FoR FILMS (Frames of Reference Films Ltd) are delighted to announce that MONSTER, a social body horror from an award-winning all female team, has been competitively selected for the FRONTIÈRES PACKAGING FORUM. Short film and TV writer/director Laura Smith, and TV and feature film producer Jenny Walker, will be presenting this exciting feature project to the industry alongside 11 others in Helsinki, between 14th-17th February 2019.
The FRONTIÈRES PACKAGING FORUM is a partnership between the FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Montreal and CANNES FILM FESTIVAL’s MARCHE DU FILM, where winners of this program’s exclusive prizes will also be announced, in May 2019. Its numerous successes include female-led horror RAW, the feature debut from director Julia Ducournau, which won the Cannes FIPRESCI Prize in 2016. MONSTER is an alumnus project from the FRONTIÉRES INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTION MARKET at FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL, July 2018.
“An intriguing marriage of the psychological and the visceral”
-Michael Gingold, INDIEWIRE on MONSTER
MONSTER is the story of an acclaimed photographer who experiences grotesque physical mutations after a long-forgotten decision suddenly returns to haunt her. INDIEWIRE selected it as one of their favourite pitches from the FRONTIÉRES INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTION MARKET 2018.
ELLE DRIVER will be representing International Sales. Their multi-award-winning successes include THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST (Grand Jury Prize SUNDANCE) CANIBA (Best Film at VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL) and PALM D’OR nominee GIRLS OF THE SUN. They are part of the WILD BUNCH group.
Writer/Director Laura Smith says: “MONSTER uses the body horror genre to explore the pressures on women to conform, and to tell the story of a woman who doesn’t. It explores our fears of missing out, of losing out in life and our deep, universal human fear: that of our own mortality.”
Laura’s award-winning short films include commissions from the BFI and CHANNEL 4 and have screened worldwide. She has directed television for the BBC and CHANNEL 4 and is developing features with finance from the BFI and CREATIVE EUROPE. She graduated from the UK’s NATIONAL FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL, winning the BBC FILMS/ NFTS Development Award for her first feature script.
Producer Jenny Walker of FoR Films says “MONSTER is a wholly original project which hits the zeitgeist for female-led and female-helmed features, engaging fans of social horrors such as BORDER, RAW, BABADOOK, GET OUT and Nicolette Krebitz’s transformation-centred drama WILD. It explores, from a women’s perspective that change, however frightening, can be ultimately liberating. MONSTER’s all-female creative team are delighted to give voice to story-telling still under-represented in film.”