Larry Fessenden / bio
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BIO 2014

50 words:

Larry Fessenden is an actor and producer and the director of the art-horror films NO TELLING, HABIT, WENDIGO and THE LAST WINTER, as well as he TV films SKIN AND BONES and BENEATH. He has operated the production shingle Glass Eye Pix since 1985 with the mission of supporting individual voices in the arts.

100 words:

Larry Fessenden is an actor and producer and the director of the art-horror movies NO TELLING, HABIT, WENDIGO and THE LAST WINTER, as well as he TV films SKIN AND BONES and BENEATH. He has produced dozens of moviess including THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, STAKE LAND, WENDY AND LUCY and THE COMEDY and acted in TV and Film including LOUIE, THE STRAIN, BROKEN FLOWERS and THE BRAVE ONE. Fessenden has operated the production shingle Glass Eye Pix since 1985 with the mission of supporting individual voices in the arts.

200 words:

Larry Fessenden, winner of the 1997 Someone to Watch Spirit Award, and nominee for the 2010 Piaget Spirit Award for producing, is the writer, director and editor of the award-winning art-horror trilogy HABIT (Nominated for 2 Spirit Awards), WENDIGO (Winner Best Film 2001 Woodstock Film Festival) and NO TELLING. His film, THE LAST WINTER (Nominated for a 2007 Gotham Award for best ensemble cast), premiered at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival and was distributed through IFC. Fessenden directed SKIN AND BONES for NBC TV's horror anthology FEAR ITSELF and the feature film BENEATH for Chiller films. He wrote the screenplay with Guillermo del Toro of ORPHANAGE, an English language remake of the successful Spanish film EL ORFANATO. He is the writer, with Graham Reznick of the forthcoming Sony Playstation videogame UNTIL DAWN. Fessenden was awarded the 2007 Sitges Film Festival Maria Award for his work as a producer, actor and director in genre film, and he won the 2009 Golden Hammer Award for “being such an inspiring force in the industry.” In 2011, Fessenden was inducted into the "Fangoria Hall of Fame" and was honored by the UK’s Total Film as an Icon of Horror during the Frightfest Film Festival.

BIO 2012

Larry Fessenden, winner of the 1997 Someone to Watch Spirit Award, and nominee for the 2010 Piaget Spirit Award for producing, is the writer, director and editor of the award-winning art-horror trilogy HABIT (Nominated for 2 Spirit Awards), WENDIGO and NO TELLING. His recent film, THE LAST WINTER (Nominated for a 2007 Gotham Award for best ensemble cast), premiered at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival and was distributed through IFC. Fessenden directed SKIN AND BONES for NBC TV's horror anthology FEAR ITSELF. He wrote the screenplay with Guillermo del Toro of ORPHANAGE, an English language remake of the successful Spanish film EL ORFANATO. Fessenden was awarded the 2007 Sitges Film Festival Maria Award for his work as a producer, actor and director in genre film, and he won the 2009 Golden Hammer Award for “being such an inspiring force in the industry.” In 2011, Fessenden was inducted into the "Fangoria Hall of Fame" and was honored by the UK’s Total Film as an Icon of Horror during the Frightfest Film Festival.

Fessenden has been a producer on various projects including Rick Alverson's THE COMEDY, Kelly Reichardt's WENDY AND LUCY (nominated for two 2009 Spirit Awards and on over 60 "Top 10 Movies of the Year" lists), Ti West's THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, and forthcoming THE INNKEEPERS, Joe Maggio's THE LAST RITES OF JOE MAY, James McKenney's SATAN HATES YOU, and Ilya Chaiken’s LIBERTY KID. Under his low budget horror banner ScareFlix, Fessenden has produced 9 films including Jim Mickle's STAKE LAND (winner of the 2010 Toronto Film Festival Audience Award) , Joe Maggio's BITTER FEAST, Ti West's THE ROOST and TRIGGER MAN and Glenn McQuaid’s I SELL THE DEAD which opened the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival where it won awards for best cinematography and best actor (Fessenden). I SELL THE DEAD won the 2008 Toronto After Dark Film Festival award for best Independent Film.

