BEYOND FEST Is Back For Its 11 Edition With 55-Features Over 15 Days of Cinematic Superfluity From September 26- October 10

From Press Release-
Beyond Fest announces its 11th edition including the World Premiere of It’s a Wonderful KNIFE, special screenings of THE ABYSS Special Edition with James Cameron in attendance, DREAM SCENARIO, ALL OF US STRANGERS, FOE, THE CREATOR, THE TOXIC AVENGER, ANATOMY OF A FALL, THE ROYAL HOTEL and in-person screenings with auteur filmmakers Michael Mann, Guillermo del Toro, Brad Bird, icons Malcolm McDowell and Britt Ekland, and a career-spanning celebration with the legendary Roger Corman.

Los Angeles, CA 14th September 2023 – Beyond Fest, the highest-attended genre film festival in the US, is excited to announce its complete slate of 2023 programming comprising 55 features, including 5 world premieres, 3 North American Premieres, 7 US premieres, and 18 West Coast Premieres. After entertaining over 19,000 guests in 2022, Beyond Fest returns for its 11th edition from September 26th – October 10th. Built in partnership with the American Cinematheque and presented exclusively by NEON, Beyond Fest will screen at the Aero Theatre, Los Feliz 3 and Regency Village Theatre with all ticket sales going to the 501c3 non-profit film institution.

At the Aero Theatre presented by NEON, Beyond Fest opens with Gareth Edwards’ sci-fi epic THE CREATOR from 20th Century whilst closing night honours are bestowed upon Kristoffer Borgli’s comedy-satire sensation, DREAM SCENARIO – an A24 release – with a career-defining performance from Nicolas Cage; Paul Mescal stars in two breathtaking stunners: first, opposite Andrew Scott and alongside Jamie Bell and Claire Foy, in Andrew Haigh’s acclaimed metaphysical romantic drama ALL OF US STRANGERS, and then he’s opposite Saoirse Ronan in Garth Davis’ psychological drama FOE. Unitarians take us to the fourth dimension for the World Premiere of Jodi Wille’s wild documentary WELCOME SPACE BROTHERS, and courtesy of presenting sponsor NEON, are Justine Triet’s immaculately-crafted Palme d’Or winner ANATOMY OF A FALL and Kitty Green’s slow-burn, outback thriller THE ROYAL HOTEL.

As always, the best in genre cinema from across the world is celebrated with a bloody torrent of new features. Tyler Macintyre decks the halls with bloody holly for the World Premiere of the Michael Kennedy-scripted IT’S A WONDERFUL KNIFE, from Legendary Entertainment, Macon Blair’s THE TOXIC AVENGER delivers an outrageous new take on the Troma classic with the highly anticipated return of the mop-wielding cinema icon, V/H/S/85 reunites Beyond Fest alum, David Bruckner and Scott Derrickson, Joe Lynch gets a hometown victory lap with his salacious sensation SUITABLE FLESH, Prime Video and Blumhouse Television relive the 80’s in retro-slasher-style with TOTALLY KILLER, Demián Rugna joins with his bone-chiller-shocker WHERE EVIL LURKS, and the year’s most no-holds-barred slice of cranium-cracking-hyper-violence belongs to Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s KILL.

Titans of cinema will be celebrated with a series of rare events during the festival. Box office king James Cameron will be making a very rare personal appearance for a screening of the THE ABYSS Special Edition followed by an extended conversation, while the grandmaster of genre cinema, Roger Corman, will be receiving a special tribute screening with brand new 35MM prints of ROCK’N’ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, PIRANHA, GRAND THEFT AUTO and THE RAVEN followed by a panel featuring Corman and longtime collaborators Ron Howard, Jon Davison, Amy Holden Jones, Joe Dante, and Allan Arkush. Auteur filmmaker Michael Mann returns to discuss Cinema’s most iconic serial killer and the making of his classic MANHUNTER, Guillermo Del Toro joins to celebrate the 10-year-Anniversary of his robots-smash-everything epic, PACIFIC RIM, and maintaining the theme, director Brad Bird brings his much-loved animation classic THE IRON GIANT.

