Havilah Malone portrays Carol in SERENITY, a fresh horror comedy from writer-director Amelia Joyce, set to debut Oct. 18 at the Femme FATAL Film Festival.
A behind-the-scenes look: producer Roberta Sparta on the FROGGY set (bottom), the short that inspired the Femme FATAL Film Festival, alongside writer-director Amelia Joyce directing SERENITY (top), which premieres Oct. 18 at LOOK Dine-In Cinemas Glendale. Photo credit: Taylor Brooke Fair.
Fourth annual celebration of horror and sci-fi shorts created by women arrives at LOOK Dine-In Cinemas Glendale on Oct. 18, with actress Havilah Malone as host. Press are invited to attend.
Female filmmakers are producing some of the most creative work in horror and sci-fi today, yet they frequently lack a venue to showcase it.”— Roberta Sparta, Co-Founder, Femme FATAL Film Festival
LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, October 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — A Halloween-season gathering featuring horror and sci-fi shorts from female filmmakers takes over LOOK Dine-In Cinemas Glendale on Sunday, October 18
The Femme FATAL Film Festival is back for its fourth annual installment on Sunday, October 18, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. at LOOK Dine-In Cinemas Glendale, presenting an evening of horror and science fiction shorts from female creators, topped by the debut of SERENITY, a horror comedy penned and helmed by Amelia Joyce with production by Roberta Sparta, both of whom co-founded the festival.
Havilah Malone, an actress, producer, and four-time #1 bestselling author known for HBO’s "Barry" and "Insecure" plus CBS’s "NCIS: New Orleans," serves as the evening’s host and also appears in the SERENITY cast alongside Kylr Coffman (from the Green Day comedy "Nimrods"), Aaron Staton ("Mad Men"), Vivian Bang ("Always Be My Maybe"), Felix Merback ("Dead Janitors Club"), and Kurt Bonzell. Following the screening, writer-director Amelia Joyce, producer Roberta Sparta, and several cast members will participate in a Q&A session.
Additional guests for the night include Ivotres Littles, who hosts the YouTube channel Horror Movies and Beyond; Lilith Fury, an actress and producer known for championing body positivity and representation of underrepresented groups in horror; and Kaci Hansen, dubbed "The Homicidal Homemaker," a horror-themed food blogger and cooking show host frequently referred to as the "Martha Stewart of the Macabre."
Why this year
Horror and science fiction rank among the most dependable box-office genres. At the same time, they are among the toughest fields for women to enter as directors, cinematographers, or creative leaders, and recent trends show the gap widening.
San Diego State University’s 28th annual Celluloid Ceiling report indicates that women directed just 13% of the 250 highest-grossing films of 2025, a drop from 16% the prior year, and only 10% among the top 100. The same research center noted that the proportion of top-grossing films with female protagonists slipped from 42% in 2024 to 29% in 2025.
As major studio opportunities shrink, independent showcases become the proving ground for emerging genre talent. Femme FATAL was created to fill that role.
"Women are creating some of the boldest work in horror and sci-fi right now, but they often don’t get a platform," Sparta stated. "A theater, an audience that showed up intentionally, a microphone for discussion afterward. That’s what we’ve established: not a networking mixer with films as an afterthought, but a genuine moviegoing experience."
"We launched this because we required it ourselves," Joyce added. "Each year the submissions become more impressive and more unconventional, and each year someone in the audience connects with a future collaborator. That’s the outcome I never anticipated and now value most."
"Horror has always given women more than just the victim role. We’re the survivor, the one who solves the mystery first, the last one standing," Malone remarked. "This festival gives women behind the camera that same closing statement, and this year I get to honor them both on stage and on screen."
The 2026 program
SERENITY explores humanity’s darker side: a reserved young man dealing with a quiet, persistent unease decides to try an unconventional support group for people like him.
The event runs as one unified program rather than separate tracks, ensuring the full audience experiences every film together. Filmmakers will be present in person, Q&A sessions follow each screening block, and full dine-in service remains available throughout the evening.
The festival prioritizes female-identifying directors while also featuring films from male directors that place women in lead roles or leadership positions, reflecting the belief that narrowing the gender gap in genre cinema demands collective effort.
From a single private screening to year four
Femme FATAL came about largely by chance. Sparta and Joyce reserved a private theater for FROGGY, an eco-horror short written and directed by Joyce with Sparta producing. Rather than showing just that one film, they invited other independent filmmakers to present their work alongside it and added a Q&A. The enthusiastic response settled the matter: that event evolved into an annual Halloween-season festival that now attracts submissions from creators worldwide.
Tickets, submissions and media
Tickets are priced at $25.99 via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/femme-fatal-film-festival-tickets-1999633464521. Filmmakers interested in future editions can submit through FilmFreeway at filmfreeway.com/FemmeFatalFilmFest. Additional details are available at ameliajoyce.com/femme-fatal and on Instagram at @femmefatalfilmfest.
Media representatives are encouraged to cover the event. Press credentials and interview opportunities with Amelia Joyce, Havilah Malone, Roberta Sparta, and the SERENITY cast can be arranged through Roberta Sparta at roberta@spartaproductions.co or (310) 614-9792.
About the Femme FATAL Film Festival
The Femme FATAL Film Festival is an annual Los Angeles showcase dedicated to horror and science fiction shorts from female creators, held every Halloween season with curated screenings and live filmmaker discussions. It was established in 2023 by producer Roberta Sparta of Sparta Productions, a company focused on developing independent narrative projects across genre and drama, and writer-director-photographer Amelia Joyce of Black Dog Media and Boys Club Creative, whose directorial work includes SERENITY and FROGGY.
Roberta Sparta
Sparta Productions LLC
+1 310-614-9792
roberta@spartaproductions.co
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SERENITY Official Trailer – Horror Comedy Directed by Amelia Joyce, Debuting at Femme FATAL Film Festival, Oct. 18 in Glendale
