Starring: Celeste Yarnall, Michael Blodgett, Sherry Miles, Gene Shane, Jerry Daniels, Sandy Ward, Paul Prokop

The Future of Film is Female celebrates Valentine’s Day with a special screening of Stephanie Rothman’s THE VELVET VAMPIRE (restored by the Academy Film Archive). Also screening is the short film, HOW TO CATFISH YOUR EX. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.

In the seclusion of a sun-drenched desert estate, a young married couple are seduced by a hip, deceptively beautiful, centuries-old vampire whose dream-inducing spell undermines their bond of heterosexual desire. Made by female genre pioneer Stephanie Rothman, The Velvet Vampire was released as a double-feature on the exploitation market by producer Roger Corman, who was said to be disappointed by its ambitious artfulness. From a contemporary perspective, the film is appreciated by scholars such as Adam Lowenstein, who praises it for “refiguring how we imagine the relation between women and horror…around the subjects of gender, sexuality, embodiment, [and] surrealism….”

HOW TO CATFISH YOUR EX, 2023 (14 min)
Directed by Madeline Mack, Written by Mach and Julie Balefsky
A neurotic, heartbroken young woman searches for closure by convincing a friend to catfish her ex-boyfriend on a dating app.