SCI-FI + FANTASY FEATURE FILMS
Films with a * indicates the film is also part of the virtual festival
THE CANDLE AND THE CURSE*
FANTASY ROMANCE FEATURE FILM
USA, CALIFORNIA • 1 hr 40 MINUTES • DIRECTED BY ANUJA GANPULE-SHEOREY
This heartfelt adventure centers on Princess Savitri who is as stubborn as she is beautiful. When she falls for brainy Prince Satyavan, she believes she’s found her “happily ever after.” But that all changes when a childhood curse comes true and takes his life. Together with her best friend JinJie and their guide Kaeia, Savitri must overcome a fearsome goblin, a slinking shape-shifter, and shrieking banshees to save her one true love.
Inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus & Euridice as well as the Indian tale of Savitri & Satyavan, “The Candle & The Curse” highlights underrepresented cultures and peoples to create a new narrative about justice, compassion, and the enduring nature of the human spirit.
BLOCK TWELVE | FANTASY FEATURE | SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7th @ 4:30 PM
JIM BUTTON AND LUKE THE ENGINE DRIVER
FANTASY FAMILY DRAMA
GERMANY • 1 hr 45 MINUTES • DIRECTED BY DENNIS GANSEL
Based on the bestselling novel by Michael Ende (The Neverending Story), this epic fantasy adventure follows a young orphan boy JIM BUTTON, his best friend LUKE and a magical steam engine called EMMA as they travel across the world in search of the truth about where Jim came from. Battling pirates and dragons, outsmarting make-believe giants, they must travel through the Forest of a Thousand Wonders, beyond the End of the World to find the hidden Dragon City.
BLOCK ELEVEN | FAMILY FRIENDLY FANTASY FEATURE | SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7th @ 2:30 PM
KHARAKH ODY
FANTASY DRAMA
RUSSIAN FEDERATION • 54 MINUTES • DIRECTED BY MIKHAIL MERZLIKIN
A poor but happy life in anticipation of the first-born can end forever. Anis, Ian’s beloved wife, was taken for debts, which the main character couldn’t recover. And then he decides to take revenge on God himself, who committed such an injustice. Will the protagonist in a series of mythical events save his wife and not lose himself?
BLOCK NINE | SCI-FI SHORTS & FANTASY FEATURE | NOVEMBER 7th @ 10 AM
*First person narrative filmmmaking - may cause motion sickness*
PARALLEL MINDS*
SCIENCE FICTION MYSTERY THRILLER FEATURE
CANADA • 1 hr 25 MINUTES • DIRECTED BY BENJAMIN ROSS HAYDEN
In the near future, technology firm Red-Eye is on the verge of developing a revolutionary contact lens that records human sight to replicate memories. The device uses an artificially engineered intelligence known as U.R.M.
BLOCK SEVEN | SCI-FI FEATURE | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6th @ 7 PM
OCCUPANTS
SCIENCE FICTION FEATURE
USA, CALIFORNIA • 1 hr 20 MINUTES • DIRECTED BY RUSS EMANUEL
'Occupants' is a film about Annie Curtis, an award-winning documentarian and her husband Neil. Annie and Neil embark on a '30 Days of Clean Living' documentary, setting up cameras all over their house to document, via the Internet, their new eating habits. By doing so, half of their cameras capture a parallel version of themselves - a version that ultimately unravels and threatens their very existence.
BLOCK ONE | SCI-FI FEATURE | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5th @ 7 PM