Sunday, September 8 | 10:30 AM
HARRY POTTER FAN FILMS
SEVERUS SNAPE AND THE MARAUDERS
Harry Potter Short Fan Film
USA | 23 minutes | Written and Directed by Justin Zagri
SYNOPSIS: Four friends celebrate at a bar graduating Hogwarts and contemplate their future, when an old rival arrives. Knowing what side Severus Snape will fight in the war, James Potter and The Marauders confront Snape for the final time.
NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM AND THE BLACK WITCH
Harry Potter Short Fan Film
USA | 16:38 Minutes | Written and Directed by Kali Bailey*
SYNOPSIS: A Harry Potter fan film which tells the tale of how the Longbottoms stood up to Voldemort’s most devoted follower, Bellatrix Lestrange.
Sunday, September 8 | 11:30 AM
FILMS 8 MINUTES OR LESS
BETTER STRANGERS
Science Fiction Short Film
Canada | 3 minutes | Written and Directed by Riley Dayne
SYNOPSIS: Ethan and Sam meet at a bar after using new dating app, their night is unforgettable, one for the ages. But is this first date really what it seems?
CHRONOPATH
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 6 minutes | Written and Directed by Jayk Gallagher
SYNOPSIS: To protect a mother and son fleeing a murderous husband in a polluted future LA, Detective Inés Nieblas must use the ability to alter past events.
WINGMAN
Science Fiction Short Film
Australia | 6 minutes | Written by Scott Burgess • Directed by Benoit McCullough
SYNOPSIS: A couple constructs a massive cardboard plane for their nephew...but when they take it for a test flight, they find themselves fighting off an entire squadron of enemies! They'll need more allies to win this battle.
DEEP DIVE
Science Fiction Short Film
Glendale, California | 6 minutes | Written and Directed by Mohammad Soleimanifeijani
SYNOPSIS: In the near future, everyone sees the city through their own set of augmented reality contact lenses. Through these digital screens, it is possible for them to curate their experience of the world, - just like an online network bubble that has become part of the physical world. Here a young Persian refugee arrives at the border of Los Angeles and is given a mandatory set of government-issued immigrant transition AR lenses. Shut out of other people’s reality she slowly descends into a new form of digital alienation.
MI-FI
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 8 minutes | Written and Directed by David Mair
SYNOPSIS: A very lazy man invents a teleportation device in order to maintain his sedentary lifestyle.
DELIVER
Science Fiction Short Film
Mexico | 8 minutes | Written and Directed by Ricardo Farias
SYNOPSIS: In the near future. Humanity is on the edge of extinction and survival has become a perverse game. A couple travels somewhere unknown to make a trade-off. What they’ll exchange is a mystery, but, what they will receive in return could save them. What is this couple willing to sacrifice in order to survive?
A TIMELY REMINDER FOR TIME TRAVEL PARTNERS
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 1 minutes | Written and Directed by Jamie Gower
SYNOPSIS: Time travel is a tough job. And filling out your timecard is the toughest part. Especially if you're a part-time Time Parter at Time Parter Partners.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD LIZARDS
Science Fiction Short Film
Los Angeles | 4 minutes | Directed by Emiliano Rago
SYNOPSIS: A conspiracy theory fanatic finds out an unpleasant truth
STARSET: RICOCHET
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 6 minutes | Written and Directed by Nick Peterson
SYNOPSIS: A heartbroken husband brings his dead wife back to life, but with tragic consequences.
THE PROFESSOR'S LESSON
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 5 minutes | Written and Directed by Ava Forte Vitali*
SYNOPSIS: A pompous professor who thinks he knows everything of the world is whisked away on a voyage that quickly teaches him he may not know much at all....
THE LAST DANCE
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 8 minutes | Written and Directed by Christ Keller
SYNOPSIS: In the not-too-distant future, an old man works alone in his garage – click-click-clicking the hours away on an old desktop computer. His name is Hugo, and he’s making something… Something great...
Today, the not-too-distant future will become the not-too-distant past.
