In honor of the year’s spookiest season, Audience Awards is hosting our annual Horror Shorts Film Festival, and we’re incredibly excited about the panel of jurists we’ve assembled to help us select our winners!
Matthew Lillard, a veteran of both stage and screen, is well known for his performances in over 50 films and television shows over the last 20 years. With titles like Scream, The Descendants and Scooby Doo 1 & 2, Lillard is associated with a number of Hollywood Box Office hits totaling over $800 million dollars in revenue worldwide. He received critical success with independent titles SLC Punk! and Ed Burn’s The Groomsmen and debuted three films at the acclaimed Sundance Film Festival.
Emily Rios can currently be seen starring as ‘Lucia Villanueva’ in the F/X drama series Snowfall. Emily starred in F/X Networks’ crime thriller The Bridge. Her performance led to a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Imagen Awards and she received the National Hispanic Media Coalition Impact Award (Outstanding Performance in a Television Series) and the NHFA Horizon Award.
Barry Bostwick is no stranger to Halloween film fanatics. Arguably his second best-known role was as Mayor Randall Winston in the hit sitcom Spin City, but most fans may know him best for portraying Brad Majors in the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Mekia Cox is currently starring in the second season of ABC’s hit drama “Secrets and Lies” opposite Juliette Lewis and Michael Ealy. In her spare time, Mekia shares her experience with other performers by directing and producing original works. In June, she performed a sold-out, one-night-only performance of “Broadway at the W” featuring an ensemble performance of songs and dances from various Broadway shows.
Skeet Ulrich comes to us from Scream fame, where he famously and infamously played Billy Loomis. In addition to anchoring one of horror’s most beloved films, Skeet currently stars as FP Jones on tv’s Riverdale.
Paige Williams is an Innovator, Entrepreneur, Filmmaker, and Founder & CEO of Audience Awards.
Michael Kehoe is no stranger to horror films – his short horror film Hush won over 30 awards across the festival circuit before being adapted into a feature film The Hatred distributed by Lionsgate. Currently, Michael is slated to begin production on a science fiction feature film in 2018, working with producer Tommy Harper.
Our panel of judges for this festival couldn’t be better, and we’re so excited to begin presenting them with films that may spook, fright, or – hopefully – horrify them! Be sure to watch them all.
