Captured Souls International Premiere at Trieste Science+Fiction Festival
You Make the Films You Have to Make
When Chris Collier's Captured Souls: In Conversation with Graham Humphreys screened at the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival in late October 2025, the documentary filmmaker found himself in fitting company. The Italian festival's 25th anniversary edition celebrated the margins of genre cinema, and Collier's intimate portrait of the UK's most iconic horror illustrator belonged precisely there, among the festival's "Classix" programme alongside The Fly, District 9, and Peter Watkins' The War Game.
For Collier, the journey to Trieste represented more than just an international premiere; it was a milestone. It was validation of a philosophy that has guided his fifteen-year career: you make the films you have to make. Everything else is secondary.
It's a question that often arises when discussing his work. Why make documentaries about poster artists, obsessive film cataloguers, and genre festivals? Why pursue subjects that might be considered niche, even within the already specialised world of documentary filmmaking? The answer, for Collier, is deceptively simple: because these are the stories that demand to be told.
"I make the films I have to make," Collier explained when asked about his choice of subjects. "Everything else is secondary to that."
It's a statement that could sound dismissive, but in practice, it reflects a deeply considered approach to documentary work. Each film in what has become known as Collier's "trilogy exploring stories from the edge of cinema" FrightFest: Beneath the Dark Heart of Cinema (2018), Title (Year) Director. Place (2023) and now Captured Souls focus on individuals driven by similar compulsions, as Graham Humphreys paints poster after poster with gouache and brushes. Alan Goble is cataloguing every film ever made. The four unlikely partners who built FrightFest from nothing. These are people, like Collier himself, who have no choice but to pursue their obsessions.
At Trieste, Captured Souls found its audience. These festival-goers understood Graham Humphreys' contribution to genre cinema, who recognised the Evil Dead and Nightmare on Elm Street posters that defined an era, and who appreciated that Humphreys himself had created the festival's 2022 poster. The screening, held at Teatro Miela on the morning of October 30th, brought together precisely the community the film was made for: people who understand that creativity in the margins matters, that the unsung contributors to cinema history deserve their moment of recognition.
This is the paradox of making "niche" films: they only appear niche until you find their community. What seems specialised to outsiders becomes essential to those who live within that world. Collier's films don't try to explain why anyone should care about poster art or film cataloguing—they bear witness to the people who have devoted their lives to these pursuits, trusting that the humanity revealed through intimate observation will speak for itself.
Following its UK premiere at FrightFest in August 2025 and its international premiere at Trieste, Captured Souls is currently screening at festivals including Manchester Festival of Fantastic Film. Each screening finds the film's natural audience: genre fans, film historians, artists, and anyone who has ever pursued an obsession despite its apparent impracticality.
Captured Souls: World Premiere at FrightFest 2025
24 Foot Square is thrilled to announce that Captured Souls: In Conversation with Graham Humphreys will have its world premiere at FrightFest 2025 on Sunday, 24 August at 6:35 PM, screening at the ODEON Luxe West End – Discovery Screen 1.
The premiere feels like the perfect homecoming for the film. Graham Humphreys has been the visual architect of FrightFest since its inception, creating all the posters for the festival throughout its run. Now, his story returns to the place where his work has been celebrated year after year.
Captured Souls offers an intimate look at the man whose vivid gouache paintings defined a generation of horror fans. Told entirely in Graham's own words, the documentary traces his journey from a childhood fascinated by a haunting Ladybird skeleton, through his era-defining posters for The Evil Dead and A Nightmare on Elm Street, to his enduring influence on horror's visual language.
The film features conversations with Reece Shearsmith, Andy Nyman, Madeline Smith, Alan Jones, and others, charting a vivid timeline through banned videos, gothic nightclubs, iconic posters—and even the rediscovery of a long-lost original artwork.
"Graham's posters are burned into our memories as horror fans," says director Chris Collier. "But beyond Graham's life on paper is a life lived. Captured Souls is telling that story."
This documentary completes what has become a trilogy exploring stories from the edges of cinema: FrightFest: Beneath the Dark Heart of Cinema (2018), Title (Year) Director. Place (2023), and now Captured Souls. Each film celebrates the extraordinary lives of those who have shaped cinema culture from the margins.
Screening Details:
Date: Sunday 24 August 2025
Time: 6:35 PM
Venue: ODEON Luxe West End – Discovery Screen 1