Sunday, September 8 | 12:45 PM
SCI-FI SHORT FILM BLOCK 2
LAVENDER
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 13 minutes | Written and Directed by Henry Boffin
SYNOPSIS: A woman must learn to let her ailing Father go in a future where eating humans has become the norm to help combat growing food shortages.
THE DRONE
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 14 minutes | Written by John J. McLaughlin • Directed by Wojciech Lorenc
SYNOPSIS: Written by BAFTA Nominee John J. McLaughlin (Black Swan, Hitchcock, Carnivale, and many more), The Drone tells a story of DJ - a small quadcopter who is simply trying to fit in.
THE BIG BOOM
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 15 minutes | Written and Directed by Brian Watson
SYNOPSIS: A lonely service robot looks for meaning and purpose in a seemingly empty world.
PALEONAUT
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 16 minutes | Written and Directed by Eric McEver
SYNOPSIS: A scientist studying the first human time traveller falls in love with her subject. But if her research succeeds they will become separated by eons of history. She must find a way to connect with him across the ages or lose him forever.
A HEART-SHAPED STONE
Science Fiction Short Film
United Kingdom | 14 minutes | Written by Edward Kemp • Directed by Edward Hicks
SYNOPSIS: A rescue team arrive at a mining base on a distant moon to find the entire crew dead. Their investigation of the cause draws them into a dangerous experiment and presents them with a disturbing choice.
SUR'VI
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 12 minutes | Written and Directed by Stephen Wise
SYNOPSIS: During a time of nomadic civilization, a woman traveling through the wilderness alone comes across a young orphaned girl and must take her to safety while fighting off marauders.
PULSAR
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 16 minutes | Written and Directed by Aurora Fearnley*
SYNOPSIS: A Peacemaker, who rejects his final mission to save an endangered planet, is believed to be cursed when a solar storm hits his spaceship. - A modern retelling of the story of Jonah in the Belly of the Whale
THE BEACON
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 27 minutes | Written and Directed by Chris Staehler
SYNOPSIS: Mark and Kara Verne are both young shipping pilots struggling to make ends meet. When Kara goes missing months after taking a large interstellar contract, Mark travels to the far reaches of the galaxy in search of his wife.
Sunday, September 8 | 3:00 PM
SCI-FI FEATURE
THE ASTRONOT
Science Fiction Feature Film
Fort Collins, CO | 1 hr 12 minutes | Written by Pennan Brae • Directed by Tim Cash
SYNOPSIS: Daniel longed to touch the moon; with Sandy’s help, he’d reach the stars. It was 1969 and America was embarking on the biggest adventure known to humankind with its voyage to the moon. Daniel too was pursuing the unknown; leaving the path of isolation he had known for so long to embrace the love of another. The only question was would he be able maintain that trajectory or would he veer off course never to be seen again. That was the challenge for ‘The Astronot’.
Sunday, September 8 | 4:30 PM
FANTASY SHORT FILMS BLOCK 2
RAGNAROK
Fantasy Short Film
Norway | 34 minutes | Written and Directed by Ole Fredrik Wannebo
SYNOPSIS: Ragnarok tells the story of Liv and Livtrase, the two humans destined to survive the cataclysmic end of the world. How do they end up there, and what is sacrificed on the way. The warrior Aslak are put in charge of two children who turn out to be the fated Liv and Livtrase. Reluctantly he takes care of them when he understands his place in history, and that he is part of something greater than just his own story.
A CRYSTAL CAROL
Fantasy Short Film
Austria | 16 minutes | Written and Directed by Christian Jilka
SYNOPSIS: This slavic/polish inspired short film depicts the story of a poor tramp, who one winter's night encounters what seems to be an angel. Enchanted by this girl he follows her, not knowing that a horrific creature is following her as well.
ERIC AND THE BARBARIAN
Fantasy Short Film
United Kingdom | 15 minutes | Written and Directed by Ben Mottershead
SYNOPSIS: Eric strives to stand up to his workplace tormentors. These brutish oafs are the orcs and ogres of Eric’s world. So who better to help Eric find his inner strength than a wild imaginary Barbarian?! Can Eric unleash the warrior within? Or is he doomed to be insecure forevermore?