As a character actor Fessenden has appeared in numerous films, including Glenn McQuaid's I SELL THE DEAD for which he won a special Jury prize for best performance at the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival. He has appeared in Neil Jordan’s THE BRAVE ONE, Joe Swanberg's SILVER BULLETS, Jim Jarmusch’s BROKEN FLOWERS, Kelly Reichardt's WENDY AND LUCY, Martin Scorsese's BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, Steve Buscemi's ANIMAL FACTORY, Jim Mickle's STAKE LAND and MULBERRY STREET, and Brad Anderson's VANISHING ON 7TH STREET and SESSION 9. Fessenden stars in HABIT, and the Sundance pictures MARGARITA HAPPY HOUR (Ilya Chaiken) and RIVER OF GRASS (Kelly Reichardt).

In the Fall of 2010 Fessenden curated and produced with Glenn McQuaid TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE, a 10 episode audio series, Radio plays for a digital age. In 2011 He released his third rock album with the band JUST DESSERTS.

Fessenden has operated the production company Glass Eye Pix since 1985 (“one of the indie scene’s most productive and longest-running companies” — Filmmaker Magazine), with the mission of supporting individual voices in the arts.

BIO 2010

Larry Fessenden, nominee for the 2010 Piaget Spirit Award for producing, and winner of the 1997 Someone to Watch Spirit Award, is the writer, director and editor of the award-winning art-horror trilogy HABIT (Nominated for 2 Spirit Awards), WENDIGO and NO TELLING. His recent film, THE LAST WINTER (Nominated for a 2007 Gotham Award for best ensemble cast), starring Ron Perlman, Connie Britton and James Le Gros, premiered at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival and was distributed by IFC. Fessenden subsequently directed SKIN AND BONES, starring Doug Jones, for NBC TV's horror anthology show FEAR ITSELF. Fessenden wrote the screenplay with Guillermo del Toro of ORPHANAGE, an English language remake of the successful Spanish film EL ORFANATO, which was produced by del Toro. Fessenden won the 2009 Golden Hammer Award from the website Hammer to Nail for "being such an inspiring force in the industry," and was awarded the 2007 Sitges Film Festival Maria Award for his worka as a producer, actor and director in genre film.

As a character actor Fessenden has appeared in numerous films, recently being sited with a special Jury mention for best performance at the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival for his role in Glenn McQuaid's I SELL THE DEAD. He has appeared in Neil Jordan’s THE BRAVE ONE, Joe Swanberg's SILVER BULLETS, Jim Jarmusch’s BROKEN FLOWERS, Kelly Reichardt's WENDY AND LUCY, Martin Scorsese's BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, Steve Buscemi's ANIMAL FACTORY, Jim Mickle's STAKE LAND and MULBERRY STREET, Brad Anderson's VANISHING ON 7TH STREET and SESSION 9, and IMAGINARY HEROES by Dan Harris. Fessenden stars in HABIT, and the Sundance pictures MARGARITA HAPPY HOUR (Ilya Chaiken) and RIVER OF GRASS (Kelly Reichardt).

Fessenden has been a producer on various projects including Kelly Reichardt's WENDY AND LUCY (nominated for two 2009 Spirit Awards and on over 60 "Top 10 Movies of the Year" lists), Ti West's THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, and West's THE INNKEEPERS,Joe Maggio's THE LAST RIGHTS OF JOE MAE, James McKenney's SATAN HATES YOU, JT Petty's BLOOD RED EARTH, Ilya Chaiken’s LIBERTY KID, Douglas Buck’s remake of DePalma’s SISTERS, Jeff Winner's SATELITE and David Gebroe's ZOMBIE HONEYMOON.

