FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE AT THE 2026 FESTIVAL
TIM CONNERY
THE DRIFTLESS (Opening Night Film)
im Connery is a Midwestern producer and director. He completed his undergraduate in directing at Columbia College Chicago in 2009 and moved to Iowa to produce his first feature film shortly afterward. With the help of a successful Kickstarter campaign, BLACK WEB (2012), would go on to have its world premiere at the prestigious Seattle International Film Festival and its international premiere at the leading horror/sci-fi festival, Fantasia, in Montreal.
Since finding his identity in Iowa, he’s continued to make a career out of commercial filmmaking and produced another feature film, DEATH TO METAL (2021), to much fanfare in the horror comedy sphere, including articles from the New York Times and Bloody-Disgusting. His third feature, THE DRIFTLESS (2025), is currently making rounds on the festival circuit,
MICHAEL CONROY
SUNSE$T STRIP KILLERS (World Premiere)
Mike Conroy is an independent film producer and the founder of Deliver Films - a company specializing in the packaging, delivery, and worldwide distribution of feature films. With thousands of films delivered - Deliver Films has positioned itself as an industry expert in bringing films to market.
In addition to running his business, Mike is also a very active producer with over 60 productions in worldwide distribution. Highlight productions include Ed Kemper, Sunset Strip Killers, Dorothea, Devil's Disciple: The Night Stalker. Mike is always looking for new projects and filmmakers to work with as well as finished projects to release out into the world.
THOMAS ELIOT
THE PHILIP EXPERIMENT (World Premiere)
Alec is a writer and director from central New York. He spent his formative years watching John Carpenter films with his mom.
After attending the Savannah College of Art and Design to study directing, Alec found a community of like-minded artists who became his close friends and collaborators.
Following his studies, Alec returned to his hometown to film his debut feature, Blind Cop 2, which brought his creative journey full circle.
MANNY GUMINA
CREATURE FEAR (Midwest Premiere)
Manny Gumina is a Wisconsin filmmaker whose character-driven work blends expressionism, suspense, and black comic undertones. Formerly trained in beer brewing and business, he applies that precision to his writing and directing. His debut feature Creature Fear was shot in rural Wisconsin and explores the psychological toll of class tension, isolation, and ecological degradation.
JOSHUA LAND & VICTOR FINK
INCUBATION (World Premiere)
Joshua Land and Victor Fink are a directing team who met as undergraduates at Johns Hopkins University and have collaborated on five feature films. They run the production company MindInMotion, based in Baltimore MD, and specialize in grounded naturalistic storytelling, focusing on stories about individuals trying to find their place in societies filled with uncertainty.
Joshua and Victor are MidWest WeirdFest alum. Their feature film BAD WITCH won the festival’s “Best Horror Film” award in 2020.
ED SHIMBORSKE
ON GALLOWS HILL (Midwest Premiere)
Growing up as an outcast in the midwest, creating art was my only outlet for expressing myself, whether that be a surreal oil painting about imaginary friends or a stop-motion love story about wooden armatures. As I developed my skills and connected with others, I grew passionate about telling others’ stories and found a love for the collaborative art of filmmaking. I’m interested in using multimedia in order to capture emotions and characters at their deepest level- and the overlap between myth and feeling.
AURELIO VOLTAIRE
THE DEMONATRIX (Wisconsin Premiere)
At the age of 10, Aurelio Voltaire bought a super 8 camera and taught himself the art of stop-motion animation. At 17, he ran away from home to New York City where by 18, he had become an award-winning animator and director working on station IDs for MTV and national spots for international brands.
Through his stop-motion short films, Aurelio Voltaire was able to explore his more fantastic, monster-filled visions, each narrated by a singer he admired including Danny Elfman, Gerard Way, Blondie front-woman Deborah Harry, Psychedelic Furs frontman, Richard Butler and new wave pioneer, Gary Numan. These five shorts earned Voltaire 35 film festival awards.
After achieving success as an internationally touring recording artist and author, Aurelio Voltaire has circled back around to his original passion to make his first feature length creature feature with co-director, Jeff Ferrell.
MILES AUGUST
THE GIRL IN THE STREET (Midwest Premiere)
Miles August is a Chicago-based filmmaker, visual artist, and composer with a background in music, design, and digital advertising.
\After studying Graphic Design at the Illinois Institute of Art, he developed a distinctive visual style rooted in photography and videography. He founded Notre Films in 2023, producing short documentaries and client-driven video content. As co-founder of Swym Good Films, Miles brings his holistic creative vision to narrative work, seamlessly blending image, sound, and story in films like SILK and The Girl in the Street.
LUCAS ALEXANDER CURMIS
SOMETIME (Midwest Premiere)
Mainly described as "weird," Lucas Kurmis is a singer songwriter from Minneapolis Minnesota. Lucas' music ranges from folk-punk, to indie rock, to spoken word, to noise-rock.
Lucas' focus is often on guitar, as he's played since his teens, but he uses strings, drums, and a toy casio keyboard in his own style.
GABRIELA LOPEZ
SOVEREIGN (Midwest Premiere)
Gabriela Lopez is an award-winning filmmaker, actress, and writer known for her surrealist storytelling and bold cinematic vision. Born and raised in Dothan, Alabama, Gabriela began her career in front of the camera, landing her first role as Carlita in Teen Spirit (Freeform). She later starred alongside Chloe Grace Moretz in The 5th Wave (Sony) and recurred in Emmy Award-winning series The Crossover (Disney+).
Her transition into filmmaking began with the award-winning short film Unrelated, which she wrote, produced, and starred in. In 2023, she made her directorial debut with Weather Girl, an official selection of Sidewalk Film Festival and Burbank International Film Festival where it competed for Best Short.
Gabriela’s latest film, Sovereign, is inspired by personal lived experience. A surreal horror short about a woman trapped in a game of hide-and-seek to find her missing arm, a dark fairytale about the relentless cycle of taking back your power. It premiered at Mórbido Film Fest 2025 and is currently doing festival run.
Gabriela is a member of SAG- AFTRA, Film Independent, WIF, and AWD.
CHRIS PAICELY
THE GIRL IN THE STREET (Midwest Premiere)
Chris Paicely is a lifelong storyteller whose path has taken him from journalism to filmmaking. After earning a Master’s degree from Northwestern University, he covered politics and education before leading marketing at the Surge Institute, where he produced campaigns and directed video content, including "Shades of Leadership," featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda.
In 2020, he founded StoryPaced, a Black-owned video production company, and in 2022 co-founded Swym Good Films, producing the award-winning sci-fi short ALUS. Chris continues to explore powerful narratives through film, podcasting, and community work in Chicago’s South Suburbs—while balancing life as a proud husband and father of three.
NICK ROHR
CONSUMER - SHIMMERY YOU (Midwest Premiere)
Nick Rohr is the creative director that runs Lemon Pulp Studios, both an independent comics and zines publishing label as well as an internationally awarded traditional animation studio. You can find the work on Instagram @lemonpulpstudios.
His animated short screens at the festival before Chad Ferrin’s H. P. LOVECRAFT’S OLD ONES.
THOMAS SLIPSAGER
LIGHT IN THIS HOUSE (MidWest Premiere)
A Minneapolis based Director, Writer & Editor.