William Brent Bell is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer born in Lexington, Kentucky. Brent has achieved record-breaking success in the genre film space as a filmmaker, with his movies having grossed over $300M worldwide to date.

Bell’s first horror project was as co-writer and director of the horror thriller, Stay Alive, which was produced with McG and Peter Schlessel and financed by Spyglass and Endgame Entertainment. The film was acquired and distributed by Disney. Brent then directed The Devil Inside for Paramount Pictures. The film went on to achieve enormous commercial success grossing over $100M at the box office.

He directed The Boy for Lakeshore Entertainment and producer Roy Lee and followed that up with the sequel Brahms: The Boy II. In 2021, he directed Orphan: First Kill for Paramount, a prequel to the cult horror film The Orphan (2009).

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Director William Brent Bill will be attending with producer James Tomlinson and composer Brett Detar.

Writer, producer and director, Lou Simón was born in Havana, Cuba. At age nine, her family immigrated to the U.S. to escape the communist regime. Lou started writing short stories at the age of 10, but eventually went on to pursue a law career. Lou found her way back to her writing after years of private practice, and in 2011, she decided to produce one of her scripts. Since then, Lou has written, produced and directed four feature films: HazMat, Agoraphobia, All Girls Weekend, 3:An Eye For An Eye and 73 Minutes. All her films have obtained distribution throughout the world and have won several awards at various film festivals. She just completed her sixth film, the thriller “9 Windows.” Director Statement

Allan Piper may be best known to some viewers for his live fact-checks of the former president. He was NowThis’ senior politics producer throughout the Trump presidency, which was a different kind of horror story. He was also a filmmaker on the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016. He previously directed the indie features Married & Counting and Starving Artists, as well as the short film Roommate From Hell, which screened at the New York City Horror Film Festival in 2004.

Takeshi Kushida Born in 1982. KUSHIDA is a member of PYRAMID FILM in Tokyo. His First Feature “Woman of the Photographs” won 40 film festival awards and has been released in 7 countries. [Filmography] Woman of the Photographs(89min,2020) Official Selection at Fantasia, Frightfest, Tokyo, Nashville etc VOICE (10min, 2018) Best Fiction Film – Black Maria Film Festival The Earth was Bluish (1min, 2015) Grand Prize– UNITED FOR PEACE Film Festival I AM A CAMERA (4min, 2013)Jury Award – GR Movie Festival REINCARNATION (5min, 2008) Jury Recommended work – Japan Media Art Festival Hide and Seek (14min, 2005) GOLD PRIZE – Bilbao International Short and Documentary Film Festival KANNNON (4min, 2004) SPECIAL MENTION – WRO Media Art Biennale FLOW (3min, 2003) FIRST PRIZE – Rencontres Audiovisuelles in Lille Director Statement

Douglas Schulze is an award-winning independent filmmaker with over three decades of experience in features. He is also the founder and president of an accredited Midwest film institute responsible for training and launching the careers of countless notable industry professionals (www.motionpicture.edu).

Fresh out of film school, Schulze directed screen icons John Saxon and David Emge in Hellmaster. Schulze has also directed Sid Haig in Mimesis and Lance Henriksen in its sequel, Mimesis: Nosferatu. Schulze’s fright flicks have aired on major cable and streaming platforms including HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, The Movie Channel, Shudder and more. His movies (which also include The Dark Below, Dark Fields and Dark Heaven) have been invited and won awards at notable film festivals including Fantasia, Sitges, London FrightFest, Cinequest and the New York City Horror Film Festival, just to name a few. Schulze’s latest chiller THORNS is wrapping up its successful worldwide fest run right here at the NYC Horror Film Festival and will be receiving a major theatrical release in 2024.

Damien LeVeck is quickly ascending the ranks as one of the best new horror writers/directors in the industry. His 2020 exorcism teeth-clencher THE CLEANSING HOUR became one of Shudder’s most successful titles of all time. Damien parlayed its success into his sophomore film A CREATURE WAS STIRRING, a holiday monster thriller starring Chrissy Metz (This is Us), Annalise Basso (Oculus), & Scout Taylor-Compton (Rob Zombie’s Halloween I & II). Damien is particularly drawn to the horror genre because of its ability to spark discussions about morality, evil, and the eternal. With over 20 years of professional experience editing film and television, Damien has grown into a director who not only understands the economy of storytelling but also how to design precise pacing and tone through the art of the edit, which is at the forefront of his mind on set.

Michelle Iannantuono is an award winning writer/director from Charleston, South Carolina. Her previous features include 2018’s LIVESCREAM, which was nominated for a Rondo Award and won Best Director at Nightmares Film Festival, and 2020’s DETROIT EVOLUTION, a queer transformative fan film in the “Detroit Become Human” video game universe which has surpassed 2 million views on YouTube. Her previous shorts include FAME FATALE, which screened at NYC Horror Film Festival and won Best Comedy and Best Actor at 2022’s Genreblast; DETROIT REAWAKENING, which has half a million views on YouTube; and she produced Michael Smallwood’s WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WEDDING, which screened at FilmQuest, NYC Horror Film Fest, and more.

James Morris was born on April 26, 1988, in Provo, Utah. He started making films at an early age and was later able to hone his creative skills at East Hollywood High, a film charter school, from which he graduated in 2006. He is an actor, director, producer, and writer, known primarily for his work in the independent horror genre.