Film Archive
2017
Feature Film Archive
Beyond Skyline
(Opening Night Film)
Liam O'Donnell | US
Writers: Liam O'Donnell, Joshua Cordes
Set simultaneously during the worldwide alien invasion of the previous SKYLINE film, Mark, a tough-as-nails detective, embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his son, Trent, from a nightmarish warship. After they battle their way out, they end up in Indonesia, teaming up with the local resistance who have their own unique way of fighting the intruders.
Closer Than We Think
Brett Ryan Bonowicz | US
*WORLD PREMIERE!
From 1958 to 1963, Arthur Radebaugh's Sunday comic strip “Closer Than We Think” represented mid-century futurism at its most daring and optimistic. Featuring interviews with designers like Syd Mead (BLADE RUNNER), futurists like Kirk Citron (Editor of The Long News), scientists like Aubrey de Grey (SENS Research Foundation) and historians, this documentary tells the story of Arthur’s life and explores what it means to predict the future.
Cocolors
Toshihisa Yokoshima | Japan
Writer: Toshihisa Yokoshima
There is a world in which an endless rain of dark ash fills the sky, and covers the earth. Bundled up in their protective suits and hidden away behind their masks, humanity has fled deep within the underground. This is the story of the children growing up in this fearful world, and two boys who join a recovery team that ventures out to the outside world.
Curvature
(Closing Night Film)
Diego Hallivis | US
Writer: Brian DeLeeuw
Putting her life back together after the death of her husband, an engineer remains suspicious of her husband’s business partner who wants to continue his research into time travel. When she receives an enigmatic phone call of warning, she realizes she may have traveled back in time to stop herself from committing a murder.
DEFECTIVE
Reese Eveneshen | Canada
Writer: Reese Eveneshen
*US PREMIERE!
In the near future, Rhett Murphy and his estranged sister Jean are forced to flee from a militant police state after witnessing the dark secrets of a nefarious corporation. With a robotic police force and their killer drones commissioned to capture or terminate them, the siblings search for shelter and a way to take down the repressive regime that rules their lives.
Everything Beautiful is Far Away
Pete Ohs & Andrea Sisson | US
Writer: Pete Ohs
A guy, a girl and a robot-head hike across a desert planet in search of a mythical lake. A whimsical adventure with a big heart and intimate premise, this arthouse SciFi features breathtaking cinematography and a simplicity of story seldom seen in SciFi.
Flora
Sasha Louis Vukovic | Canada
Writer: Sasha Louis Vukovic
In the summer of 1929 -at the end of the golden age of exploration - an expedition of Ivy League University Botanists enter an uncharted forest on the North American frontier. Tasked to study the native flora, the students unearth a deadly organism and are soon in a fight with nature itself.
Fractured
Jamie Patterson | UK
Writer: Christian J Hearn
When a tire blows on the way to a romantic countryside getaway, Rebecca and Michael sense someone is watching. The only people they encountered along the way were friendly strangers Freyr and Alva who gave them a lift. But their holiday home becomes a terrifying prison as they are tortured by something or someone outside.
Gnaw
Haylar Garcia | US, Spain
Writers: Haylar Garcia, Jim Brennen, Kathryn Gould
*Now titled APARTMENT 212
Jennifer Conrad is a small-town girl starting over in the big city. Fleeing an abusive relationship, all she wants is a chance to begin again. But it is hard to start over when something is eating you while you sleep … one painful bite at a time.
Hostile
Mathieu Turi | France, Belgium
Writer: Mathieu Turi
Juliette, a lone survivor of an apocalyptic era, fights to survive against hunger, thirst, a broken leg, and strange disturbing creatures that only comes out at nighttime. Memories from before the apocalypse are Juliette’s only company as she holds up under a car and attempts to fight off whatever it is that roams the dark.
Mindhack
Royce Gorsuch | US
Writer: Royce Gorsuch
*NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE!
*Now titled MAD GENIUS
Mason, a young mad genius, attempts to “hack the human mind” in order to fix humanity. During the course of his experiments Mason accidentally gives physical form to his inner voice, Finn, and the pair must work together to stop the opposing forces attempting to co-opt the same technology for evil.
Painless
Jordan Horowitz | US
Writer: Jordan Horowitz
Born with a rare condition that leaves him alienated and unable to feel physical pain, Henry Long becomes obsessed with finding a cure. A need for normalcy leads him down a dark path where he must decide if finding a cure is worth paying the ultimate price.
