Over 30 leading experts in the genre film industry accepted the invite to help put together Dread Central’s list of Best Genre Film Festivals & Programs in 2025/2026: visionary festival programmers, influential studio executives, genre-savvy distributors, seasoned sales executives, respected journalists/critics, and acclaimed filmmakers.
In alphabetical order of their last names, here they are with their professional achievements summarized in short bios:
Emily Bennett
Writer/Director Emily Bennett is an Academy-recognized screenwriter and FANGORIA Chainsaw Award-winning director. Her films Alone With You, Accidental Stars, LVRS, and Bed have screened at festivals such as Sitges, Fantastic Fest, Brooklyn Horror, Telluride Horror, BIFAN, and Fantasia. Her screenplay, ACHE, placed quarter finalist in the Academy Nicholl Fellowship (2020).
In 2023, Bennett won a FANGORIA Chainsaw Award for her debut feature film Alone With You, which she co-directed with husband and DP Justin Brooks. Her second feature film, Blood Shine, is currently in post and stars Bennett, Larry Fessenden, and Toby Poser amongst others. Bennett is a graduate of The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art’s BA acting program. As a director and screenwriter, Bennett is represented by Antonio D’Intino at SpectreVision.
Dean Bertram
Dean Bertram, PhD, has over 20 years’ experience in the film festival space. He is the founder and director of two consistently ranked “Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals” on FilmFreeway: Midwest WeirdFest and A Night of Horror International Film Festival. And he has programmed and advised for several other festivals. Dean is also a filmmaker whose work has screened at dozens of fests around the world.
Ioan Big
Director of Dracula Film Festival from Braşov, Romania, since 2019, Ioan Big, journalist and pop culture analyst, is the publisher of the Romanian magazines Cinemap, Zile şi Nopţi and Sunete, having hundreds of articles and interviews published in various cultural outlets since his debut in the 80s. During the past decades, Ioan produced and collaborated on various radio and television projects, as well as movie launches and musical live happenings and festivals. Ioan is the author of several published volumes, such as Eric Clapton (2001), Punk Era (2003), Blue, Black & White. The Rolling Stones Story (2006), Sex, the cross beared by Ken Russell (2016), Zombies in the 21st Century (2020), creator of the universe of Artess comics series (2014) and co-author of the omnibus “The Colors of Sounds: Music and Visual Arts” (2015).
Artur Brzozowski
Artur has a degree in theatre studies and Dutch philology from the Free University of Berlin. He initially started off his career in the film industry by working in sales and acquisitions, before he started to work as a short-film programmer for the Fantasy Filmfest, the largest genre film festival in Germany, in 2010. In 2013, Artur co-founded the first genre festival in Poland, Black Bear Filmfest. Since the beginning of 2019, Artur has been the co-director of Fantasy Filmfest, the biggest and most vibrant genre festival in Germany. He’s also responsible for Transilvania International Film Festival’s genre program, Full Moon.
Sylvia Caminer
Sylvia Caminer’s feature thriller, Follow Her, traveled the world on the festival circuit, winning more than 15 awards, including the Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival. She is completing post on the horror comedy short, Alpaca, and is in active development on Under The Moon, a werewolf thriller, set in a Hasidic enclave. Sylvia has produced more than a dozen award-winning indie features and is a two-time non-fiction Emmy Award winner for the popular series with travel guru, Samantha Brown. She also directed the feature documentaries An Affair of the Heart with Rick Springfield and Tanzania: A Journey Within. She is represented by Marc Manus at Persistent.
Aislinn Clarke
Aislinn Clarke’s hotly anticipated Fréwaka, the latest in a new wave of Irish horror, is streaming now on Shudder. This is the follow-up to her acclaimed 2018 debut, The Devil’s Doorway.
Mitch Davis
Mitch Davis has been a core programmer at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal since 1997. As a filmmaker, he directed the shorts DIVIDED INTO ZERO (1999 – winner, Jury Award for Best Narrative Short at the Chicago Underground Film Festival) and GOD’S LITTLE GIRL (2006). Davis produced Karim Hussain’s transgressive feature debut SUBCONSCIOUS CRUELTY (2000) as well as Rick Trembles’ GOOPY SPASMS (2004) and was an associate producer on the anthology feature ABC’S OF DEATH 2 (2014), released by Magnolia Pictures.
