The festival showcases a collection of films in independent genre cinema, including horror, sci-fi, fantasy and animation.
“The Diabolique International Film Festival always provides fresh and interesting perspectives in the genre of horror films,” said Jessica Davis Tagg, the events and operations manager for IU Cinema, in an email interview.
Diabolique screenings will occur Friday and Saturday in the IU Cinema and Sunday in Radio-TV 251.
Tagg said the festival will set itself apart this year by giving the audience a look at the origins and makings of the film festival for the past nine years, as well as partly focusing on horror-film classics that have inspired the creators of the festival.
This year, the festival includes screenings of “Jaws” at 6:30 p.m. Friday, “Fright Night” at 11:59 p.m. Friday and “Landmine Goes Click” at 10 p.m. Saturday.
The festival also includes a series of DIFF Short Films to be screened throughout the weekend.
A discussion recognizing the end of the festival will kick off the weekend of film screenings.
“From Dark Carnival to Diabolique: A Panel on the Life and Death of an Independent Genre Film Festival” will open the festival at 3 p.m. Friday. The committee for the festival will elaborate on the history of the festival during the panel.
David Pruett, festival founder and director, said it started out as a student project from a film student co-op at IU.
He said this core group runs the festival now but has been making films on the side as well.
“The filmmaking aspect has really taken off,” Pruett said.
They released the film “Found” in 2012, Pruett said, and had much success with showings at eight film festivals and winning 20 to 30 awards in the process.
He said they recently released a spin-off of the film, “Headless.”
“One of the most exciting things about living in a town like Bloomington is the constant influx of new talents and passions, with the normal ebb and flow of a town with such a prestigious university,” Tagg said in an email. “It is not uncommon, nor is it problematic, that some of our amazing talents move on to other projects. In this instance, the organizers of the festival were able to see that it was time to move on and draw this festival to a triumphant conclusion, and we can’t wait to see it.”
Bridget Murray
