Film Archive
2016
Feature Film Archive
The axe murders of villisca
Tony E. Valenzuela | US
Writer: Owen Egerton
Three outcasts break into the house where a husband and wife, their four children, and two guests were executed. Exploring the museum-like site after hours, they find that the evil that came to visit the Moore’s in Villisca, Iowa 104 years ago may still cling to the walls inside. Based on a real unsolved murder.
Battledream Chronicle
Alain Bidard | Martinique
Writer: Alain Bidard
After the empire of Mortemonde reduces the populations of almost all of Earth to slavery, they force each slave to collect 1000XP every month in Battledream, a video game where they can die for real. Only the successful are granted the right to live until the next month. But Syanna, a young slave from Martinique, the last free nation on the planet, refuses to keep living under these conditions.
Be me cat: A film for Anne
Adrian Țofei | Romania
Writer: Adrian Țofei
Obsessed with making a movie with Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway, a young director in Romania goes to shocking extremes with three local actresses to shoot scenes from the proposed movie to send to Anne as proof of his filmmaking and acting skills.
Bed of the Dead
Jeff Maher | Canada
Writers: Cody Calahan, Jeff Maher
*Now titled THE DWELLING
Four twenty-somethings find themselves stuck on a haunted antique bed where leaving means suffering a gruesome demise. Plagued with frightening hallucinations, they must figure out the bed’s secrets before they are ultimately picked off one by one. The next day, a detective tries to unravel their deaths, but a phone call from one of the victims from the night before makes him think he can prevent it all.
Blood Hunters
Tricia Lee | Canada
Writers: Corey Brown
A single mother wakes up in a medical facility, mysteriously nine months pregnant, and finding everyone dead. As she struggles to escape she discovers the facility's secret: the government has tampered with boundaries no mortal should cross. When they return, they are not alone.
Domain
Nathaniel Atcheson | US
Writer: Nathaniel Atcheson
*WORLD PREMIERE!
After a deadly virus wipes out most of humanity, the survivors wait alone in self-sustaining bunkers while the threat runs its course. Able to communicate through a networked video interface, their fragile social ecosystem is shattered when, one by one, they start mysteriously disappearing from their bunkers.
Ghost Rockets
Michael Cavanagh, Kerstin Übelacker | Sweden
For years, UFO-Sweden has attempted to solve a mystery that has baffled even the government, the Ghost Rockets. In 1946, over 2000 sightings were reported of missile shaped unidentified flying objects over Sweden and neighboring countries. Searching for proof, these lifelong hobbyists commiserate and grow old together, bravely facing the continual failure by doubling down their efforts.
Hidden Reserves
(STILLE RESERVEN)
Valentin Hitz | Austria
Writer: Valentin Hitz
*NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE!
With powerful companies running the Vienna of the not-too-distant future, only the privileged elite can afford death insurance. The rest suffer their corpses to be used long after their passing in life-support farms, until their debts are paid. When insurance agent Vincent Baumann goes undercover to ‘sell’ activist Lisa Sokulowa on his services, he discovers a brewing revolution that may be worth cashing in his own policy.
OMG, I’m A ROBOT?!
(Opening Night Film)
Tal Goldberg, Gal Zelezniak | Israel
Writers: Tal Goldberg, Gal Zelezniak
*Now titled ROBOT AWAKENING
After his girlfriend leaves him, Danny slits his wrists only to discover he is not a man at all, he is a robot - an indestructible war machine. Moreover, his girlfriend did not leave him - she was kidnapped by a mysterious organization searching for war machines like Danny. With the help of Goldschmidt, his overly-macho boss, and Robo-Joseph, a small Jewish R2D2-like robot with a lot of "hutzpah," he goes out on a journey to save his girl and also figure out why exactly he’s a robot!
Origin (BIEFFEKTERN)
Andreas Climent, André Hedetoft | Sweden
Writer: Andreas Climent, André Hedetoft
*NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE!
When a bio-tech student is diagnosed with a terminal illness, his peers break moral boundaries to use untested research into cell aging to help him. As he shows signs of strange side effects that enhance his body’s properties, what seemed miraculous turns far more dangerous than they ever imagined.
Somnio
Travis Milloy | US
Writer: Travis Milloy
*Now titled INFINITY CHAMBER
A man trapped in an automated prison must outsmart his captors to find a way back to a world that may already be gone. Kept alive by a computerized jailer, his only means of psychological escape is to an imaginary coffee shop where he falls for a barista who may be imprisoned in the same loop or may not be real at all.