Most recently, he is an associate producer on Pablo Absento’s BLOAT (2025), produced by Timur Bekmambetov, released by Lionsgate. Among his other endeavours, Davis was a programmer at Cinema Du Parc from 1999 to 2006, has written for a multitude of cinema and culture publications including Fangoria, Rue Morgue Magazine, Eyeball, and the Harvard film journal, Post Script, and has contributed chapters for a range of books.
Onur Doğan
Onur Doğan is a film and festival director born in Istanbul. His latest award-winning horror short film, the literary adaptation The Bomb, from 2024, is still on the festival circuit. He has been selected for festivals such as FilmQuest, LUSCA Fantastic Fest, Morbido Fest, Freak Show, HorrorHaus, and Tirana International Film Fest with his horror short films. He continues to be the director of KORK International Horror Film Festival, which he founded in 2024 and is the first international horror film festival in Türkiye. He’s also a jury member at four film festivals.
Shawn Drywa
Shawn Drywa is the Programming Director of the Vortex Film Festival, a genre program part of the Rhode Island International Film Festival.
Shawn became the Programming Director of the then Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival in 2001 before departing in 2004. He returned as Programming Director to the festival in 2017, which had changed to Vortex, a full genre festival.
Shawn grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and currently resides in Lincoln, Rhode Island, with his wife and two children.
Sam Fox
Sam blends highly stylized imagery, music, and psychedelia with horror and genre cinema via her production company Foxy Films. Sam’s latest short, “The Blue Diamond” (ft. Barbara Crampton), won Best Short Film (Grimmfest), Best Editing (Beverly Hills Film Festival), Best Ensemble (FilmQuest), received distribution from Canal+, and is currently in development in feature form. In 2023, Sam teamed up with MovieMaker Magazine to make the horror-comedy, Fck’n Nuts, based on her experience growing up with her crazy family. Fck’n Nuts (Fantastic Fest, Beyond Fest, Brooklyn Horror) won Best Midnight Short (FilmQuest), Best Horror Comedy (Flickers Rhode Island), as well as Jury Prize (Knoxville Horror).
In 2021, Sam wrote and directed Bad Acid, which won Best Director (Nightmares Film Festival), as well as several Best Production Design awards. In addition to directing, Sam executive produced Heidi Weitzer’s comedy feature “My Divorce Party” (ft. Rumer Willis), which won the Audience Award for Best Feature (Beverly Hills Film Festival). She also produced Britt Lower’s “Circus Person”, which screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, won Best of Fest (Catalyst), and the Audience Award (Nashville Film Festival).
Mònica Garcia i Massagué
Mònica Garcia I Massagué is currently the General Manager of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. She combines this activity with university teaching and writing. She has more than a dozen published titles of an informative nature. She has a degree in Communication Sciences and in Advertising and Public Relations; she is also a researcher in Multimedia Engineering and is currently working on a thesis on film festivals and film marketing.
In relation to the cinema, she has extensive experience. In 2004, she assumed the communication direction of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. Next, she worked in international audiovisual promotion and in the evaluation of film festivals. Currently, at the Sitges Film Festival, she is also responsible for the industry program and the development of projects with international links such as Sitges Cocoon, which explores the convergences between technology and audiovisual production, or WomanInFan / Horror Girls, a program for the visibility and incorporation of creative women into the fantastic filmography (www.womaninfan.com).
Peter Hall
Peter Hall is a Senior Programmer for the SXSW Film & TV Festival, where he programs across all feature film sections, but also specifically the Midnighters section. He’s also a writer and filmmaker with his creative partner, Paul Gandersman. Their directorial debut, MAN FINDS TAPE, will World Premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival. Their debut novel, THE DEAD FRIENDS SOCIETY, was nominated for Best Novel at the 2022 Shirley Jackson Awards.
Fatima Hayward
Fatima Hayward is currently Director of Distribution at Blue Finch Films, where she has been working since its inception. Fatima works across various sectors of the company, including marketing, festival strategies, acquisitions, and development. She has worked across a variety of genre titles, including SXSW winner Raging Grace, the acclaimed Steppenwolf, which played at Rotterdam and Karlovy Vary, and genre festival favourite Oddity from Damian McCarthy.
