ABOUT MOH


 See the TESTIMONY of MOH Alumni!

We call our festival the MAGIC OF HORROR because we feel that an awful lot of "magic" goes into making films, writing scripts, and creating art that is designed to scare the pants off of viewers.
 
The Magic of Horror started in 2016 as a screenwriting competition and has grown into an annual festival event to celebrate everything that goes into creating the "magic" of the horror genre.
 
The next Magic of Horror festival will be on October 5-6, 2024. 


THE LIVE FESTIVAL EVENT

The Magic of Horror festival takes place every year in Virginia. We are hoping to spread the magic around with other events in locations around the USA in the future.

The next Magic of Horror festival will be on October 5-6, 2024 at the Airfield Conference Center in Wakefield, VA. (15189 Airfield Road, Wakefield, Virginia.)

The event is designed for the enjoyment of both film-makers and film-watchers with a selection of short and feature films from creators of all experience levels. Short films and movie trailers screen in blocks throughout the day along with Q&A sessions with the attending film-makers. 

In our "Script Talk" session, Screenwriting Finalists tell the audience about their stories.

We make sure that there are plenty of opportunities for the film-makers to interact with the audience to promote their projects and do some networking as well. We also have concessions available and vendors who display their creepy creations! 

In 2024 we are also adding a Horror Art Contest and a much larger Vendor's Room to the festival. More events will be announced as they are added to the schedule. 

Audience members will be able to vote for their favorite films for the Audience Choice Awards. 

The festival concludes with the Awards Ceremony immediately followed by Red Carpet Photos with all of our participants! 
 

THE ONLINE AWARDS SHOW

Our online events are all about promoting!  We host an Awards Show online to announce the Winners and promote all the Finalists of our competitions.

We never make an entire film available to the public online! Finalists for our online events send in their film trailer, a short clip of their film, or even just a video message to be shown in the Awards Show video and to be used to promote their films. 

In the weeks leading up to the premiere of the Awards Show video, we really push our promotions in order to get as many eyeballs on it as as possible. Press releases are also sent out to special interest groups and media outlets that focus on independent films and the horror genre.

During the video premiere, participants are invited to join in for live chats and to interact with one another (and the other viewing audience!) The video is then left online indefinitely to continue to help promote the films.

 

THE AWARDS & PRIZES

Everyone seems to love our skeleton trophies that we give out to the winners of our competitions. These are awarded at the end of the live festival or mailed to the winners if they are unable to attend the event.  

But we also believe in giving that all-important feedback to everyone who submits their work to our competitions (regardless of if they are selected or not!) So everyone who enters receives the scorecards that were used in the initial evaluation of their work along with some notes from the judges.

Official Selections, Finalists, and Winners are also promoted on our social media. We don't just limit this to the year they were selected, but we keep up the promotions for years!  For this reason, we encourage our selections to keep us updated with any updates about films being released or screenplays being produced so that we can share the news with our followers.

 

THE JURY

All submitted projects are evaluated on their own merit by members of a rotating jury pool, so a micro-budget film has just as much chance of being nominated for an award as a film with a six-figure budget. Finalists and Award Winners are determined by committee with each project being further evaluated solely on its nomination aspect.

Judges for The Magic of Horror competitions remain anonymous since many of them are active in the film industry.  (We know that sounds a little shady, but we really don't want someone not getting a job just because they once judged a film by a producer who wasn't happy with the score!)

Because our judges are anonymous, it is possible (and has actually happened) that one has worked on a submitted film as an actor or crew person. When this happens, we simply don't allow that judge on the jury for that particular film. 
 
 
MEET THE FESTIVAL DIRECTORS
 

The Magic of Horror festival is co-directed by Lowrie Fawley and Shiva Rodriguez.

They're not just horror fans... they actively work in the industry that orchestrates your nightmares!
 
Both Lowrie and Shiva got their start in live theatre and haunted attractions. 
 
Lowrie is a film/theatre producer and film/television actress who still haunts the streets of Richmond as a creepy tour character from time to time.  (She's the one that goes up on stage for our events.)
 
Shiva is a director, practical effects artist, and screenwriter who likes to pretend that she's not a video editor. (She's the one behind the curtain making sure that the chandelier doesn't fall!)

The Magic of Horror website, film festival, and contests are produced by their company, Rogue Chimera Films, LLC.





























































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