Local film festival moves to Balboa Park

por Alex Owens

San Diego horror buffs will get a head start on Halloween thanks to a man who’s not afraid to hold a scary film fest.

Miguel Rodriguez is the man behind the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival, which will have its sixth annual event Sept. 11 – 13 at the Museum of Photographic Arts at Balboa Park.

Rodriguez, a teacher trainer for the San Diego Unified School Festival, started the freaky festival in 2009 as a way to celebrate what he believes is the most primal film genre of all.

“Fear in storytelling is as old as cave painting, but it’s stigmatized in film as lurid,” Rodriguez said. “The festival explores what can be done in the horror genre and elevate its potential.”

Good horror is something that hits home with Rodriguez, a Baltimore native who now lives in South Park.

“Horror is a therapy,” he said. “It’s my source of catharsis and it’s the most sincere of genres. Filmmakers who are good at horror can communicate what scares them — and that directness yields a more sincere form of storytelling.”

This year marks the first time the festival has been held at the MOPA and it’s a sign that Rodriguez isn’t having trouble scaring up interest.

“We had 917 submissions from 37 different countries this year,” Rodriguez said. “We have films from as far away as Myanmar and Iran. I have to say those films are definitely metaphors for the struggles the people in those countries face.”

On a more local level is a horror film made in Tijuana that will be showcased in a section called “Horror For Humanity,” which demonstrates how horror can show truth in a way that is deeper than a documentary.

David Raines is one local filmmaker who is hoping to scare up interest in his work at the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival. He’s an aspiring actor based in Hillcrest whose first directing gig, a short film called “Never to Heaven,” will debut at the festival. It is based on King Claudius’ soliloquy from “Hamlet.”

“I wanted a monologue for an acting reel, but I didn’t just want to speak to the camera — that would be boring,” Raines said. “So I split Claudius’s soliloquy into two characters, one of whom is his conscious, but in spectral form.”

Raines didn’t plan to be a director, but he was so happy with the results that he would consider doing more films.

Although San Diego was the setting for the first “Paranormal Activity” film, Rodriguez admits the city is not a horror film hub.

“It’s growing, but while it’s my self-given duty to destigmatize the genre, a festival like this is more difficult [to put on here] than, say, Baltimore or LA,” he said. “You say horror and people think of a scantily-clad woman being chased by a guy with a knife.”

Still, the Horrible Imaginings festival has become more successful than Rodriguez has expected, so he’s happy to imagine an even better future.

“I’d like to be able to add a component where we could fund new content or supply scholarships to filmmakers,” he said. “I’d also like to see the festival become a week long.”

One thing that is horrible for him to imagine: moving the festival to October.

“Oh, October is the worst month for a festival like this,” he said, laughing. “There’s too much competition. I like to think that we usher in the Halloween season.”

Tickets for the festival range in price from $10 for one film to $80 for a three-day pass.

For more information, check out hifilmfest.com.

—Alex Owens es un escritor independiente con sede en San Diego. Él puede ser contactado en [email protected].