Mayhem Film Festival co-directors Steven Sheil, Meli Gueneau and Chris Cooke discuss the festival’s 21-year journey, its role in championing independent and international filmmakers, and why Nottingham’s genre film community continues to thrive.
Mayhem has been running since 2005. How has the festival evolved over the past 21 years, and what has stayed true to its original vision?
Steven: There have been quite a few changes since we started. Originally, we were just a single night of short films; then we quickly expanded to showing features, and then moved first to a three-day, then a four-day festival. We also expanded from just horror to include sci-fi and cult cinema - cult essentially boiling down to anything good and weird that we considered might be a fit for our audience. But at the heart we’ve always been about bringing brand new independent genre cinema to Nottingham - that’s always been the vision.
Chris: Nottingham had a great short film festival, called BANG! And it was getting a lot of short films sent in that worked as a possible programme in itself. There’s a real demand for a platform for new genre talent. We could have gone for Halloween – but we named it Mayhem, as it was in May... of course...
What does Mayhem bring to Nottingham’s cultural scene that audiences might not find elsewhere?
Steven: I think that Nottingham has a pretty good cultural scene, with a lot of interesting, independent groups putting on really cool events. In the film sphere, we have people like Kino Klubb, Fortune and Glory, The Loft, Dead Duck, Lounge Trip and others all putting on great screenings. I guess for us, there are a couple of things that mark us out. Firstly, we’re bringing new films to our audience, predominantly pre-release, often premieres, so we’re offering the chance to see new films on the big screen with a big audience for the first time, so there’s that sense of discovery. Also, the fact that we run from a Thursday evening through to Sunday evening, all on one screen, means that we can build a programme that works across those four days and can bring our audience on a journey. Most of our audience are there for the duration, so there is a real festival atmosphere to the weekend.
Meli: We’re also in a lucky position whereby we can welcome guests to the festival, so it’s a fantastic opportunity for audiences to engage with filmmakers and talent firsthand as part of the festival. It’s not always possible, but we’ve welcomed a lot of great guests over the years.
Chris: And it’s built a social scene, a community, a space for regulars and newcomers – and people from outside the area attend.
How do you go about selecting films for the programme? Are you looking for particular themes, emerging filmmakers or films that challenge audience expectations?
Steven: For the feature programme, we contact distributors, sales agents and filmmakers and request screeners and then spend about three months watching them. We’re generally focused on independent genre cinema, but there’s quite a broad remit really - we’ll look at anything from anywhere around the world at any budget level. As I said before, we’re really trying to create a full and diverse programme for the weekend, so that plays into our selection - it’s like trying to make a great mixtape or playlist; you want to have some things that play well together as well as some things that surprise you or take you somewhere else. It’s always good to find stuff that surprises or challenges us, and if that happens, we generally figure that it’s going to work for our audience too.
Meli: Our audience is very open-minded, so we never look for one thing in particular. We’re always happy to discover what’s new in genre cinema, and as we watch films, we try to think about how the audience might respond to things we might programme. This is how we’ve been able to open up the programme beyond just horror. We know our audience trusts our programming and are keen to discover something new and explore the edges of genre.
Chris: We have a variety of screenings, and that always keeps the line-up and programme fresh. We’ve got witches and ghosts and dimension hopping and Gothic and a Sam Neill film in tribute and more...
This year's programme spans international horror, sci-fi and cult cinema. Have you noticed any interesting trends in the kinds of stories filmmakers are telling at the moment?
Steven: There are a few films this year which deal with wealth disparity and class, as well as films which look through a historical lens to challenge bigoted attitudes, so I think a lot of filmmakers are really leaning into one of the things that genre, and horror in particular, is really good at, which is telling stories through allegory and metaphor which have deep resonances for today’s society.
Mayhem has built a reputation for showcasing films that might not otherwise reach UK audiences. How important are festivals like yours in giving independent and international filmmakers a platform?
Steven: I like to think festivals like Mayhem do still have an importance for independent and international filmmakers, because they connect films and filmmakers - we always try to get guest filmmakers and cast to our screenings whenever possible - to audiences in a very direct way. And speaking to the filmmakers who come along to the festival, they really love it too, because they get that direct experience of interacting with a crowd. We’ve had people like Ben Wheatley come back 6 or 7 times to the festival because he loves that feeling - it’s seeing your film as you want it to be seen.
Meli: The distribution landscape has changed a lot, and even though horror and genre more broadly have become more fashionable in the last few years, it can still be extremely hard for films on the indie side to get a distribution deal. Some films will have an incredible festival run internationally and somehow still won’t be able to be seen more widely outside of that, so festivals like Mayhem are incredibly important to the ecosystem. A film like Hundreds of Beavers a couple of years back might not have been able to reach as wide an audience if it hadn’t played in festivals beforehand, and that would have been a real shame both for the filmmakers and for audiences.