Under his low budget horror banner ScareFlix, Fessenden has produced 9 films: Jim Mickle's STAKE LAND, Joe Maggio's BITTER FEAST, Ti West's THE ROOST and TRIGGER MAN; three films by James Felix McKenney: HYPOTHERMIA, THE OFF SEASON and AUTOMATONS; Graham Reznick’s I CAN SEE YOU and Glenn McQuaid’s I SELL THE DEAD which starred Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman, Angus Scrimm, and Fessenden. I SELL THE DEAD opened the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival where it won awards for best cinematography and best actor (Fessenden), and won the 2008 Toronto After Dark Film Festival award for best Independent Film.

Fessenden has operated the production company Glass Eye Pix since 1985, with the mission of supporting individual voices in the arts.

BIO 2004

Fessenden completed WENDIGO in 2001, the third feature in his trilogy of philosophical horror films.

His critically acclaimed vampire film, HABIT, which he wrote, directed, edited, starred in, and distributed theatrically, is available on DVD and VHS. HABIT was nominated for 1998 Spirit Awards for best director and best cinematographer, and won Fessenden the IFP "Someone to Watch Award" in 1997. Fessenden's controversial 1991 feature, NO TELLING, is also available on home video and DVD.

As an actor, Fessenden co-stars in Ilya Chaiken's debut feature, MARGARITA HAPPY HOUR, now in post-production, and can be seen in Martin Scorsese's 1999 picture, BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, and in Steve Buscemi's ANIMAL FACTORY (2000). He plays Palichuck in newcomer Jeff Winner's YOU ARE HERE. He has roles in the Brad Anderson films HAPPY ACCIDENTS (1999) and SESSION 9 (2000).

In 1993, Fessenden served as lead actor, editor and associate producer on Kelly Reichardt's critically acclaimed debut film RIVER OF GRASS (nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards). RIVER OF GRASS was sited in top ten film lists by Paper Magazine, The Boston Globe, NY Daily News, Film Comment, The Village Voice and the San Francisco Guardian.

His array of underground projects from the 80s include THE IMPACT ADDICT VIDEOS (1987) which document the exploits of NYC stunt artists David Leslie; HOLLOW VENUS: DIARY OF A GO-GO DANCER (1989) starring monologist Heather Woodbury; the preposterous two-and-a-half-hour caper epic EXPERIENCED MOVERS (1985), and the cable-access TV show BE MEE TV PRESENTS (1981).

He has played sax and sung in the band JUST DESSERTS since 1987. Their albums "Sentimental War" and "Give Up the Ghost" have charted on College Radio, and JUST DESSERTS has provided soundtrack material for four of Fessenden's films.

Through his company Glass Eye Pix, Fesenden has been involved in the production of recent projects ODE (1999) by Kelly Reichardt, THE GODS OF TIMES SQUARE (1999) by Richard Sandler and SANTA DOMINGO BLUES (2002) by Alex Wolfe.

Since 2003, Fessenden has been involved as producer on numerous projects including James Felix McKenney's THE OFF SEASON, Ti West's THE ROOST, David Gebroe's ZOMBIE HONEYMOON, Jeff Winner's SATELLITE and THE ESCAPE ARTIST from Michael Laurence.

1997 BIO

Working in several mediums, Larry Fessenden is responsible for a slew of raw high energy works that have played art houses, clubs, performance spaces, film festivals, cable TV, and have sold through retail outlets all over the world. These projects have been financed through co-productions with other artists, through schools and organizations, through begging and bartering and through limited funds from a few private investors.

This website chronicles Fessenden's journey as an artist, and at the same time proposes that filmmakers who have not yet reached the dubious status of celebrity see their work as an end in itself. Elemental to this journey is the notion that resourcefullness and the pursuit of truth and community are the aims of the arts. A culture driven by celebrity and cash will only attrophy into stagnation, for its sole purpose is to subvert the audience into a trance.

Fessenden was born into a relatively well to do family in New York City in 1963. When he was ten he made a super8mm movie of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, but it became unclear if the material should be treated as drama or comedy, and the project was abandoned.

