The Chainsaw Mafia, created by Shannon Lark, and Pretty-Scary.net, created by Heidi Martinuzzi, have joined forces to bring the VISCERA Film Festival of short horror films by women to the big screen. The festival makes possible the advancement of females reaching for more powerful roles within the horror genre. Now, more than ever, women are running their own horror production companies and directing, producing, writing, branching out into cinematography and even creating special FX, facilitating a gateway for more women to develop careers in the film industry. Starting in 2007, The Viscera Film Festival has honored female-created horror shorts by distributing them on DVD and creating awareness at film festivals, in media, and networking outlets for women.