December 23, 2024 06:33 AM

The Stanley Hotel Film Festival: The Inspiration for The Shining

The Shining is one of the most famous horror films of all time, and now, the iconic hotel where it was filmed is hosting a film festival. The Stanley Film Festival showcases both classic and contemporary independent horror films to the backdrop of the stunning, yet eerie, Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado.

"The Festival presents emerging and established filmmakers enabling the industry and general public to experience the power of storytelling through genre cinema," says the Stanley Hotel's website.

The festival was founded in 2013 by The Stanley Hotel to celebrate the hotel's history and heritage and is a four day event.

"The Stanley Film Festival is a unique opportunity to showcase exhilarating voices in classic and contemporary horror within a haunted space chosen to amplify the experience beyond the terrors shown on screen," says The Stanley Hotel's website. "Armed with the goal of procuring the most imaginative tales of fright from around the globe, we will proudly present short and feature films that offer a vast spectrum of tantalizing thrills and ghastly delights throughout the weekend."

The festival which runs from May 2-5 and the hotel is less than six miles from Rocky Mountain National Park. The hotel is notoriously haunted and Stephen King wrote the novel after a stay in room 217 where he saw the ghost of a child. General manager, Rick Benton "Every week, I hear from one or two different people who've had experiences with former guests and employees long since passed away. I'm very receptive -- and believe me, I wasn't raised that way. The hotel was built on quartz and limestone -- very strong, active minerals -- and it's by definition a portal for people to go from one place to another."

Though Stanley Kubrick's film wasn't made here, the TV mini-series was as well as the tv show, Ghost Hunters.

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