Joseph Hernandez
Joseph Hernandez is currently the Senior Programmer and Director of Community Development of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Since its first edition in 2016, he’s helped build the festival into a premier stop on the global genre circuit while shining a spotlight on countless new and established filmmakers. He joined the Austin-based SXSW Film and TV Festival in 2022, where he now serves as an Associate Programmer.
Joseph is a co-founder and programmer of virtual fests Nightstream and Reel Love, COVID-era initiatives created to ensure the film festival circuit continued through the pandemic. He also assisted in launching the North Bend Film Festival, a destination genre festival in Twin Peaks land, where he rose to Senior Programmer during a five-year stint from 2018 to 2022. A proud member of SAG-AFTRA, Joseph has been an actor/performer for most of his life. He was born and raised in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn, NY, and is now based out of North Bergen, NJ.
Aaron B. Koontz
Aaron B. Koontz is the CEO and Founder of the boutique genre production house Paper Street Pictures, where he has led production on over twenty feature film,s including the upcoming SHELBY OAKS from Chris Stuckmann and Executive Produced by Mike Flanagan, releasing later in 2025 via NEON. Aaron is also an accomplished Writer and Director with works that include The Pale Door and the Scare Package franchise on Shudder. Currently, Aaron is in Post Production as the Showrunner, Lead Writer, EP, and Co-Creator of the SYFY TV Series REVIVAL based on the best-selling Image Comics.
Peter Kuplowsky
Peter Kuplowsky is a film curator, producer, and writer based in Toronto. Since 2005, he has championed genre and underground cinema at various international film festivals, including Toronto After Dark, Fantastic Fest (Austin, Texas), and the Toronto International Film Festival, where he currently leads its popular Midnight Madness section. Ever passionate about filmmakers who work outside mainstream channels, Peter is also the founder and president of Low Sky Productions, an independent film development company. His producer credits include In A Violent Nature, The Void, Psycho Goreman, The Artifice Girl, Climate of the Hunter, Country Gold, Every Heavy Thing, Mangoshake, Camp, and the reboot of Roger Corman’s Deathstalker. A graduate of the University of Toronto’s Cinema Studies Institute, Peter is internationally recognized for his enthusiastic introductions to cult film audiences and his oft-tossed fedora.
Louie La Vella
Louie La Vella is a film producer and executive from Canada, known for horror films such as Invited, The Woodmen, and CEO of streaming specialty horror channel FOUND TV.
Annick Mahnert
Born in Geneva, Annick Mahnert studied film production at the NYFA and worked as a production assistant at Roger Corman’s Concorde-New Horizons. Back in Switzerland, she went on to work in distribution and programming at 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Pathé Cinémas, and Frenetic Films. In early 2012, she moved to Paris to join the renowned sales agency Celluloid Dreams, handling sales and acquisitions. Since 2013, she has been working as a freelance producer, acquisitions consultant, and festival programmer.
Annick co-produced Alexandre O. Philippe’s documentaries 78/52, Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on the Exorcist and Memory: The Origins of Alien, and produced Edgar Nito’s Huachicolero and Mattie Do’s The Long Walk. Annick Mahnert is a programmer at the Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantastic de Catalunya and the European Fantastic Film Festival of Strasbourg, the Director of Programming at Fantastic Fest in Austin, and is the Executive Director of the Frontières International Co-Production Market. She is a member of the Swiss Film Academy and the European Film Academy.
Miguel Ángel Marín Colín
With over 25 years of experience in the audiovisual industry, Miguel Ángel Marín Colín has focused primarily on film and television production, collaborating with international companies such as Disney Buenavista, Mediapro, Televisa, Telemundo, TV Azteca, and Imagina US. As an independent producer, he has participated in internationally acclaimed projects, including México Bárbaro, one of the best-selling Mexican horror films worldwide; Aztech, winner of the Ariel Award for Best Visual Effects in 2022 and recipient of four Pantalla de Cristal Awards.
He is an active member of the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC), and has served as a jury member at festivals such as Nocturna, Isla Calavera, Shorts México, Ventana Sur Blood Window, Festival Curtas, Santiago Horror, the 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP), and the FanPitch of the Sitges Film Festival in Spain. He frequently attends major film gatherings such as Cannes, Guadalajara, and Morelia.
Marín has served as an evaluator for IMCINE’s Eficine Production program, one of Mexico’s main public film funding initiatives. Since 2025, he has held the position of delegate for the National Chamber of the Film Industry (CANACINE) in the state of Michoacán.