Prodigy
Alex Haughey, Brian Vidal | US
Writers: Alex Haughey, Brian Vidal
A secret branch of the military calls upon psychologist James Fonda to take the case of a dangerous patient, nine-year-old Ellie. As their session begins, the young girl dissects Dr. Fonda's unconventional methods, revealing her genius-level intellect. Only by challenging her to a battle of wits does Fonda begin to unravel the supernatural mystery surrounding Ellie - a deadly secret that threatens to destroy them both.
RESTORATION
Stuart Willis | Australia
Writers: Matthew Clayfield & Stuart Willis
*NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE!
In the near future, a company offers individuals the service of having their memories downloaded "for backup." So, in the event of death, those memories can be uploaded into a new body. After a routine backup, Oliver Klein wakes to find his memories restored into a body that is not his own and comes face-to-face with the truth that he is no longer the only Oliver Klein.
TUFTLAND
Roope Olenius | Finland
Writer: Roope Olenius
*NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE!
A headstrong textile student tries to overcome her problems by accepting a summer job offer from an isolated and offbeat village of Kyrsyä. Once there, she finds her host family’s bucolic existence hides a dark undercurrent of female repression and cult-like conformity.
2017 short Film Archive
A Crimson Man
Mike Pappa | US | 22 min
Writer: Mike Pappa
Set in a war-torn land of man vs. machine, a young runaway slave in search of his father must ally with a troubled war-robot or be hunted down by his brutal overseers.
APPELLATION
Tracy Mathewson | UK | 11 min
Writer: Julien Bernard-Grau
A scientist's secret research is threatened when a neighbour reports his suspicious behaviour to the ruthless investigator tasked with finding and eliminating extremists like himself.
COLD STORAGE
Thomas Freundlich | Finland | 9 min
Writers: Thomas Freundlich, Valtteri Raekallio
On a desolate arctic shore, a lonely fisherman discovers his prehistoric counterpart frozen in the ice, and thaws him out as his newfound soul brother.
Couples Night
The Summers Brothers | US | 4 min
Writers: The Summers Brothers
A couples night goes off the rails when one couple reveals they're blood sacrificing devil worshippers. And then things get weird...
Alumni: THE BENCH (2016)
Watch the full film HERE!
Einstein-Rosen
Olga Osorio | Spain | 9 min
Writer: Olga Osorio
Summer of 1982. Teo claims he has found a wormhole. His brother Óscar does not believe him... at least not for now.
*2017 Short Film Audience Award Winner!
Watch the full film HERE!
Followed Back
Scott Baker | US | 9 min
Writer: Scott Baker
An astronaut struggles with PTSD from his last mission into orbit, where he's convinced he had an alien encounter.
Holiday Fear
Nicholas Payne Santos | US | 4 min
Writer: Nicholas Payne Santos
In the final act of a slasher film, Bruce attempts to reclaim his manliness and impress the final girl by finishing off the killer.
Immersion
Mikhael Bassilli | US | 7 min
Writer: Mikhael Bassilli
A man mysteriously finds himself in a room with a couple dead guys, a gun, some money, and a dubious gentleman observing from the shadows.
La Sirena
Rosita Lama Muvdi | US | 24 min
Writer: Rosita Lama Muvdi
In this psychosexual fairy tale set in a small fishing village, after Hector threatens to end his affair with Mia, she discovers a mysterious woman, Mara, washed up on shore, naked and with a hook lodged into her ribcage.
*2017 Mary Shelley Award Winner!
Mary & Marsha in the Manor of Madness
Kris Theorin | US | 3 min
Writer: Kurtis Theorin
Sinister secrets await as Mary helps her girlfriend Marsha escape from her parents’ gothic mansion one dark and eldritch night, a Lovecraftian escapade through the Manor of Madness.
Meeting MacGuffin
Catya Plate | US | 10 min
Writer: Catya Plate
In a post-apocalyptic future where humanity has fallen apart, a group of scientists and an animated sign complete the construction of a new human race and meet a groundhog climatologist who prepares them for their mission to restore balance to the decimated Earth.
Nicole’s Cage
Josef Brandl | Germany | 15 min
Writer: Josef Brandl
When an apartment on a revolving ferris wheel becomes free, Jakob and Nicole do not hesitate to move in together. Unfortunately neither has taken the time to get to know their partner before.
