The 4-minute horror short HALLWAY beat out thousands of others to become an official selection at Comicpalooza’s Film Festival, where it premiered on June 18th. 22-year-old writer/director Issam Rayess also received a unique honor as recipient of the inaugural CryptTV Emerging Artist Award. The award comes with a distribution deal.
CryptTV: Co-founded by Eli Roth, CryptTV creates original genre content guided by its motto #WeirdIsGood. Together we create and share the dark, edgy and different stories that bind us. Follow CryptTV and join the #CryptFamily to be a part of the movement that celebrates who you are.
Rayess, a Syrian national, is currently pursuing his BA at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. He created HALLWAY as part of a multi-media project; the University provided him with the hardware, and the short was filmed in an actual abandoned building without permits. For props and incidentals, Rayess spent about $50. The end result, though, is nothing short of spectacular; a chilling creeper that can go toe-to-toe with anything produced in Hollywood with big bucks
In HALLWAY, a man wanders through a decaying structure where he confronts unimaginable terrors. Rayess takes the POV model to new heights in a film that quite literally pulls you into the nightmare. Exquisite editing and a haunting soundscape combine to create a mood of palpable dread. Rayess’s ability to distill the quintessential essence of horror into 4 short minutes proves he’s a filmmaker of unusual promise.
When asked about his creative inspirations and aspirations, Rayess responded:
“I have a lot of inspirations, especially big Hollywood movie directors such as Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino and Antoine Fuqua. These big names help me learn for my future films and direct my movies in their style and characteristics. I’d like to start a multimedia company that includes a variety of media like interactive design, filmmaking, and animation. I want to set up in the Emirates and hopefully branch out to other Arab and Gulf countries, to spread the future of multimedia to the next generation.”
HALLWAY went live on CryptTV today, and it’s certain to result in some serious industry exposure for the young auteur. The company is extremely proud and excited to present Rayess’s film to their millions of followers. See HALLWAY for yourself, and be sure to follow CryptTV on Facebook and Twitter.
CryptTV hopes to establish partnerships with other prominent film festivals in order to bring the Emerging Artist Award to talented up-and-comers worldwide
