THREE AUSTRALIAN PREMIERES,
FIVE VICTORIAN PREMIERES HIGHLIGHT THE
2025 MELBOURNE SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL
CINEMA NOVA, FEBRUARY 21-23
Melbourne’s largest celebration of speculative cinema will unfold at Carlton’s Cinema Nova across three days, when the 2025 Melbourne Science Fiction Film Festival lands on February 21.
Nine feature film sessions are programmed, amongst them three Australian Premieres, five Victorian Premieres and a beloved retro title screening in the southern capital for the first time in 45 years. Opening Night honours go to Victor Danell’s UFO SWEDEN, screening courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment, a blockbuster in its Scandinavian homeland that evokes the great ‘80s family-focussed adventures made famous by Steven Spielberg. Closing Night sees the Victorian Premiere of US indie maverick Pete Ohs’ LOVE AND WORK, a future-set workplace comedy where workplaces are banned and true rebels want to lead a 9-5 job life. The prime Saturday evening slot has been secured by Fabio D’Orta’s breathtaking alien invasion thriller THE COMPLEX FORMS, a stunning work that earned the filmmaker the Best Director honour at the 2024 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival.
Three films will make their Australian debuts as part of the 2025 program. Katie Dellamaggiore’s deeply affecting documentary SMALL TOWN UNIVERSE provides an intimate portrait of life in Green Bank, West Virginia, home to the world's most sensitive radio telescope and the only U.S. town that bans Wi-Fi and cell phones; Rachael Cain’s techno-thriller SOMNIUM challenges the world of corporate therapeutic practices in its story of sleep clinic whose methods lead terrifying after effects; and, William Hopp’s alien abduction drama ABDUCTEE, the story of a man determined to define the source of his sleep paralysis and night terrors.
Melbourne audiences will be challenged by the Victorian Premieres of two films that explore morality and humanity within the speculative narrative realm in the darkest ways imaginable. Miguel Llanso’s INFINITE SUMMER imagines a near-future when meditation is placed in the hands of an app generator. And, in a fearlessly R-rated onslaught of sexual frankness and gender warfare, cult filmmaker Scooter Mcrae’s BLACK EYED SUSAN examines mankind’s responsibility in creating sentient sex androids (WARNING: This session contains graphic content and examines mature themes that may be distressing to some viewers).
Of course, in the interest of an evenly balanced program, the festival is also proud to present a special 45th Anniversary screening of Don Chaffey’s robot-dog romp, C.H.O.M.P.S., starring Wesley Eure, the beautiful Valerie Bertinelli and an ensemble of great ‘70s comic actors bring to life this delightful romp.
Seven groundbreaking short films will also screen as part of the line-up, including the Theatrical Premiere of VCA student Sam Sungmin Lee’s time-travel drama ONE MINUTE IN HELL; UK filmmaker Richard Fenwick’s A.I.-themed romantic thriller SOUL MATE; and, Jason Sheedy’s chilling alien invasion vision THE RECLAIMERS, which earned the Best International Short Film trophy at the 2024 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we live, learn and work, and pays respect to Elders of all generations, and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival celebrates the history and contemporary creativity of the world’s oldest living culture.