IZAD

Started in 2005, International Zombie Awareness Day was originally created to fill the void we personally felt existed in Canberra’s social calendar. We had band nights, we had DJ nights, we had raves, we had the occasional international act, and we had the trusty pub, but we didn’t have much else. There wasn’t much around that tried to break these trends and slowly routine set in. So we combined everything we liked, including film and special FX, into one night, and came up with the very first IZAD to break the boredom.

But why Zombies?

If you haven’t picked up on the obvious connection here, well we’ll let you think about it for a moment. Beyond our personal joke about Canberra and routine, another reason we’ve chosen zombies is that, back in 05, we just saw the boom of the new golden age of undead cinema with the release of greats like Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later and Dawn of the Dead Remake. We wanted to share our love of FX inspired by these films, but being in the industry, we understood that there were not many people out there that knew where to start with FX, but that there was plenty of talent. These ideas naturally melded into a do-it-yourself zombie fest that is designed not to just show off our FX, but also to see what you can do given the chance. What’s better than putting a bunch of like minded individuals in a room? Putting a bunch of like minded individuals in a room filled with music so they can rock out and give them free stuff, that’s what!

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