After its success in 2023, YIKES! Film Festival is returning Nov. 7 and 8 for a second year to celebrate horror, sci-fi and everything in between. YIKES Film Festival founder and organizer Danny Chamberlin, a NAIT marketing grad and local filmmaker, hopes the annual event will continue growing. The festival will take place in a larger venue after last year’s sold-out event at the Foundry Room, which received positive feedback from attendees.
“We were just hoping to have anybody show up,” said Chamberlin. “We actually had to turn people away at the door because we were at capacity both nights. It was super exciting to see the Edmonton audience show up for this festival.”
“The whole point of this never was to make money or turn it into a business. It really is a festival put on by local artists for local artists.”
“I think a lot of us get in our own heads a lot, I know especially in the film industry, imposter syndrome is a huge thing,” said Chamberlin. “I took a gamble on myself, and that gamble paid off and I think the best things in life are when you take chances.”
With more tickets being sold this year, attendees can expect to see twice as many films—38 compared to last year’s 17. Curating the festival’s programming wasn’t easy, though. The YIKES team received over 116 submissions from multiple different countries. “So, great international flavour this year,” said Chamberlin. The festival will include a “mix of both local artists and international” and 11 of the 38 films to be shown made in Edmonton or Alberta.
YIKES will have a new panel of judges this year, with local judges like former Metro Cinema programmer Ramneek Singh and Stony Plain-born stuntman Jodi Stecyk, who has worked on films like The Revenant, Inception, Deadpool 2 and Tucker and Dale Versus Evil. There will also be a new award category for Most Shocking Film.
“Due to a film called Seed last year, we’ve decided to make this an actual category. Whatever film shocks or unsettles the audience the most will get its own award,” said Chamberlin.
This year, only short film submissions were accepted. “The feature films we had last year were amazing,” said Chamberlin. But with only two evenings of the festival, films under forty minutes will allow the audience to view more films in the same amount of time. Depending on how this year goes, a longer festival is a future possibility, said Chamberlin.
“The ultimate goal would be to grow bigger and better every year,” he said. “If the people want it, we’re definitely here to continue growing it.”
Much of the festival’s initial success is due to community support. “I think NAIT goes hand-in-hand with that because the school is such a big part of the community,” said Chamberlin.
Roy Navarro, one of the festival’s coordinators, is a NAIT Radio and Television graduate and former Nugget editor. As well, Skinamarink director Kyle Edward Ball and executive producer Edmon Rotea made a guest appearance at YIKES last year; both filmmakers are NAIT alumni.
“There’s actually a film that’s submitted and nominated this year called Laundry Day which was written and produced by two NAIT DMIT grads,” said Chamberlin. Like Skinamarink, Laundry Day was filmed in the Edmonton-area.
“I feel like NAIT kind of spreads its wings in so many different directions and I’m sure there’s a ton of people that, in one way or another, are connected to the school and are now connected to this festival.”
Chamberlin said there’s something for everyone at YIKES Film Festival. “We want to celebrate cinema and independent film but do it in a way that isn’t just sitting in a seat,” he said. Along with spooky films, the festival will also feature local vendors, giveaways, live performances and craft beer from Arcadia Brewing Co.
NAIT students can visit yikesfest.com and use the code NAIT20 to get a discount on tickets to the second annual YIKES Film Festival, which will take place in Edmonton on Nov. 7 and 8 at The Creative Hive.
