Frontières is proud to continue its collaboration with the Gender Equity in Media Society Vancouver (formerly Women in Film and Television Vancouver). The Genre Film Lab is an accelerator program designed to support the development of Canadian genre film creators and along with Creative BC, Telefilm Canada and Warner Brothers Discovery Access Canada, GEMS will present five projects at an advanced stage of development. The Shorts to Features session, which is now open to international submissions, will showcase three short filmmakers developing their feature-length adaptations. This year's selection includes projects from China, USA and Québec.

THE GENRE FILM LAB

AISHA (Canada)
Director: TBD
Producers: Digital Warriors Productions Inc.
Genre: Speculative Fiction

When sinister corporate and religious institutions unite to change the face of an archaic town, a rebellious girl must plot her deadly escape or risk becoming a pawn in a power game.

ALLIGATOR (Canada)
Director: Hayley Gray
Producers: High Deaf Productions
Genre: Thriller

Grace's dream comes true when she makes her hometown cheer squad; but quickly, her dream becomes a nightmare.

MARRIED TO MURDER (Canada)
Director: Samantha Loney
Producer: Kyra Weston, Win Girl Productions
Genre: Dark Comedy

Charlie, a bored small town housewife who cooks, cleans, and commits murder, must thwart the local police officer's efforts to discover she has been murdering the men in her neighbourhood.

MT. ASHA (Canada)
Directors: Alex Vance and Stephanie Izsak
Producers: Naltobel Productions Inc.
Genre: Folk Horror, Science-Fiction

When a couple attends a fertility retreat in an isolated town of Mt. Asha, they miraculously become pregnant, only to realize the retreat is a cult… and they want the baby.

OUR BLOOD'S THICKER THAN WATER (Canada)
Director: Michelle Godoy Priske
Producers: Liz Wallace, Michelle Godoy Priske, Maritama Carlson
Genre: Psychological Thriller with Supernatural Elements

After moving into a small-town Bed & Breakfast, two young adult sisters begin to question their controlling mother when they discover there's no trace that they exist.

SHORTS TO FEATURES

ANIMAL REALM (China)
Director: Caochong Maing
Producers: Kytoon Studio
Genre: Fantasy, Wuxia, Stop Motion Animation

A Cyberpunk Wuxia story of a serial killing event where humanity faced primal instincts, natural strengths and martial art skills are tested against the cybernetically enhanced, where the deceivers are being deceived and the hunters become the hunted.

BARRAGE (Canada, QC)
Director: Rémi Fréchette
Producers: Camera Chaos
Genre: Horror Comedy

A fantasy comedy set in a time of great change, inspired by the PG-13 horror films of the '80s.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME (USA)
Director: Peter Campbell
Producers: Moon and America LLC
Genre: Body Horror/Romance

After splitting into multiple versions of themselves, a couple struggles to coexist and unravel the mystery of their condition while their relationships with their duplicates become increasingly complicated.

The Frontières International Co-Production Market is funded by Telefilm Canada, SODEC, the Government of Quebec, the City of Montreal, Wallimage and the Netherlands Film Fund.