Iconic features take center stage via a series of restorations, extended cuts and special screenings including 4K World Premieres of Michele Soavi’s CEMETERY MAN and THE CHURCH courtesy of Severin Films, the North American premiere of THE RAID – 4K restoration, Malcolm McDowell joins to discuss the film and his role in its evolution with the newly-restored CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT, the NC-17 cut of David Cronenberg’s CRASH receives an incredibly rare theatrical screening with a virtual intro by ‘You Must Remember This’’ podcaster Karina Longsworth, celebrating 50 years of folk horror, THE WICKER MAN THE FINAL CUT screens in glorious 4K with icon Britt Ekland in attendance, and courtesy of Bloody Disgusting the extended cut of Italian must-seen-to-be-believed-madness, ADAM CHAPLIN, receives its theatrical World Premiere. FINAL DESTINATION creator Jeffrey Reddick cheats death with us for a very special screening, and Rucking Fotten hosts a 30th-anniversary screening of TRUE ROMANCE with an exclusive, commemorative shirt included with every ticket.

“With over 19,000 attendees in 2022, our goal this year was to go bigger while also exposing audiences to new filmmakers who represent the future,” said Head of Programming, Evrim Ersoy. “We’ve delivered on that promise with a program that has the world’s most celebrated artists like James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, and Roger Corman joining us alongside some of Cinema’s boldest new voices including Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, Demián Rugna and Macon Blair.”

The newly christened ‘NEON Theatre at the Los Feliz 3’ remains THE place to experience the genre’s cutting edge with 27 FREE Premieres thanks to the generous support of our sponsor. Franck Khalfoun and Alexandre Aja’s newest nightmare, NIGHT OF THE HUNTED and Bo Mirasseni’s HISTORY OF EVIL both receive their World Premieres alongside the U.S. Premiere of Xavier Gens’ bone-crunching instant classic, MAYHEM!, courtesy of AMC. Irish folk-horror ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH and Danish true-crime shocker RIPPLE also share World Premiere status, North American premieres of Graham Hughes’ multiverse nightmare HOSTILE DIMENSIONS and the blistering neo-noir THE LAST STRAW, the U.S Premieres of Baloji’s visionary award-winner OMEN, the genre-bending FEMME starring George Mckay and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Teresa Sutherland’s uneasy chiller LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP, Orçun Behram’s startling take on the undead THE FUNERAL, Zack Clark’s body-swapping alien love story THE BECOMERS, Barnaby Clay’s feral Tribeca hit thriller, THE SEEDING, Stéphan Castang’s Cannes standout VINCENT MUST DIE and Sean Hogan’s folk-horror TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST.

Severin Films whips up a mighty double consisting of ENTER CLONES OF BRUCE LEE and festival circuit fave MANCUNIAN MAN: THE LEGENDARY LIFE OF CLIFF TWEMLOW, Kane Hodder and Linda Blair join in person with SPOOKTACULAR! from director Quinn Monahan to celebrate the first Halloween Theme Park in USA, Amanda Kramer’s sensational new transhumanism documentary SO UNREAL featuring Debbie Harry debuts, and there are restoration premieres of Czech oddity extraordinaire THE CASSANDRA CAT, the World Premiere restoration of SLASHERS from Terrorvision, and the new restoration of NOWHERE with director Gregg Araki in attendance.

“55 movies across 15 days adds up to a true celebration of the theatrical experience – the very mission at the heart of the American Cinematheque,” said American Cinematheque Director of Programming and Creative, Grant Moninger. “It is an honour to give back to the incredible film-loving community that supports us year round and the city that was built by Cinema.”

Tickets will be on sale via americancinematheque.com on Friday, September 15 at 10 AM PST. Visit beyondfest.com and americancinematheque.com for details.

Check the Beyond Fest website for a full film lineup and guest announcements