Julia Fair, screenwriter on Alien Raiders, will be on hand to introduce the film and answer audience questions afterward. Our two screenings of Alien Raiders, which has plot elements reminiscent of the dark conspiracy themes of the Delta Green universe, will also feature comments from Scott Glancy, co-creator of Delta Green. Did Ms Fair intend these parallels or was it merely a "coincidence"? What real-life events inspired both creations? Watch Alien Raiders and join the discussion to find out.

Alien Raiders screens at 7:30 pm Saturday and 10:00 pm Sunday.

Julia started her career working on the most successful independent film of all time, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. As the “history fabricator” for the “Sticks and Stones” special that aired on the Sci-Fi channel, Julia helped to create the “legend” upon which the Blair Witch was based. From there she wrote/produced one of the first dramatic online webisodic series, THE STRAND (www.strandvenice.com).

With the Warner Brothers label, Raw Feed, Julia has quickly become the go-to-writer, penning two of their features: BELIEVERS, which received critical acclaim and the most recent, ALIEN RAIDERS, due on DVD in spring of 2009.

Outside of writing, Julia has been heavily involved in research as well as viral marketing for a variety of science fiction and paranormal movies and TV shows.

See Shorts Blocks for information on which shorts are in which block.

Please note that openers and trailers are not listed as of yet.

Our judges, despite (or rather because of) their highly refined esthetic sensibilities and their extensive savvy on what makes a good Lovecraftian film (besides the bottomless popcorn tub), have finally made their agonizing decision at to this year’s winning screenplay. That’s the truth: it was no easy matter. There were so many fine submissions, the decision came close to being a coin toss. Close, but not quite.

Jeffrey Blake Palmer’s nightmare parade “The Sleeping Deep” rose to the top, very, very narrowly followed by Faisal A. Qureshi’s eerie “In Bright Darkness,” Patrick Shiffrar and Eric Miller’s incredibly ingenious “The Unnamables,” Brock Chandler’s seemingly eyewitness account of “The Colour out of Space,” Marc Pilvinsky’s perfect updating of “The Thing on the Doorstep,” “Reborn,” David Prior’s unsettling version of “The Lurking Fear,” Tony Contento’s effective genre-spanning “The Reliquary of Ness,” Nathan Shelton’s hilarious “The Unspeakables,” and David W. Bertoni’s apocalyptic mystery, “The Stunning Box.” Truly, all would have been fit for the award. It was an embarrassment of riches!

The adaptations of Lovecraft’s own tales were boldly creative, deconstructing the originals to make explicit some matters that had been implicit, and never failing to deliver a stomach-full of authentic horror. All our authors dealt delicately and maturely with the elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, leaving certain things in the shadows of subtlety. The combination of Lovecraftian horror with elements of detective fiction, epic fantasy, and even broad comedy all worked amazingly well. Each screenplay looked like the sure winner—until you read the next!

Your judges, Robert M. Price, Joseph S. Pulver, Brian Lumley, and Andrew Migliore are putting their occult will power together to cause all of these screenplays to reach the screen. Together, there is a real threat they will end civilization (or at least cinema) as we know it. And who’s complaining?

Missed Cthulhu at last year's festival? Want to see it again? You have an opportunity this Friday Sept 12 thru Thursday Sept. 18 at Portland's Hollywood Theatre.

When young history professor Russ is called upon by his sister to execute their late mother’s estate, he is reunited with his boyhood chum and with his father, the charismatic leader of a New Age cult. While exploring his memories, Russ wanders into a seaside warehouse where hundreds of names are scrawled on the walls. ...

Looking for answers in the warehouse, Russ is taken on an unbelievable journey through the small town’s ancient subterranean origins. Russ begins to believe that preparations are underway for a mass sacrifice, and engages the attentions of a sexy seductress in order to obtain information. Raped and arrested for murder on the eve of the city’s May Festival, the stakes are raised for Russ – maybe higher than the world has ever known.

Winner of the 2008 Best of Festival Brown Jenkin Award.

See also http://www.cthulhuthemovie.com