The Ningyo
Miguel Ortega | US | 27 min
Writers: Miguel Ortega, Tran Ma, Gregory Collins
Professor Marlowe finds a piece of a map pointing to the place where the Ningyo, a mythical Japanese creature, could be found. He decides to risk everything and go after it on his own in hopes to bring to light one of the greatest contributions to science. What he could not anticipate is that, in his search, he is confronted with a choice that puts the very foundations of his morality to the test.
Paleonaut
Eric McEver | Japan | 16 min
Writer: Eric McEver
A scientist studying the first human time traveller falls in love with her subject. If her research succeeds they will become separated by eons of history.
Paul’s Bad Day
Phil Bucci | US | 2 min
Writer: Phil Bucci
After blacking out, Paul wakes to find his world changed forever.
Alumi: SPECIAL FORCES (2016)
Watch the full film HERE!
Prenatal
Bears Fonte | Texas | 10 min
Mysteriously eight months pregnant overnight, Katie believes the Angels responsible, but her sister thinks differently.
Alumni: ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE (2015)
The Quantified Self
Gleb Osantinski | US | 16 min
Writers: Gleb Osatinski, Danielle Ellen
When well-meaning parents turn the self-tracking into a family religion, the consequences fall outside the quantifiable.
Alumni: HOUSE AT THE EDGE OF THE GALAXY (2014)
Scanners
Natalie Jenison | Texas | 15 min
Writer: Natalie Jenison
Alan's new job as a member of a security scan team is to do nothing but attend the mysteriously non-functioning scanner under the watchful eye of a paranoid boss until he fixes the machine and unwittingly opens a portal into the unknown.
Seam
Elan Dassani & Rajeev Dassani | US | 21 min
Writers: Elan Dassani & Rajeev Dassani
When Yusef discovers his beloved wife Ayana is a Sleeper, a living android bomb left over from a past war, he has only one choice: flee with her to the border of the Machine homeland in the desert, and pray they can make it before time runs out.
Skinjacker
Dan Horrigan | UK | 6 min
After the evacuation it's possible to go months without seeing another human being. So we turned to Pleasure Core ltd to keep us human - and being human has some dark surprises.
Alumni: POPULACE (2016)
Solved
Michael Bartolomeo | US | 8 min
Writer: Michael Bartolomeo
A lonely young man dreams of one day becoming a Rubik's Cube master, but his obsession soon turns deadly. This film is made of 11,000 still photographs.
Spell Claire
Greg Emetaz | US | 8 min
Writer: Greg Emetaz
Claire purchases an antique educational toy that reignites fond memories from childhood and lays bare the sorry state her life is now in.
Studded Nightmare
Jean-Claude Leblanc | Canada | 9 min
Writer: Jean-Claude Leblanc
When J.-F. is inexplicably drawn to the chair in which a man committed suicide, style isn’t the only thing the leather antique brings to his home.
Super Science Friends Ep 1 - The Phantom Premise
Brett Jubinville | Canada | 16 min
Writers: Brett Jubinville, Laurel Dalgleish, Kevin Williams
A team of time-travelling super scientists led by Winston Churchill who travel through time fighting Nazis, zombies and all manner of science-y villains!
Synchronous
Ricardo Fernández Jiménez | Colombia | 14 min
Writer: Ricardo Fernández Jiménez
Hilbert's consciousness can be in two worlds at the same time. An amazing skill which allows him to help a gangster win fifty-fifty bets. But he wants out, and a meeting with Ana may provide the perfect opportunity.
Taste
Adrian Selkowitz | US | 13 min
Writer: Lauren Kincheloe
Claire, a beautiful and calculating trophy wife, has convinced her husband to invite an influential Hollywood power couple to dinner, believing that preparing an elaborate meal for them might result in her starring in her own cooking show. Things begin to go awry when the arriving guests step over a woman's naked body in the driveway.
THEY CHARGE FOR THE SUN
Terence Nance | US | 17 min
Writer: Eugene Ramos
In a dystopian future where people live nocturnally to avoid the harmful rays of the sun, a young girl unravels the lie that has kept her and her sister in the dark.
Three Skeleton Key
Andrew Hamer | US | 10 min
Writer: Andrew Hamer
In this adaptation of the George G. Toudouze classic short story, an American lighthouse crew become unnerved when a ship ignores their light, running aground on the reefs. They soon discover that something is on board the ship, and it's not human.
The Tinwife
Travis Neufeld | Canada | 27 min
Writer: Travis Neufeld
Set in a futuristic 1950s, a woman is imprisoned in an internment facility for unwanted android housewives.