The Tribe
Roxy Shih | US
Writer: Ian Paxton
An isolated family of three young sisters live out their days in a well-stocked ranch after a pandemic has consumed most of the known world. With the youngest suffering from the first stage of illness, a passing stranger offers more than just the outside world: he offers a new outlook on life.
The Unseen (Closing Night Film)
Geoff Redknap | Canada
Writer: Geoff Redknap
Bob Langmore, an ex-hockey pro, lives like a shadow, a loner in tiny mill town far from the family life he abandoned. When he finally reconnects with his rebellious daughter, he chances her discovering his secret: that he is literally disappearing, his flesh vanishing in chunks right before his eyes. When she goes missing, he must risk everything to find her, before he is gone for good. THE UNSEEN offers a fresh take on the overwrought superhero origin story.
Virtual Revolution (OW Centerpiece Film)
Guy-Roger Duvert | France, US, Canada
Writers: Guy-Roger Duvert
Paris 2047: Half of the population is now permanently online, living their lives in a variety of game worlds, and leaving the reality behind. Private Investigator/ assassin-for-hire Nash finds himself employed by one of the corporations that builds these virtual worlds to track down a group of terrorists who are killing the players (for real) from inside the game. When he infiltrates the terror cell, he finds that the lines between innocent and guilty are far blurrier and maybe the entire ‘game’ is rigged against the human population.
We Go On (UW Centerpiece Film)
Jesse Holland, Andy Mitton | US
Writers: Jesse Holland, Andy Mitton
Miles Grisson lives in fear but, armed with a large sum of money, he decides to overcome his terror, not by facing it, but by offering a reward to anyone who can prove that after we die … we go on. When Grissom narrows down his leads to the three least crazy sounding -- a scientist, a medium, and a world traveler with a ‘magic box’ -- he teams up with the unlikeliest of partners for his search, his mom.
2016 short Film Archive
Allhallowtide
Tia Salisbury | UK | 9 min
Writers: Tia Salisbury
Dan has no time for housemate Molly today, which is just one more annoyance added to her being mute and dead for 180 years.
Bears Discover Fire
Ben Leonburg | US | 14 min
Writer: Ben Leonburg, Alex Cannon & Scott Riehs
An uncle-nephew camping trip becomes a journey of wonder when they come upon a family of bears that have discovered how to use fire.
Beautiful Dreamer
David Gaddie | US | 26 min
Writers: David Gaddie, Steven Kelleher, & Ken Liu
Facing a terminal disease, a mother uses space travel and relativity to stretch her last two years over the lifetime of her baby daughter, building a relationship despite the longing and estrangement that mark seeing each other only once every seven years.
The Bench
The Summers Brothers | US | 6 min
Writers: The Summers Brothers
A random encounter on a park bench reminds that there is more than meets the eye to every eye to meet.
Blight
Briane Deane | Ireland | 15 min
Writer: Matthew Roche
A young priest travels to an isolated island community to face a dark supernatural force that has consumed a young woman.
The Bulb
Calvin Lee Reeder | US | 10 min
Writer: Calvin Lee Reeder
Two strangers experience a bizarre phenomenon in a motel room, through the power of public access television.
The Call of Charlie
Nick Spooner | US | 14 min
Writers: Guy Benoit, John Simpson, & Nick Spooner
A trendy Los Angeles couple sets up a blind date for a friend … with an Ancient Evil Deity From Beneath The Sea.
Catch
Paul Cooke, Dom Rees-Roberts | UK | 16 min
Writers: Paul Cooke, Dom Rees-Roberts
A father tries to protect his daughter when she falls sick with an illness that has no cure.
Circles
Dean Puckett | UK | 15 min
Writer: Dean Puckett
A pair of paranormal investigators may hold the key to the truth behind a string of crop circles outside their small town of Totnes, Devon.
CreatuRes of Whitechapel
Jonathan Martin | US | 25 min
Writer: Rebecca Martin
Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of London, searching for the perfect victims to help Dr. Frankenstein, her master, bring his Creation to life. A gender-charged twist on a classic tale.
Girl #2
David Jeffery | US | 9 min
Writer: Kari Wahlgren
Even with a deranged killer running rampant inside the house, the girls still vie for leadership in the sorority.
Girl Ghost Getters
Sarah Adams, Maggie Rieth Austin | US | 6 min
Writers: Sarah Adams, Maggie Rieth Austin
Maggie and Sarah host a supernatural encounters vlog, but their need to film the perfect show blurs their perception between the paranormal and… well, normal.