Chris: It’s great to give them a platform and for an audience to feel that part of Mayhem’s purpose is to encourage them to discover something new.
What are you most excited about in this year's programme, and are there any films you think might surprise audiences?
Steven: We have a very strong international feel to the programme this year, with films from eight different countries across five continents, with a range of tones from gross-out to action-packed to terrifying. I’m really looking forward to screening Mārama, a New Zealand film with a great Gothic look to it, as we have the director, Taratoa Stappard, coming to present the film, and I can’t wait to see it on the big screen with our crowd. In terms of surprises, You Are The Film from Japan is endlessly weird and surprising, and Ghost In The Cell from Indonesia is a real mix of tones, which I think is going to really delight the crowd.
Chris: I love them all, so to single one out, I would say I love Imposters. It’s a tight, fast-paced, and disturbingly weird... and scary. And the short programmes are full of treasures.
Meli: The shorts are always full of surprises, so it’s always great to hear audience responses to them. Feature-wise, I’m super excited for people to (re)discover Guy Maddin’s Careful on the big screen, and I think Never After Dark might also surprise people.
How important is the audience experience to Mayhem? What do you think makes watching a horror or cult film at a festival different from watching it at home?
Steven: The audience experience is key for us - we want people to have a great time, be entertained, and feel like they’ve seen things they’ve never seen before. With a genre like horror, which really depends on the visceral thrills it provides, it’s really key, I think, to experience it on the big screen, in the dark, alongside a bunch of other people, because it really helps to amplify the experience.
Chris: Yeah. Scream together. Laugh together.
Meli: It’s definitely one of the most important things for us. We’re so lucky to have Broadway as a home because not only is the experience on the screen going to be fantastic, but there is space outside of the screen for the conversation to continue and for people to talk about what they’ve seen, what they’ve liked, what they haven’t liked. We’ve also been very conscious not to spread the festival too much over the years because hearing from the audience firsthand is the best way for us to keep on programming films they want to see. And so, being able to be around the building and catch people before or after screenings and hearing them share their experience is incredibly valuable to us.
You've welcomed filmmakers, special guests and hosted unusual live cinema events over the years. Are there any past screenings or festival moments that have particularly stayed with you?
Steven: We did a screening a few years back of a silent movie called The Unknown by Tod Browning, with a specially composed new soundtrack by Nottingham’s own 8mm Orchestra, and that was one of my absolute favourite Mayhem experiences - seeing this nearly 100-year-old film - which is pretty messed-up in all the right ways - with a fantastic and evocative live soundtrack was just brilliant.
Meli: As part of the festival, our Hammer live stage readings were really super special, and that’s always going to rank quite high for me. Outside of the festival date, I have to say our European Premiere of The Human Centipede 3 was really quite the event.
Chris: I loved meeting Nic Roeg for our screening of his final film, Puffball, and his masterpiece, Don’t Look Now. And I loved that we screened all three Birdemic films over the years and met James Nguyen, the director of the mad trilogy.
How does being based at Broadway Cinema shape the festival, and what does Nottingham offer as a home for independent and genre film?
Steven: Broadway has been our home since the beginning, and we really couldn’t do it without them. They’re a great venue and a fantastic support to us in terms of managing the festival. Having a Cafe Bar, Mezz Bar, and the terrace means that there are always break-out spaces for the audience between films, and they can also get food and drink without leaving, so it makes the festival feel really contained for the weekend. And Broadway’s staff are always really supportive of the festival and really into it, which always makes us and our audience feel welcome.
Chris: The support is amazing and really appreciated. It’s the best environment for events like Mayhem.
Meli: I don’t think people realise how incredible the staff at Broadway are. The amount of support and love the festival gets across all departments is immeasurable. And a special shout-out to their projection team, who may live in the dark, literally and metaphorically, but are absolutely the best at what they do and truly deserve their flowers.
What would you say to someone who doesn't usually watch horror or sci-fi but is curious about coming along to Mayhem for the first time?
Steven: I always say this, but I really think that we have something for everyone - there’s a real spread of films across the genre, so if you want gory and gloopy, we have it, and if you want spooky and spine-chilling, we have it, and if you want cerebral and complex, we have it. Genre cinema contains multitudes - you just need to come along and give it a try.
Chris: I’d say come and see Crawlers...
Meli: Mayhem is a place for everyone. Yes, we have a strong core audience who will come and watch everything, but we also have people who will just come and watch one thing, and they will still feel welcome in the space and the community. Maybe you’ve never considered the festival before, but you like In The Mouth of Madness and want to see it on the big screen, and that’s totally fine. Get a ticket, come and join us. You’ll still be a part of the festival and have a great experience whilst you’re there, and watch your favourite film in the best conditions possible. We would absolutely love to welcome you. No strings attached.
Fancy joining in with the fun? Grab your tickets for Mayhem Film Festival over on the Broadway website or come on down between 15-18 October.
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?