Halloween Bird

Dean Bertram

Dean Bertram has a PhD in history from the University of Sydney, Australia. His writings have featured in a range of publications, including Fortean Times, People Magazine, The Spectator, and The Australian. He hosts the podcast Talking Weird on the Untold Radio Network.
Dean is also a filmmaker and film festival programmer. He runs MidWest WeirdFest and A Night of Horror International Film Festival, both based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. And he is currently shooting a feature documentary about Raymond A. Palmer, the Shaver Mystery, and the birth of modern UFO belief, titled THE MAN WHO INVENTED FLYING SAUCERS.
His previous films have played at FilmQuest, Sydney Underground, Another Hole in the Head, Coney Island Film Festival, Boston Sci-Fi, H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and dozens of others.
His last short, a documentary titled THE SHAVER MYSTERY, won 10 „Best Short Documentary“ awards in 2024/2025; at fests ranging from GenreBlast and the Fortean Film Festival, through Arizona Underground and Melbourne Underground, to P. K. Dick Film Festival and Berlin Sci-Fi.
His most recent short, HALLOWEEN BIRD, enters the festival circuit in 2026.

Director Statement

HALLOWEEN BIRD is a film that seemed to will itself into existence. I was still far too busy completing my upcoming feature documentary to sensibly contemplate any other creative endeavor. But conversations with my 9 year old daughter – who spends much of her time watching, drawing, feeding, and reading books about wild birds – the approach of Halloween, and the fortuitous visit of my mother, from Australia to our home in Wisconsin (Gwenda Hooke, who along with my daughter stars in the film), saw the creative pieces begin to form.
The urgings of my daughter – who has been learning ASL (American Sign Language) – to make a film featuring representation of that language, along with the encouragement of my producing partner Samantha Krause, and click, click, click the pieces locked together. And I was soon obsessed with making this strange little film.
It was just the four of us throughout all of prep and production: Samantha, my daughter, my mother, and myself. That was our entire crew (and cast). Many days/nights it was just myself, and one or two of the actresses.
We were lucky in post-production: My very good friend Brian Emrich, who is a top industry sound designer (PI, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, THE FOUNTAIN, BLACK SWAN), put up his hand to do sound design for the film for free.
So we did end up with one additional, and vital, team member. Together, I think we were able to pull off something fairly unique and special.
We hope you enjoy HALLOWEEN BIRD as much as we enjoyed making it. The film is our weird ode to family, bird watching, the spooky season, gothic horror, and 70s/80s horror cinema.