Indigo
Jody Wilson | Canada | 22 min
Writer: Jody Wilson
After years of waiting, Takumi and his toy robot companion receive a message that they will be returning to their home planet. Suddenly he's faced with a choice: follow his cosmic destiny or pursue his dream girl here on earth.
It Grows Dark
Benjamin Capps | US | 10 min
Writer: Benjamin Capps
A demented, cyclopean teddy bear drawn on the scrap of paper leads Deke to a Tele-C booth where a voice on the other line gives him a message from Hell itself.
John the Carpenter
Matt Braunsdorf | US | 19 min
Writer: Matt Braunsdorf
After a car accident throws his sister Anna into conflict with a terrifying monster, John constructs a trap to revenge his sister’s sacrifice.
Kepler X-47
Erin Li | US | 13 min
Writers: Erin Li & Allison Lee
Fetched from Earth as a perfect specimen, a woman adjusts to her new reality in a human zoo on an alien planet.
*2016 Mary Shelley Award Winner!
The LosT City of Tomorrow
Auden Bui | Canada | 16 min
Writer: Auden Bui
Sent to shut down a floating film archive orbiting high above Earth, a bureaucrat meets an android caretaker whose love of film makes him almost more human than his counterpart.
Making Friends
Kyle C. Mumford | US | 7 min
Writer: Kyle C. Mumford
A lonely old man needing a challenger in a game of chess, builds himself a robotic friend.
MARÍA FERNANDA IN TIME
Xavier Pijuan | Spain | 9 min
Writer: Xavier Pijuan
In a scientific laboratory, an overprotective mother’s accident causes terrible consequences in her son’s space-time continuum.
Memoir
Alexander Jeffery | US | 17 min
Writer: Paul Petersen
Dr. Theodore Maine is on the cusp of losing his job at Janus Labs where he is developing research for Alzheimer's treatment, until a mysterious child arrives to change his future forever.
Monsters
Steve Desmond | US | 12 min
Writers: Steve Desmond, Michael Sherman
Jenn lives in an underground bunker, protected from the monsters that daily ravage the world. Today she goes outside.
*2016 Short Film Audience Award Winner!
Watch full film HERE!
NASTY
Prano Bailey-Bond | UK | 15 min
Writer: Anthony Fletcher
Exploring the mysterious disappearance of his father, twelve-year old Doug is drawn into the lurid world of VHS horror ‘nasties,’ in Margaret Thatcher-era UK.
Pearlies (QUENOTTES)
Pascal Thiebaux, Gil Pinheiro | France/Luxembourg | 13 min
Writer: Pascal Thiebaux
In many cultures, the tooth fairy that brings you a coin in exchange for the tooth under your pillow is a benevolent little mouse. But what if the teeth he collects are dental trophies, to be guarded at all costs?
Populace
Aaron Bevan Bailey | UK | 14 min
Writer: Dan Horrigan
In a future sputtering under ecological ruin and self-imposed eugenics, one couple searches for hope in their own love.
Rae
Aaron Rovner | US | 13 min
Writer: Aaron Rovner
When an office robot gives a co-worker a friendly gift, the fragile balance between the employees in the office is pushed to a tipping point.
Special Forces
Phil Bucci | US | 10 min
Writers: Phil Bucci & Marcus Perry
A detective finds himself saddled with two not so super-powered superhero cops to save the city from a villain's sinister plot.
Stripes
Tibo Pinsard | France | 4 min
Writer: Tibo Pinsard
Another first date gets hijacked by two people unable to get past their own masks.
Thump
Whit Spurgeon | US | 4 min
Writer: Stephen Newman
In the middle of the night, things should be quiet. Sometimes things go thump.
UNA MUJER SIN PRECIO (A PRICELESS WOMAN)
Juan F. Moctezuma II | Mexico | 15 min
Writer: Juan F. Moctezuma II
When a perfectionist scientist loses his wife to a car accident, he builds a robotic version to replace her, in this newly restored classic from the missing genre trailblazer, presented by documentarian Alaric Rocha.
WE Were Not Made For This World
Colin West McDonald | US | 4 min
Writer: Paul Hornschemeier
A robot searches for his creator in the desert lands outside his city.
YO NO HE SIDO (IT WASN’T ME)
Ángel Ripalda | Spain | 12 min
Writer: Santiago Manuel Taboada
Troubled at school, ten-year-old David complains he is not the one to be blamed for his mischief. His father hires a specialist to discover the truth.