John Landis to Head 48 Hour Film Jury

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March 7, 2008 -- SCI-FI-LONDON is delighted to announce that Hollywood Legend, JOHN LANDIS (Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London) will head the Jury for the 1st SCI-FI-LONDON 48 hour film challenge as part of this year's SCI-FI-LONDON, the UK's only dedicated science fiction and fantastic film festival (30 April – 4 May 2008).

The 48 hour Film Challenge will take place 5 – 7th April 2008. Entrants register as a team online and then attend a briefing on April 5th where they are given a randomly generated film title, some dialogue and a prop – all of which must be in their 5 minute film. They then have 2 days to write, shoot, edit and complete the film and return it by Noon on April 7th.

Louis Savy, Festival Director said "It is a real honour for us to have such an eminent filmmaker as chair of our jury. We know how tough a 48 hour challenge can be and wanted to reflect that by having a jury who really know about filmmaking."

The other members of the jury are Actor/Presenter EMILY BOOTH, Programmer for the London Short Film Festival PHILIP ILSON, Head of Branded Content for Sci-Fi Channel KEN JONES and Editor of SFX Magazine DAVE BRADLEY.

Prizes include a Canon HD camera, £250 cash, Archos video player and much more. The winning film will also be screened as part of our closing night gala ceremony.

All the films made will be screened at the festival and then all go online at SCI-FI-LONDON.TV, our online film festival. The event is being supported by The Sci-Fi Channel, the UK's cable and satellite broadcaster.

About the SCI-FI-LONDON:
The UK's only science fiction and fantastic film festival, SCI-FI-LONDON is set to deliver its seventh festival in 2008. Over the last 6 years SCI-FI-LONDON has shown itself to be a hit with venues, sponsors, film studios and our audience. Each year screening attendance has topped 80% and has consistently attracted excellent media attention.

The festival continues to bring fun, challenging and interesting movie premieres to the UK along with a programme of rarely screened classics. They pride themselves on delivering World, UK and London premieres (WILD ZERO, VERSUS, AKIRA, FALL OF THE LOUSE OF USHER, SLIPSTREAM, AVALON, MOTHMAN PROPHECIES, THE MACHINIST, PRIMER, FINAL FANTASY:ADVENT CHILDREN, CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, PAPRIKA and 28 WEEKS LATER) and a dynamic shorts programme, which has sold out every year.

SCI-FI-LONDON SEVEN
Dates: Wed 30 April– Sun 4 May 2008

Venue: Apollo West End, 19 Regent Street
SW1Y 4LR, UK

CONFIRMED FOR SCI-FI-LONDON 7:

PARAGRAPH 78
(2007, RUSSIA, MIKHAIL KHELBORODOV) Based on the novels by Ivan Ohlobystin.
In the not-so-distant future, a crew of ex-commandoes is assigned an important secret mission. This is a welcome opportunity for the retired soldiers to be reunited with their brothers-in-arms. But there are few old scores between them that have yet to be settled, and this bad blood could threaten the whole mission. This team of super pros realize that there are more important things than sticking to the Paragraph--the code of the commando. And they soon discover that the real danger lies not in the weapons base where they have been posted, but within their own team.www.p78.ru

WOLFHOUND
(2007, RUSSIA, NIKOLAI LEBEDEV)
Based on a best-selling Russian novel, Nikolia Lebedev's THE WOLFHOUND spins an epic sword and sorcery tale of a fierce warrior's quest for revenge for the death of his parents. Four years in the making, with the biggest budget in Russian history, THE WOLFHOUND is a gripping, action-packed feast that will delight fans of LORD OF THE RINGS, CONAN and KRULL.

Right up there with the best Hollywood(and New Zealand!) sword and sorcerer genre films, but we think it is better as the characters aren't the usual polished American or seasoned British actors.

NETHERBEAST INCORPORATED
(2007, USA, Dean Ronalds)
Berm-Tech Industries is a front for a sect of vampires the world would've otherwise forgotten. But they've kept themselves going through a communal approach; they work together and all live in the same building to make sure their numbers, which certainly aren't growing in the 21st Century, at least don't diminish.

Problem is the top man at Berm-Tech (Darrell Hammond) has contracted a disease which causes him to start losing his memory.Not only has he forgotten he is a vampire but he hires a couple of new people to the secretive company.

One of the new employees, PD Landry (Judd Nelson) is a time-and-motion guy brought in to improve productivity! While the second, Pearl (Amy Davidson) quickly captures the heart of Otto Granberry (Steve Burns) our faithful vampire computer guru and narrator. Not only this but members of Berm-Tech suddenly begin to disappear and Pearl begins to grow suspicious of the companies' vampire-like qualities, Otto must solve the case, win the girl and save the day.

Creatively scripted, this low budget independent film is the kind that demonstrates how filmmakers can perceptively make an entertaining movie without having a huge budget.

Starring: Darrell Hammond, Judd Nelson, Steve Burns, Amy Davidson, Jason Mewes and Robert Wagner