Founded in 2008 here in Lexington, KY, the ScareFest is celebrating its 13th year. The ScareFest is an annual Horror, Paranormal & Fandom Convention held every year at the Lexington Convention Center with over 10,000 local, out-of-state & international attendees. The ScareFest is one of the largest of its kind in the country, bridging the horror and paranormal with over 50,000 followers on social media. Every year we host celebrities, of the small and large screens, from the horror and paranormal world as well as local artists, businesses and entertainers.
The ScareFest Film Festival is a 4-day celebration of the macabre and all things horror. We are an event ran by fans for the fans, bringing terror from around the United States into Kentucky. We love to support independent filmmakers, students, & studios looking to showcase their work and anyone who is bringing innovation and excitement to the horror genre. Independent films and low budget masterpieces are central to the Horror genre and so that’s what we to showcase to our audiences.
We accept films from any genre of horror… SPLATTER, SLASHER & SUPERNATURAL! Comedy horror, documentary, dark sci-fi… if it’s got blood and guts or will keep you on the edge of your seat then we want to showcase your work!
Our attendees want to see original and pioneering films and shorts. We are looking for films that haven’t been released, not available on YouTube or DVD and are less than years old preferably. We are looking for new and fresh works to show our audiences and that’s what they’ve come to expect. Also works from students & our local indie filmmakers are always wonderful and we love to promote our Kentucky Horror Filmmakers!
IMPORTANT: We made mistakes in our 2019 Film Festival. We were simply unprepared for the high number of entries we received after switching from a "private submission" platform to FilmFreeway. For 2021 we have a new leadership team in place for the Film Festival and have handed over management of the event to our Media Team.
All film submissions chosen as finalists will automatically receive free VIP passes for the weekend which will gain you early entrance to meet your favorite celebrities & browse our exhibitor halls. It also gets you into our Friday VIP events and our Halloween Costume Ball held on Saturday night with music, drinks and all-around great time. We also offer discounted booths to our entries so you can sell merchandise & actively promote your film to our thousands of attendees as they pass by.
Awards will be available in the following categories:
• Best of Show
• Best Horror Comedy
• Audience Choice
• Best Documentary
• Best Supernatural/Ghost Story
• Best Screenplay
• Best Director
• Best Actor & Actress
• Scariest Moment
• Best Special Effect
Each winner will receive a statuette at our awards ceremony to be held at the Saturday Night Costume Ball during the event. Winners will also be featured on all social media, as well as ongoing promotion through all our social media platforms and website. Main Prize Winners may be invited to be guests on ScareFest Television, our weekly video podcast.
New for 2021: Showings of our finalists entries will be held at The LexLive Krikorian Theaters and open to the public as well as our attendees. This venue will allow your entry to be viewed in an actual theater setting and not just a meeting room at the convention center.
ALSO: Many of our entries will be streamed privately for our subscribing judges at The Scarefest Television AfterParty Project. These streaming copies may be resampled at a lower resolution and will be available for a very limited time.