THE BLIZZARD
Fantasy Short Film
Andorra| 12 minutes | Written and Directed by Alvaro Rodriguez
SYNOPSIS: Second World War. Marie, a french refugee, wakes up wounded and disoriented in the middle of a Blizzard. In front, a mysterious forest separates her from her daughter.
A TIME FOREVER BEFORE
Fantasy Short Film
USA | 22 minutes | Written and Directed by Christopher Miller
SYNOPSIS: Zebulon Jude, the concierge of a hotel for time travelers, contends with his power-hungry father, Clement, who arrives at the hotel to harvest Zebulon's ancient gift of dreams.
*Filmmaker in Attendance
Sunday, September 8 | 7:00 PM
SCI-FI BLOCK 3
DUST
Science Fiction Short Film
USA | 23 minutes | Written and Directed by Logan K. Triplett
SYNOPSIS: On the hunt for a story, a young android reporter tracks down "The Developer," a mysterious synthetic-advocate, and uncovers the truth about his black market software updates.
TRANSMISSION
Science Fiction Short Film
Australia | 15 minutes | Written and Directed by Rebecca Gardiner
SYNOPSIS: Earth is dying, humanity is on the brink of extinction, and now mankind’s final hope has all but disappeared. In an effort to source a new life for planet earth, a research team ventured through the stars, only to go missing on an unknown planet. Desperate to find them, Commander Madison Sterling and her crew venture in pursuit. As her crew go missing one by one, the entire fate of humanity rests on her shoulders.
THE SECOND SESSION
Science Fiction Short Film
Portland, OR | 13 minutes | Written and Directed by Michael Ward
SYNOPSIS: A Peacemaker, who rejects his final mission to save an endangered planet, is believed to be cursed when a solar storm hits his spaceship. - A modern retelling of the story of Jonah in the Belly of the Whale
AMICAE AETERNUM
Science Fiction Short Film
Toronto, Canada | 25 minutes | Written by Ellen Klages • Directed by David Graham Tennant
SYNOPSIS: Eleven-year old Corrine Garcia-Kelly can’t sleep. Lost in the process of creating one last list “Twenty reasons why it sucks to be me”, she picks up her trusty teddy bear LB, climbs out the bedroom window and wanders through the deserted neighbourhood to rendezvous with best friend, Anna. As much as she’s preoccupied, Corry begins to experience and appreciate just how beautiful the world around her really is. Little details to be absorbed, cherished and remembered.
CARONTE
Science Fiction Short Film
Spain | 15 minutes | Written and Directed by Luis Tinoco Pineda
SYNOPSIS: Debbie is rude with her own family. But after a dramatic car accident, she starts to regret about the way she behaved with them. Unexpectedly, Debbie's story connects with Arsys's, an experienced military and space fighter pilot who tries to survive a huge space battle which takes place on other time...another galaxy....another universe.
The Masseuse
Science Fiction Short Film
Malaysia | 25 minutes | Written and Directed by Ce Ding Tan
SYNOPSIS: In a world where cutting edge robots are coveted, a fledgling human technician is torn between pursuing his feelings towards an outdated android and placating his abusive, android-aversive father.
RECLAMATION
Science Fiction Short Film
Los Angeles | 18 minutes | Written by Tom Loveman • Directed by Alison Kohlhardt*
SYNOPSIS: A determined young woman embarks on an epic adventure to reunite her family, torn apart and spread across the solar system ten years ago by an all-powerful global company that, in 2151, has the power to "recruit" anyone who owes it a debt.
This cautionary tale juxtaposes our economic inequality, corporate power, and basic freedoms against a realistic, potential dystopian future.
THE AUTOMATION
Science Fiction Short Film
Chicago | 22 minutes | Written and Directed by W. Alex Reeves
SYNOPSIS: In 1897, a young widow returns to the family farm where she discovers her late husband's attempt at building a primitive sentient machine. The Automaton is a 22-minute genre-bending western sci-fi fantasy that explores the unavoidable drive for human connection in an era of overwhelming progress and change.