Larry Fessenden is truly a horror genre renaissance man. A director, writer, producer, actor. Appearing as Mike Connors in The Mind's Eye directed by Joe Begos will mark Mr. Fessenden's fourth time acting in a film that has premiered at the Midnight Madness program. Larry is always a joy to watch in a film, a talented and fearless actor who puts everything into his performance.
Larry started making short films with a Super 8 camera in high school and took that passion to NYU film school. As he has said, "I was born to make movies." He was naturally drawn to tell stories in the horror genre. "I have a slightly, paranoid nature, I just see the world filled with a sense of the potential for things to go wrong. So, I kind of live in a genre reality."
His second film Habit found an audience and was critically well received. Here is a snippet of what Roger Ebert said about the film, "Fessenden, who wrote, directed, acted, and edited this film, is a talent to watch. That he is able to see himself with such objectivity is almost frightening; there is not a shred of ego in his performance."
Some of Fessenden's other films as a writer director include Wendigo, Beneath and The Last Winter. Not content to just make a movie for the sake of making a movie his films usually have a subtext, such as, addiction in the vampire film Habit or the perilous state of the natural world and environment which propels the undercurrent of The Last Winter.
In 1985 he founded his production company Glass Eye Pix. The name was derived from a decorative glass eye a friend gave him and said, "Here's to your vision," as well as paying homage to the Jimmy Cagney film Yankee Doodle Dandy where a Variety headline appears "Sticks Nix Hick Pix." Glass Eye Pix is still going strong having been one of the companies that has produced every single film Larry has directed as well as producing many other films most notably, I Sell The Dead and Stake Land. Recently he has become a curator and producer of Tales From Beyond The Pale. Tales is billed as "Radio Plays For The Digital Age".
It was Larry's love of acting that initially drew him into film making so it was only logical that he would continue to perform in front of the camera -- in his own films -- but also appear in films made by Martin Scorsese Bringing Out The Dead, Jim Jarmusch Broken Flowers. Holding true to his roots and passion for the horror genre Larry has supported and acted in a lot of genre films. Larry has the distinction of having appeared in three previous films that have screened at the Midnight Madness program. Vanishing on 7th Street, You're Next and the 2010 People's Choice winner Stake Land which he also produced.
You can read an interview where Mr. Fessenden talks about producing the Jim Mickle film here. Larry's fourth time acting in a Midnight Madness premiere coincides with the 4th dimension in the The Mind's Eye a film about telekinesis. Coincidence? Then the very next night Larry will appear in Southbound which will also have it's world premiere.
Here is a video interview I conducted with Larry Fessenden in 2008.
THE MIND'S EYE screens:
Tue, Sept 15, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Wed, Sept 16, 12:00 PM SCOTIABANK
Thu, Sept 17, 12:15 PM SCOTIABANK
Thu, Sept 17, 3:30 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS
Sat, Sept 19, 7:00 PM SCOTIABANK
SOUTHBOUND screens:
Wed, Sept 16, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Fri, Sept 18, 6:00 PM SCOTIABANK
Sun, Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK
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