Vancouver’s first BIPOC Horror Film Festival

Have you ever envisioned an anthology of horror films where BIPOC characters don’t die first? Well, with your help we can turn this vision into reality.

I’m Doaa, an interdisciplinary artist and radical visionary based in Vancouver. My passion for the horror genre started when I was five years old. As a Black child, I always identified with aliens and ghosts because, like me, they represent the "other" that society fears. My belief in cinema and its power to transform societies inspired me to found Horror in Seconds, Vancouver’s FIRST BIPOC Horror Film Festival. It started as a personal project but in the spirit of community building, I decided to turn it into a festival where various emerging artists, including myself, have the space and opportunity to bring their visions to life.

The Festival idea is so cool: Film a 60 second “Holiday” horror movie on your phone, with no dialogue and hit the submit button. The best part? There are no submission fees because our mission is to make filmmaking accessible.

This idea was born amidst a very dark period of my life when I was going through multiple traumas in 2022, and it took me an immense amount of effort to navigate ways to see some light.

Art was my portal to access Black joy by connecting with my inner child, whose dream was to be a horror filmmaker. I want my story to inspire more creatives to not give up, to know that joy is our birthright and our superpower in a capitalist system designed to make us doubt ourselves, and limit our ability to dream. Black and Indigenous joy in horror is telling and writing our own stories from our perspectives and sharing them with the world.

Horror in Seconds will revolutionize, reshape and decolonize the concept of film festivals by granting the opportunity for viewers to witness the magic these underrepresented artists are capable of when given the opportunity to unleash their creativity. This is an initiative to reclaim the predominantly white horror space as a praxis of decolonization by acknowledging the multiple systemic barriers Black and Indigenous artists face and offering them the space to showcase their artistic creations in an accessible way, through some “reely” short shorts.

We are aiming to launch this Festival at the end of November 2023, and we need your help to make this happen. I am a firm believer in the radical power of community and in our need of diverse stories in the film industry to ignite a sense of unity as we learn more about each other through the stories told. Information about submission guidelines and deadlines will be released once we raise enough to guarantee venue bookings.

The funds will cover the following:

-Venue rentals, event insurance, security and liquor licenses

-Merchandise

-Festival programming fees (artists' workshops, talks, presenters, DJs)

-Honorarium for Indigenous consultation

-Signage and tickets

-Website design

-Opening and closing events with catering

-Production

-Honorariums for the team

-Graphic design, printing for promotional materials, advertising and public relations.

-Video and photography

-Awards and prizes

-Equipment

-Fundraising events

We will update this GFM page on the expenses throughout this fundraising process.

Thank you so much in advance and looking forward to seeing you at the Festival!