Friday, September 6 | 7:00 PM
SHORT FILMS 11 MINUTES OR LESS
THE HEREAFTER
Science Fiction Short Film
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Los Angelos | 11 minutes | Written and Directed by Paul-Anthony Navarro
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SYNOPSIS: When Alex awakes into an afterlife of her own design, she discovers that her paradise might just be purgatory.
THE LAST
Science Fiction Short Film
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UK | 9 Minutes | Written by Samuel Turner • Directed by Samuel Turner and Andrew Dobson
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SYNOPSIS: Struggling to survive in isolation, a scientist carries out vital work.
PLANET
Science Fiction Short Film
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USA | 10 minutes | Written by Matt Seidner • Directed by Bill Sebastian
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SYNOPSIS: A husband buys his wife a planet for their anniversary. Five years later, they find the national space agency at their door.
FAULTY FATHER
Science Fiction Short Film
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Los Angeles | 10 minutes | Directed by Benjamin Welmond
SYNOPSIS: In the near future, a young father’s morning routine is put on the fritz when he uncovers his wife’s bizarre secret, one that forces him to question his sense of self and his role in the family.
TAKEN FROM ME
Science Fiction Short Film
Chicago, IL | 9 minutes | Directed by Adam Salinas
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SYNOPSIS: A home-invasion robbery quickly goes awry when it turns out the man of the house has been using some very dark magic after the death of his wife.
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*Filmmaker in Attendance
HUI YANG
Fantasy Short Film
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Colma, California | 11 minutes | Directed by Hannah Anderson*
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SYNOPSIS: Having escaped civil war from her country, Hui Ying knows pain and she’s had her fill. Uncompromising and determined she has decided to take her chances, sail to America and trek through California’s varying terrain in search of the Golden Mountain. As Hui Ying makes her way through the forest, she unwittingly crosses paths with a hostile creature, a manifestation of her fears and pain become all too real, forcing Hui Ying to confront the creature.
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THE TICKET
Fantasy Short Film
Toronto, Canada | 10 minutes | Written and Directed by James Villeneuve
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SYNOPSIS: A man's life takes a dark turn when he accepts a ticket to board a giant space craft.
MEMENTO MORI
Science Fiction Short Film
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Peru | 10 minutes | Written and Directed by Victor Arce
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SYNOPSIS: In a room, with an ethereal atmosphere, the humanoid Mae will try to revive her partner Kori covering the windows of the room but losing her own life at the same time.
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*Filmmaker in Attendance
Friday, September 6 | 9:00 PM
WEBSERIES
ONE HIT DIE: THE DEVOURING DUNGEON
Fantasy Webseries
Canada | 9 minutes | Written and Directed by Spencer Estabrooks
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SYNOPSIS: "Lord of the Rings" shot like the "Office." The third season of the Award winning series One Hit Die finds our party of adventurers in search for a magical fountain of experience in a shifting dungeon filled with traps and monsters.
LIFE XP
Science Fiction Webseries
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British Columbia | 11 minutes | Written by Cassandra Ebner* • Directed by Trevor Addie​
SYNOPSIS: An awkward bookworm fired from a mundane bookstore job is resurrected as an international VR gaming hero.
SUPER SCIENCE FRIENDS: EPISODE 6: FULL METAL SCIENTIST
Fantasy Webseries
Canada | 17 minutes | Written by Laurel Dalgleish* and Brett Jubinville • Directed by Laurel Dalgelish*
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SYNOPSIS: Someone is murdering all the Manhattan Project scientists, and it’s up to the Super Science Friends to discover who it is. This episode was animated in a traditional anime style. The animation was split between Toronto-based Tinman Creative and Tokyo-based D’Art Shtajio.
SINGULARITY STORIES, VOL. I
Science Fiction Webseries
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Wisconsin | 11 minutes | Directed by Asa Derks
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SYNOPSIS: When Colleen’s Amazon Alexa refuses to play her favorite Bruno Mars song, she becomes aware of the emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) consciousness that has awoken around the globe. Will she welcome our robot overlords? More importantly, can she convince them that her taste in music isn’t terrible?
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*Filmmaker in Attendance
Unadventurers
Fantasy Webseries
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Brazil | 7 minutes | Written by Sophia Tomazelli*, Lucas Durão, Thais Tomazelli*, and André Groppo • Directed by Luciana Bonassi*, Lucas Durão, Leonardo Praça, Luiza Azevedo*, and Pedro Formigoni
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SYNOPSIS: Vic Windvoice is a young man Who dreams of the – not so – glorious career of bard. In order to prove he’s worthy of his mother’s aid – she’s a great merchant –, he agrees to lead a second-class party of adventurers for a whole year. If he succeeds, his mother will hire a first-class party to make his career take off. However, leading a second-class party is not as easy as it sounds…
The Wish Weasel
Fantasy Webseries
USA | 20 minutes | Directed by Dan McNamara
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SYNOPSIS: In this campy 90s sci-fi fantasy, a magical weasel crash lands in Queens and befriends a girl who’s down on her luck. They must work together to defeat his evil brother to save Queens (and the Earth).
Friday, September 6 | 11:00 PM
YAMASONG: MARCH OF THE HALLOWS
Fantasy Feature
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USA | 1 hr 35 minutes | Written by Ekaterina Sedia* and Sam Koji Hale • Directed by Sam Koji Hale
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SYNOPSIS: Nani, a mechanical girl, lives in a prison moon over the planet Yamasong. Her mother Yari plans to escape to conquer the world. When the moon crashes, Yari and the mechanical Hollows emerge to wage war. Nani joins rebels Shojun and Geta, as they search for an ancient relic to stop the Hollows.
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Director Biography - Sam Koji Hale
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SAM KOJI HALE is a filmmaker, designer, animator and puppetry artist. Sam directed his first short film “Yamasong”, a hybrid animation-puppetry project, produced for Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams series. The film screened at over 30 film festivals, winning Best Animated Fantasy and Best Animated Film at 2010 Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival. Other recognitions include the 2014 UNIMA Citation of Excellence in Puppetry, the highest award given in the field of puppetry arts.
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“Yamasong: March of the Hollows” is Sam’s feature directorial debut. He created this film in partnership with Dark Dunes Production, making the first all-puppet feature in over a decade since “Team America” and “String.” Yamasong showcases original music from On Ensemble and a stellar voice cast including Nathan Fillion, Abigail Breslin, Freida Pinto, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Weller, George Takei, Ed Asner and Bruce Davison. Sam continues to produce short films for Handmade Puppet Dreams, working with their distribution partners at Jim Henson Company to bring rare puppet films to audiences worldwide.
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Sam’s other credits include artistic director on “The High-Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange” (Cartoon Network), VFX lead on “Adventures of Sam Sandwich” (Disney Jr.), VFX on “Tumble Leaf” (Amazon) and Associate Producer on “Team Smithereen” (Disney XD).