Amazing Fantasy Fest will screen the best “fantastic” films available for our audience. We want scary, exciting, thought-provoking, fun, bold films - films that challenge genre conventions and try to be different. We don’t require your World Premiere – we just want the best films. We do require the Buffalo/WNY Premiere for any features we select.
What We Don't Want
We don't want films created with generative A.I. We celebrate imagination - art created by human beings. If you wrote your film with A.I. or used it for special visual effects or "enhanced" cinematography or music or anything else that could be deemed creative rather than technical, we don't want it. We won't hold it against you if your poster is A.I. slop but we probably won't use that in our promotions.
Greg is an advocate for film production in Western New York and has made a mission of supporting local artists. He's lived in New York State his entire life and is one of the founding members of the Buffalo film community. We will consider films of any kind produced by our local creators – comedies, dramas, documentaries,and student films.
We believe in providing independent filmmakers with a true theatrical experience, on a large screen with dynamic sound. We do not screen films online, which would contradict our festival philosophy. We believe it's best for filmmakers and patrons alike for us to limit our screenings to one venue for convenience - no counterprogramming, so movie lovers don’t have to choose between films.
Every attending Selected filmmaker will receive a Q&A as long as we know in advance that they're coming, although those for short films are shorter.
Our venue is the Dipson Amherst Theatre, located in Buffalo, New York. The auditorium has 132 reclining seats, a large screen, and awesome sound. Dipson is also known for having the best popcorn in Buffalo, with real butter. The theatre is located in a plaza with several places to eat, five minutes from hotels, 10 minutes from Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, and 15 minutes from two different Amtrak stations.
We want edgy, cool films, whether thoughtful or outrageous:
Horror is our lifeblood . Show us some blood, show us some guts, show us some terror! Just don't show us anythiing we've already seen hundreds of times before.
Science Fiction - Make it smart, visual, and engaging.
Fantasy includes a wide variety of film types, including musicals.
Action - For our purposes, “action” includes traditional action cinema as well as crime dramas, westerns, and war films.
Comedy - We've shown many comedies over the years. There must be something unusual or offbeat about them.
Animation - We have created separate categories for Animation: 2D/3D and Stop Motion Animation.
Experimental – Some of the most disturbing and mind-blowing films are impossible to categorize, and we love them.
New York State - We will consider films of all genres produced across New York State.
WNY Student Films – Our only student category is only for films created by students in Western New York: those villages, towns and cities located in the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans, and Wyoming. All other students should submit work in one of the regular categories. All other students should submit their work in one of the regular categories.