BERLIN AND SYDNEY OFFER AUTOMATIC ENTRY FOR TWO SELECTIONS
The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival and Berlin Scifi Filmfest will offer one German and one Australian filmmaker automatic entry into the respective events in 2021. The reciprocal arrangement is the first of its kind for an Australian genre film festival.
The initiative was suggested by Berlin Sci-fi Filmfest co-director Anthony Straeger as a means by which to maintain and strengthen the bond between the Sydney and Berlin events. Festival bosses worked together in February to co-present screenings that brought Australian filmmakers to German audiences and vice versa.
“Anthony, Alexander and Isabella are three of the most committed and enthusiastic festival organisers in the world,” said Sydney’s Festival Director Simon Foster, “And to have them offer a spot in their iconic festival for an Australian work is an incredible opportunity for a local filmmaker.”
Sydney genre audiences are also set to benefit from the arrangement. The German sci-fi sector has offered up some of the most intriguing and challenging speculative cinema of recent years, including Marcel Barion’s The Final Land, Daniel Raboldt’s A Living Dog and, from last year’s line-up, Fonotune: An Electric Fairytale from EDM musician-turned-director Fint.
"The Automatic Entry initiative reflects one of Sydney’s key aims," says Foster. “The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival exists as part of a global community of science fiction filmmakers and festival-goers. Reaching out across borders, over oceans, to bring that community closer, hand-in-hand with the Berlin team, is very heartening.”
The 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will run November 3-14 at the Actors Centre Australia in the city’s inner-west. The first submission deadline for 2021 entries is June 6; to be in consideration for a Berlin placement, films will need to be submitted by August 30. Submit via FilmFreeway - https://filmfreeway.com/SydneyScienceFictionFilmFestival
The 2021 Berlin Scifi Filmfest screens from November 26 at the celebrated landmark theatre, Kino Babylon, in the heart of Berlin. The festival’s next deadline is May 31; final deadline is August 31. All submissions accepted via FilmFreeway - https://filmfreeway.com/BerlinScienceFictionFilmFestival