TIFF, Fantastic Fest, Fantasia, Sitges and More...

Journalism, Filmmaking, Radio, Traveling, and Education...

Quality, Quantity and Range in More Than a Decade of Coverage... 

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Filmmaker, Radio Host, Traveler, Journalist, Programmer, Fan, Jay Kay has spent over a decade covering genre films around the world and collecting conversations. Beginning in 2021 as the Host, Lead Interviewer, and Producer of the acclaimed and Rondo nominated The Horror Radio Show and later on Horror Happens Radio, he has given opportunity and a platform to many of the infamous community from artists to performers to film festivals to filmmakers and on.

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Recording over 465 episodes to date with over 2,200 guests, Horror Happens Radio has a global audience that led him to expanding his journalistic talents as a long-standing member of HorrorHound Magazine including as a Staff Writer (since issue 62) and Interviewer (over a 115), and Reviewer. A 7 times Rondo Hatton Awards nominee for podcast and interview, he has collaborated and covered horror films with virtual platforms and websites such as HorrorHound, Cinema Chords, Diabolique, Dread Central, Horror News Network, HorrorNews.Net, and Icons of Fright. 

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A lover of modern horror and giving many guests a chance to discuss it, Jay Kay was given the nickname “A Strange Man in a Film Land” which he embraced as he has spent years traveling and covering global horror film festivals including Another Hole in the Head (SF), BIFFF (Belgium), Boston Underground (Massachusetts), Etheria Film Night (LA), Fantaspoa (Brazil), Fantastic Fest (Austin), Fantasia (Montreal), FrightFest (UK), Macabro Film Festival (Mexico), NYC Horror Film Festival (New York), Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival (Philadelphia), Sitges (Spain), and TIFF (Toronto)!  He has spent the last decade holding almost every role in the film festival community including an Assistant Festival Director, Juror, Judge, Moderator, Programmer, PR as well as developed and was the Director of the hybrid H2F2 Virtual Film Market as part of HorrorHound Weekend 2022-2024.   

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He was selected to be a part of the committee for Moviemaker Magazine’s “The World’s Best 50 Genre Film Festivals” list and authored the “Film Festival Travel Guide” for issue 82 of  HorrorHound Magazine. His wealth of experiences has led him to teach workshops and hosted numerous Q&As/panels globally at festivals and cons like AxWound Film Festival (Vermont), FearNYC (New York City), Female Eye Film Festival and HorrorRama (Toronto), Highlands Horror Film Festival (New Jersey), Horrible Imaginings Film Festival (California), HorrorHound Weekend and the HorrorHound Film Festival (Ohio), Infect Scranton and the Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival (Pennsylvania), Rock and Shock Weekend (Massachusetts), Slaughter in Syracuse and Salt City Film Festival (New York), and more. 

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Jay Kay is an award-winning filmmaker under his production company A Strange Man in a Film Land Productions, LLC. with his 60 second practical FX gross out Don’t Eat Dave’s, the experimental nightmare Within the Frame, the thriller No Good Deed which will have its World Premiere at the 2022 Macabro Film Festival and three short documentaries including the award-winning Swing 46: The Last Swingin Supper Club.

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After stepping back during the panademic, Jay Kay has begun his next chapter returning to journalism and filmmaking which has opened doors to moderating cinema discussions virtually with Digging into the Darkness at Montclair 505 (New Jersey) and filmmaking basics to at-risk middle school students in Newark, NJ at Robert Treat Academy Charter School where he has collaborated with grades K-8th to make award-winning narrative (Not Your Business) and documentary shorts (The Standard). He teaches the future filmmakers to embrace the world around them in their storytelling like his filmmaking style which is based on real events that tell stories no matter the genre or platform. Check out his film work here and view his portfolio here.