In 2012, he founded the Feratum International Fantastic Film Festival, now considered one of the most important genre festivals in Latin America. In 2022, he launched the Feratum Residency, a program dedicated to the development of genre projects. In 2021, he was recognized by Encuadres magazine as one of the 25 most influential figures in Mexican cinema.
Jonathan Martin
Jonathan Martin is a multi-award-winning producer, director, and writer whose films have won over 250 festival and industry awards since 2011, which he produces through his production company, Bohemian Industries. Additionally, his productions have played in over 300 festivals worldwide, including many Academy Awards qualifiers. Known for stylish, fantastical, and meticulously produced films, Jonathan has become a prominent voice in genre cinema.
Jonathan is also the founder and director of the world-renowned genre film festival FilmQuest. While currently ranked as the #1 best reviewed film festival in the world on FilmFreeway, the festival has also twice been recognized by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” (2023 & 2024), and 6x’s one of its “Top 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” (2015, 2017, 2021 – 2024). He is currently wrapping production on the official documentary for the State of Utah about the creation of its new state flag, a design he also had a hand in creating.
Mary Beth McAndrews
Mary Beth McAndrews is a filmmaker, critic, academic, podcaster, editor, and all-around horror film nerd. She’s currently the editor-in-chief at Dread Central, and her feature film debut, Bystanders, is out now on Tubi. She’s also produced films such as .ask, For Sale By Exorcist, Ghost Game, and The Jester. She’s written for places such as RogerEbert.com, Slash Film, Thrillist, Film School Rejects, Bright Wall/Dark Room, Paste Magazine, Polygon, and Fangoria. She’s also been published in two academic texts and has an upcoming book on Paranormal Activity (2009). You can read her words and hear her voice in physical releases for places such as Second Sight Releasing, Vinegar Syndrome, and Umbrella Entertainment.
Ramone Menon
Originally from Bangalore, India, Ramone Menon is a filmmaker who specializes in genre cinema that is laced with social commentary. His previous works include award-winning films such as My Scary Indian Wedding (which is currently on Alter’s YouTube channel), The Pey, and Once Upon a Time in a Haunted House. His latest film, Virgin, a horror movie about the birth of Jesus Christ, is currently on the film festival circuit. Ramone’s films have played in over 70 festivals worldwide, such as the Oscar qualifying HollyShorts, Cinequest, LA Shorts International Film Festival, and some of the top genre festivals, such as Panic Fest, FilmQuest, and Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, to name a few. Ramone is currently based in Los Angeles, California.
Monica Moore-Suriyage
Monica Moore-Suriyage is a daughter of immigrants and a Dominican/Sri Lankan filmmaker with a penchant for horror and anything pink (usually combined). Her first horror film, “Black In Red Out,” led to her being featured in the documentary “Horror Noire” about the history of Black horror, alongside icons like Jordan Peele, Tony Todd, and Rachel True.
She directed and produced the shows “Hold That Pose for Me” and “Batter Up!” for Snapchat, and directs videos for BuzzFeed’s Latino brand, Pero Like. Her online videos have multiple millions of collective views, and many have gone viral. She also loves directing music videos, most recently for indie rock artist Rosie Tucker and rapper Princess Superstar.
Her 2021 horror short film “La Ciguapa Siempre” was made in collaboration with Netflix and the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. The film won Best Narrative Short at the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival, qualifying it for a 2023 Academy Award. It has also screened at Fantastic Fest, FilmQuest, Screamfest, and more. It is now available to stream on Netflix.
In 2022 Monica directed “mediEVIL” a horror segment in the anthology film “Give Me An A,” made in response to Roe v. Wade being overturned. She also participated in the inaugural Filmmaker Accelerator Program, provided by the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, and is an Academy Gold Fellow.
To celebrate 100 years of Warner Bros. Discovery, Monica was one of six filmmakers to write and direct a reimagined version of a classic WB film. She adapted “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” The film premiered on MAX on New Year’s Day 2025. She also just completed director shadowing Millicent Shelton on an episode of Doctor Odyssey as a mentee in the Ryan Murphy Half Initiative Director Shadowing program. Monica likes pretty things, scary things, and pretty scary things.
