Photos from ManiaFest Day Four!

By: Sue Schneider and Marcia Groft (additional photos by Harold Sherrick)
Date: Monday, September 29, 2003

With the final day of ManiaFest also being the day of the Primetime Emmy Awards, both myself and Marcia were stretched thin covering all the action. Here is a recap of the fourth day of ManiaFest:

The day got started with a panel featuring some of the heavyweights from comic books and Hollywood. Panelists on the "Comic Book to Films" panel included Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee, BATMAN producer Michael Uslan, X-MEN screenwriter David Hayter, X1 and X2 executive producer Tom DeSanto, and THE MASK director Chuck Russell. The Q&A session was moderation by Eric Moro, Cinescape's Executive Editor.

In the afternoon screenings were held of BATMAN, SUPERMAN, and the World Premiere of Lion's Gate MONSTER MAN.

In the evening at Schatzi's On Main, the ManiaFest Awards Ceremony was held honoring Stan Winston with the First Annual Maniac Award for Lifetime Achievement for his work in creating scary monsters and special effects in many classic movies over the years. The award was presented to Winston by his longtime friend Wes Craven. Upon taking the stage Winston thanked Craven for being his silly friend for many years. The Oscar-winning effects artist went on to comment that he was honored that Chip (Meyers), Cinescape magazine and the festival had put him on the advisory board. Winston was also pleased that the festival was doing great for the first time around, and he was happy to be the first honoree. "Accepting this award is a little scary...are they trying to tell me something?" he laughed. After exiting the stage he then went back to acknowledge his team of people who began working for him twenty-four years ago along with another nod to Wes Craven: "This is for you Wes, what an honor to be given it by you."

Festival Director Chase Masterson took the stage and introduced Chip Meyers, Mania Entertainment CEO, who thanked the filmmakers and the unparalleled enthusiasm of the fans. He also acknowledged 2003 Emmy Award nominee Michael Burnett who had designed the award for the festival.

Next came Will Plyler, Mania Entertainment's Director of Development to announce the first winner. Will took the stage and began by saying that than 80% of the top grossing movies in film history are from the genres of science fiction or fantasy, an often overlooked fact. Then came the annoucement of the winner of the ManiaFest screenplay competition: Sheldon Woodbury for his script THE BOOK OF MAGIC. Accepting his award Woodbury told the crowd "I am very excited about winning. My wife read the script first and probably wondered why she was married to this guy!"


Next came a clip reel of the films that were in the short and feature-length film competition to refresh everyone's memory. Finally the winners were announced:

The winner of the short film contest was Ron Brinkmann for his work titled HOPE. Chris Bonno, an actor in the production, accepted on behalf of Brinkmann who was in Amsterdam at the time.

The feature film winner was SAVAGE ISLAND written by Kevin Mosley and directed by Jeffrey Lando. Lando introduced the cast, crew and family on hand from Vancouver, which included his wife Rachel and their daughter Hannah. He thanked everyone and noted that after seeing the other films he was blessed by this award.

For the complete list of winners log on to www.maniafest.com.


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