I'm a horror fan. So, when I had the opportunity to do the Q&A at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival for the Canadian premiere of a new horror film Berkshire County, touted as the revival of the 1980s babysitting horror flick, I jumped at the chance. And as it turns out, the chance had me jumping quite often, because Berkshire County is a well-crafted, tense and delightfully frightening horror movie. And at the helm of it all, is director Audrey Cummings.

Berkshire went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film at Shriekfest Los Angeles. The win made her the first female to win the award in the 18-year history of the festival.

Audrey went on to direct an 11-episode digital series; the prelude to her award winning second feature film Darken, a sci-fi/fantasy thriller which won her four awards including Best Science Fiction Feature Film and two Best Director Awards.

Then came Audrey's third feature film She Never Died, an immortal action thriller unlike any I've seen before. The film became a hit on the film festival circuit, garnering considerable critical acclaim as well as some major awards.

Audrey received the WIFT New Vision Fellowship Award for Best Emerging Canadian Female Director and was the recipient of the Barry Avrich Award for Emerging Canadian Filmmaker from the Toronto International Film Festival.

Join Thom Ernst and Audrey Cummings as they talk about genre films, film festivals and fighting against the attitude that women can't direct horror.

Find more about Audrey's upcoming films at:

https://audreycummings.com/

Original music provided by Moira Demorest

Support for this podcast comes from the Kingston Canadian Film Festival which is situated on the traditional homeland of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Huron-Wendat. This podcast is generously funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.