Jarod Neece
Jarod Neece, a Senior Programmer at the Tribeca Festival, has extensive experience in film programming and curation. Formerly the Chief Creative Officer at CURIA and a 20-year partner, Senior Programmer, and Producer at SXSW, Neece played a key role in shaping the strategic direction and programming. He has served as a juror or panelist at several prestigious events, including the Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
He is also an accomplished author and television host. Neece co-authored the bestselling books Austin Breakfast Tacos and The Tacos of Texas, published by UT Press, and co-hosted and produced the PBS documentary series The Tacos of Texas and United Tacos of America on Univision’s El Rey Network.
Toby Poser
Toby Poser is a filmmaker, actress, and founder of Wonder Wheel Productions, for which she directs, writes, produces, and performs alongside her family (collectively known as The Adams Family). The family’s award-winning independent feature films include The Deeper You Dig (2019), Hellbender (2021), Where the Devil Roams (2023), Hell Hole (2024), and the upcoming Mother of Flies. Toby co-directed the episode Plastic Smile for the new Screambox/Bloody Disgusting original series Tales from the Void (2024). She sings in the family’s band, H6LLB6ND6R.
Ian Rattray
Ian Rattray: A retired film programmer, film distributor, filmmaker, and designer with over 30 years of experience within the UK film industry. Being retired gives me the best of both worlds. The time to travel the world, while indulging myself in films and helping to run FrightFest, a fantastic community of like-minded people.
Ángel Sala
Ángel Sala (Barcelona, 1964) is a Spanish writer, screenwriter, and film critic, best known for being the director of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, held annually in the Catalan city, a position he has held since 2001.
Jason Shawhan
Media Prophet Jason Shawhan, GALECA/MCFCA/SEFCA, is currently the senior film critic for The Nashville Scene. He was the founder of the Nashville Cinema Underground and co-hosts the Midnight Movie series at The Belcourt Theatre.
A graduate of NYU (Literature/Critical Theory/Cinema Studies) and Watkins Film School (Cinematography), his criticism and writing have also appeared in Interface 2037, Dish Magazine, In Review, The Film Journal, Opposable Thumb Films, The L.A. Weekly, and about.com.
Jason’s art and photography have been exhibited at The St. Mark’s Position Gallery and The Barney Building in New York City, The Rule of Thirds Gallery and the Belcourt Gallery in Nashville, and online at IFC.com. He has also been photo elf for Crispin Glover, narrator for the epic 2018 Flash Gordon script read with Sam Jones, and as DJ Nomi spins the Erase; Rewind mixshow weekly at dancemixusa.com.
Steven Sloss
Steven Sloss is a Marketing Executive at Park Circus Films and has been a fan and scholar of kaiju cinema since he saw Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah at the age of seven. He has written and presented on the subject for the BFI, Arrow Films, FrightFest, the Barbican Centre, Glasgow Film Festival, the BBC, and more, and is the former co-host of the AV Club-featured Kaijusaurus Podcast. He is currently working on a book on the original Godzilla (1954) for Bloomsbury and the BFI. He posts on Bluesky at [email protected].
Jason Tostevin
Jason Tostevin is a filmmaker, writer, and the co-founder of Nightmares Film Festival. His short genre work has been awarded in festivals around the world and featured in outlets from The New York Times to Short of the Week.
Adrian Țofei
Adrian Țofei (pronounced Tsofei) is a Romanian filmmaker and actor best known for his cult horror feature Be My Cat: A Film for Anne and his upcoming feature We Put the World to Sleep.
IndieWire called Be My Cat a “hidden gem, nonstop nightmare, chilling character study and dazzling debut”, Blumhouse said it’s a “new intelligent found footage film you need to see”, Vulture included it among “the 10 best found footage horror movies”, and Dread Central named it “revolutionary and dangerous”. Adrian won Best Actor at the Nashville Film Festival for his performance, as well as Best Film at A Night of Horror in Sydney. He directed, produced, wrote, and starred in the movie, which premiered in 2015 at Fantasporto, traveled the festival circuit and received critical acclaim (88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was released by Terror Films in 2018 and has since attracted a cult following.
Adrian Țofei has been married to actress and writer Duru Yücel since 2017. Together they star in their upcoming feature, We Put the World to Sleep, the second part of their spiritual trilogy.
He is also known for his Top 100 Genre Film Festivals and Top 250 International Film Festivals lists with submission tips, which he maintains on his website.
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