SEVEN NEW SHORT FILMS ANNOUNCED FOR 2021FESTIVAL
Seven new short films have been confirmed for the 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival, including four Australian Premieres. The selections reflect both the growing international reputation of the event and its commitment to local production; in addition to a pair of Oz efforts, new works will screen from Canada, USA, France, Austria and Turkey.
“The nations represented amongst our submissions indicate that the science fiction genre is inspiring global storytellers like never before,” says Festival Director Simon Foster. “The early-stage planning of the program, the actual watching of the films, has been a thrilling, inspiring experience.”
The latest additions to the 2021 line-up are:
THE GLASS CITY (Dir: Ramazan Demir; Turkey, 2.56 mins; AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE) Humanity will always find a way and survive, the main thing is how long people can remain human. A towering glass oasis shelters the wealthy, while the poor look on… (pictured, above)
THE GIRL ON THE MOON (Dir: Georgina Jenkins; Australia, 5.00 mins; SYDNEY PREMIERE) The year is 2069. Aboriginal Australian girl Luna, the only child ever born on the Moon, yearns to travel to Earth but her weak Moonling body would never survive there. At least that’s what her mother has always told her…
SPLAT! (Dir: Romain Revert; France, 1.06 mins; AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE) The end of mankind is all relative in animated disaster epic with a sci-fi twist.
MINIATURE LANDSCAPES - IN SPACE (Dir: Clemens Wirth; Austria, 4.00 mins; AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE) Deep space exploration vessel Razor Crest visits vast landscapes and unknown worlds in the latest work from master miniatures animator Clemens Wirth (pictured, below).
HOLLOW (Dir: Jackson Roberts; USA, 7.08 mins; AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE) 8,000 years after a nuclear apocalypse has left the sky permanently covered in fallout, The Earth remains hollowed out from geothermal energy extraction. There is one last chance for a new form of power, but there are those who want to use that power for their own purposes.
A JOURNEY TO THE MOON (Dir: Jack Getschman; USA, 2.40 mins; AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE) An animated adventure about two little mice who build a cardboard rocketship to go to the moon.
THE IMMORTAL (Dir: Carl Firth; Australia, 15 mins; ENCORE SCREENING) A man who wants to overcome death learns the secret of immortality, but comes to regret his decision when he discovers that eventually, everything dies - everything except him.
Firth’s film has played two highly respected Australian festivals already - CinefestOz in Western Australia in 2020 and the iconic Flickerfest here in Sydney in January. The exposure was no deterrant in programming The Immortal, says Foster. “This will be the first time that the film plays to an audience of hardcore genre fans. It is such an extraordinary vision, seeing it two or three times shouldn’t be an issue.” In 2020, the festival ran encore sessions of Adrian Powers’ Brolga and Dean Butler’s Evenfall, two Australian films that were established festival favourites.
Each of the seven short films have come via submissions on the festival’s FilmFreeway page.
The shorts join the previously-announced feature films to run in the 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival. These are Eddie Arya’s Australian indie drama, RISEN; Gerald Rascionato’s dino-thriller, CLAW; Indian documentary KALPAVIGYAN: A SPECULATIVE JOURNEY, from filmmaker Arunava Gangopadhyay; Beniamino Catena’s VERA DE VERDAD; and, the time-loop drama NO TOMORROW from Ben Tedesco.
The 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will run November 4-13 at the Actors Centre Australia in the inner-west Sydney suburb of Leichhardt.