decimates a group of misogynistic idiots.
Taking home the award for best film was U.K. - based Yonatan Weisberg’s The Third Hand which mesmerized audiences with its eerie atmosphere, impressive practical effects, and cinematic critique of a society fixated on is own mundanity, work culture, and obsession with the things we can’t have.
Pictured Here: From the Film “Dance with a Demon”: Fiona Vroom, Bailey Skodje, Mitch Bax, and Marcus Rosner ; Q&A Facilitator : Arianna McGregor
Top Row: Theresa Zapanta, Dr. Larissa Kiesman, Paul Magor, Keara Barnes, Meghan Hemingway, Georgia Grace, Emma Greenhalgh, Richard Greenhalgh
Bottom Row: Hogan Short, David Taylor
Feature Films
Puppet Killer - Lisa Ovies (CAN)
SHORT FILMS
Vessel - Jeremiah Hutchens (USA) | Dance with a Demon - Mitch Bax (CAN) | Hysteria - Kila Price (CAN) | Red Moon - Thomas Chrétien (CAN) | Blood Breed - Shawn Chiesa (USA) | Ouroboros - Umut Utku Serbetci (TUR) | Make Me a Sandwich - Denman Hatch (USA) | Boo - Rakefet Abergel (USA) | Hearth - Sophie B Jacques (CAN) | No One Will Ever Believe You - Frédéric Chalté (CAN) | Dulce Hogar - Gio Olmos (CAN) | Helsinki Mansplaining Massacre - Ilja Rautsi (FIN) | Fever Dream - Nils Kimmel (CAN) | Feast - Jake Pascoe (CAN) | Love Bite - Xavier Nathan (AUS) | Atomic Ed - Nicolas Hugon (FRA) | #NO_FILTER - Michael Dupret (BLG) | The Helping Hand - Brenden Hubbard (USA) | The Third Hand - Yoni Weisberg (UK) | El Ayuwoki - Gary Ye (CAN) | Thirst Trap - Steve Flavin (USA) | The Banshee - Donncha Gilmore (IRE) | KAYA - Catherine Fordham (USA) | Consommé - Catherine Fordham (USA) | HOARDER - Peter Fiorino (CAN) | O.I. - N'cee van Heerden (CAN) | It Lives In The Closet - Mike Suchmann (USA) | Teen-aged - Morgan Russo, Brendan Mitchell (USA)