Jason Tostevin
Directing
Biography
Jason Tostevin is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, film festival director, and founder of Hands Off Productions, a boutique studio with a worldwide reputation for its short genre films. Jason graduated from The Ohio State University with an honors degree in English. He has worked as a brand, communications and marketing leader and producer for agencies and Fortune 100 businesses. A longtime fiction writer, in 2009 he made the switch to writing and directing short films, beginning with thriller, horror and documentary shorts for sprint contests. In 2010 he directed the fantasy short "Stones," which was named to the final international best-of list and DVD for the 48 Hour Film Project, and was presented in a special screening during the Cannes Film Festival. He also starred in his first three shorts. In 2011 he created and co-developed the broadcast television series The Screen, which ran for a six-episode season in Columbus before being syndicated on PBS stations around the country. Jason has directed commercials, corporate videos and championship short films - but his first and longest love is genre movies. Jason has directed and produced a string of festival-hit short genre films, including horror comedy 'Til Death (included in the anthology Seven Hells), Twilight Zone-thriller I Owe You (Cinema Constant's indie short of the year), crime drama A Way Out (more than 100 fest selections; starring Robert Costanzo) and horror comedy Born Again (released by Short of the Week). He is also known for award-winning short screenplays, including Dead Sprint (30 nominations and awards, including best screenplay at Mile High Horror Film Festival, and Fresh Voices top 10). In 2016, Jason co-founded Nightmares Film Festival, a celebration of "Better Horror." iHorror called Nightmares "the Cannes of horror," and Bloody Disgusting said it is "among the best genre festivals anywhere." It has been FilmFreeway's top-rated genre festival for 30 consecutive months. Jason has become a leader in independent film, speaking at festivals and presenting film circuit insight in his "#BetterFesting" live broadcasts. In 2017, film site Cinema Runner named him independent horror's "most influential short-film maker," noting that he is considered "a sort of indie prophet" by his peers, honoring him for "changing the face of indie horror shorts and elevating horror expectations." He has been inducted into two filmmaking halls of fame, one as a director and one as a producer. The best of the festival award at Austin Revolution Film Festival is named "The Tostevin." Jason lives in Ohio with his wife, two daughters and the family's half-pitbull, Milo.
Known For
A group of travelers are forced to seek shelter inside an abandoned jail where a notorious nun named Sister Monday had once been assigned and was suspected of murdering prisoners.
A Nun's Curse
While searching for Nazi documents in an Austrian farmhouse, a team of experts uncovers a hidden secret buried in its bowels. American expatriate Gunner S. Holbrook becomes obsessed with solving the mystery, and as his sanity wanes, he must confront an insatiable evil.
Solvent
Introducing Hellarious: a once-in-a-lifetime feature collection that brings together seven of the most legendary horror comedy shorts ever made. The stories, from some of the world’s best genre filmmakers, feature a hilarious menagerie of zombie wives, amateur satanists, reverse werewolves, cannibal lunch ladies and more -- along with gust-busting gags, gross-outs and gore. Included in Hellarious: Lunch Ladies by Clarissa Jacobson and J.M. Logan, Horrific by Robert Boocheck (ABCs of Death 2), Death Metal by Chris McInroy, Born Again and ‘Til Death by Jason Tostevin and Randall Greenland, Killer Kart by James Feeney, and Bitten by Sarah K. Reimers.
Hellarious
A teen out to prove herself to her dad stumbles into the world's most terrifying obstacle course.
Obstacle Corpse
Seven festival-winning shorts. Seven horrifying and hilarious tales of people trapped in their own special hells. The perfect Halloween movie.
Seven Hells
Four unhappily married husbands wake up to a gruesome surprise the night after killing each others' wives.
'Til Death
When a group of bumbling Satanists has their summoning ceremony go terribly right, they're left to face the decidedly holy shit consequences.
Born Again
A deranged takeout delivery driver, hoping to lead the wayward home to the Father, makes a terrifying adjustment to their orders.
And They Shall Handle Serpents
Father-to-be Cam owes his perfect life to his estranged friend Todd. But when Todd shows up one night with a body in his trunk and calls in the debt, Cam must choose between an awful trip into darkness and having his own terrible secret revealed.
I Owe You
While giving a tour of a murder house, a young woman must face more than just the morbid history of the house, but her own shattered past.
Loose Ends
For aging gangster Vic, a ride with his upstart protege becomes a twisted game of cat and mouse when both killers discover the other has been keeping a deadly secret.
A Way Out
Seven friends gather for an impromptu five year reunion that brings all the buried issues they have with their lives and with each other into the forefront.
The 5 Year
Four siblings in a blended family have the key to the neighbors' house. The neighbors are on vacation, so the kids decide to look around while no one's the wiser. They sneak into the neighbors' basement and find more than they bargained for.