He went to prep school in Andover, Massachusetts, where he was primarily an actor until he wrote and directed his own adaptation of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. After being kicked out of school, he made his first major film in super 8mm, the hour long A FACE IN THE CROWD, a philosophical portrait of an artist looking for love and meaning in the indifferent streets of New York. Always the inovator, Fessenden invented the jump-cut, which he later discovered was used by Godard twenty years earlier.

He got into New York University on the strength of three S8mm shorts in 1980. At NYU he was drawn to the video department where the curriculum for the new medium was undefined. His first year he made a video feature of an original script entitled HABIT. The following year he co-produced, wrote and performed in a Cable TV series--launched in one of the first years public access was made available--called BE MEE TV PRESENTS, which won the NYU video award.

For the next three years he worked on a feature based on a four hour play called EXPERIENCED MOVERS. Working with two crew members, Fessenden shot, directed and edited the epic caper film with a cast of 12 principals.

With the completion of EXPERIENCED MOVERS, Fessenden started Glass Eye Pix through which he served as a video editor and guerrilla producer. As editor he worked for numerous performance artists, non-profit groups, luminaries Richard Avedon, Israel Horovitz and Bill Hickey, as well as the avant-garde theater company Ridge Theater.

In 1985 he met performance artist David Leslie, and the two started a three year collaboration in which Fessenden documented and articulated Leslie's work as the Impact Addict: Live one time only pyrotechnic stunts that celebrated and berated the pop media of Leslie's Southern youth. These videos, THE ROCKET MOVIE, STUNT; A MUSICAL MOTION PICTURE, and THE IMPACT ADDICT VIDEOS, played across the country at museums and performance venues, in film festivals in Berlin, Hawaii, Texas, Florida, and on television on MTV and The Morton Downy Jr Show.

Fessenden meanwhile shot a 16mm featurette, HOLLOW VENUS; DIARY OF A GO-GO DANCER, which he finished on video in 1989. The video played in festivals throughout the world including Rotterdam, Rio De Janeiro, and Montreal.

In 1991 he raised private funds to make a major feature, NO TELLING, with a full crew, produced by Rachael Horovitz. The film, shot in super 16mm and blown up to 35, is a cutting drama about a strained relationship between a woman painter and her husband who experiments on live animals for a living. Shunned by American festivals, it is distributed around the rest of the world as THE FRANKENSTEIN COMPLEX by Largo Entertainment. The U.S. video release is scheduled for 1997.

In 1993, Fessenden returned to acting, playing Lee in Kelly Reichardt's first feature, RIVER OF GRASS. He stayed on as editor and served as associate producer. The film went on to play Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals, and was released by Strand to critical acclaim.

In 1994 Fessenden wrote, directed, starred in and edited a feature remake of his 1981 video HABIT. Shot with a small crew reminiscent of his earlier films, the film has gone on to play Film Festivals in the U.S. and Europe. HABIT will be released in the Fall of '97.

Since 1977, Fessenden has enjoyed a musical collaboration with songwriter Tom Laverack; they have recorded six album length song collections culminating with SENTIMENTAL WAR, their 17 song lp as the band Just Desserts. Vinyl in a digital age.

Fessenden's approach to film and music combines spontaneity with formalism. The theme common to all the films is the clash between hope and reality: the existential crisis of modern man, the devastating loneliness of a human-centric world, and the search for spiritual redemption in the face of godlessness. The unreconcileable disparity between idealism and truth.

Fessenden says: "These heavy themes I seek out in the aesthetic of the genre film, in particular the horror film, always the most subversive and psychologically raw genre throughout film history."

Fessenden continues to support other filmmakers by making what recources he has aquired available to them, most recently to Ira Sach's debut feature THE DELTA, and Eric Ogden's short film THESE HILLS.

On March 22nd 1997, the day before his 34th birthday, Fessenden was awarded the "Someone to Watch Award", given annually to a "filmmaker of unique vision who has not yet recieved recognition."