UNDERGROUND AND OUTER SPACE COLLIDE IN SUFF/SSFFF PARTNERSHIP.
The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival (SSFFF) has entered into a co-presentation partnership with the Sydney Underground Film Festival (SUFF), to ensure speculative storytelling and alternative cinematic culture are fully represented to Sydney’s genre audience.
Pictured: A scene from STORIES FROM AFTERWARDS
From September 9-26, the 15th edition of SUFF will screen online with 30 features and over 100 shorts. A 15-title strand of short films called OTHER WORLDS will be presented in conjunction with the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival, hailing from such countries as Russia, UK, Norway, USA, Canada and Australia and each one an Australian Premiere.
Tickets are now available for presale at the SUFF website here.
The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will then return the favour by hosting a ‘SUFF Presents…’ session on Friday November 12 at the Actors Centre Australia. The films to screen will be Camille Hollett-French’s brilliantly dark Siri-inspired comedy short, FREYA; Brazilian filmmakers Jairo Neto and Graubi Garcia’s STORIES FROM AFTERWARDS, a filmic essay on the challenges of creating stories in a world in constant transformation; and, GOOD MORNING STONUS, a Python-esque slice of fantasy silliness from New Zealander Christian Nicolson, director of cult favourite This Giant Papier-Mâché Boulder Is Actually Really Heavy.
“SUFF has been a Sydney festival staple, and my favourite hometown filmgoing event, for a long time now. Kath and Stefan present the freshest, most diverse range of aesthetics and narratives every year,” said SSFFF Festival Director Simon Foster. “To be able to co-present a science-fiction themed session of films entirely of their choosing, and then reciprocate in kind, is a true honour.”
Tickets for the ‘SUFF Presents…’ session at the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will go on sale soon.
The full line-up of the Sydney Underground Film Festival’s OTHER WORLDS strand, presented in conjunction with the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival, is:
THE HOST CELL (Dir: Joey Hamburger | USA, 3 mins) Tilly is watching a Sci Fi show about space commanders trying to kill a Robotic Host Cell that has infected humans and turned them into robots. While she watches, her parents argue about what to do with her degenerate grandfather who has become a burden on their lives.
DELEVE (Dir: Roma Glova | Russia, 2.15 mins) A teenage girl records the strange happenings in her life with a series of ‘selfies'.
FLORENCE
(Dir: Florian Thess | UK, 13 mins) A prototype therapy AI robot cracks under the pressure of meeting her inventor’s expectations and needs to decide to either help millions, or herself.
GENEVA JACUZZI’S CASKET (Dir: Chris Friend | USA, 6 mins) Los Angeles 2066AD: The Pleasure-U BioDrone, Kate Shaw's only assistant, has contracted an undiagnosed mental-disease. The BioDrone’s head, inside a reprogramming bag, continuously calls to Kate’s brain with strange visions.
STANDING WOMAN (Dir: Tony Hipwell | UK, 15 mins) A dystopian drama about a near future where the government, rather than imprisoning criminals or deporting immigrants, turns them into trees as part of an insidious environmental campaign.
CRUSOE (Dir: Shane Acker | USA, 7.25 mins) This Sci-Fi action comedy follows the adventures of Crusoe, an astronaut stranded on an alien planet teeming with hostile life.
TELOS OR BUST (Dir: Brad Abrahams | USA, 13 mins) Ascended masters, new religions, inner earth cities, crystals and lost continents. Immerse yourself in the confluence of strange myths and beliefs of the citizens of Mount Shasta, California.
TIME WARP (Dir: Mark Howling | Canada, 4 mins) Captain Pathfinder, pilot of the military orbiter Meteor Tree, is performing a spacewalk in his thick space suit. Only a few hundred feet away, there is the disturbing presence of an enormous and unknown saucer shape craft ready to make contact.
THE DEAD COLLECTORS (Dir: Brendan Cleaves | UK, 12.50 mins) During a pandemic in an alternate reality, two men have the job of collecting the deceased.
SLEEP TALKER (Dir: Carl Firth | Australia, 7 mins) A woman comes home to find that her husband is talking in his sleep, but soon realizes that something else is talking through him.
ALIEN VS PREDATOR (Dir: Ian Haig | Australia, 2 mins) A black blob of viscous fluid pulsates and moves about the screen, a kind of dark matter of undifferentiated tissue and unknown bodily origin. Alien vs Predator is the dark web manifest as flesh.
THE DARK ODYSSEY
(Dir: Michael Lavine | USA, 8.30 mins) A brave captain and his faithful mate transport a captive warrior, who holds The Inventory of The Mind, across the interstellar line. When their ship is forced to navigate an asteroid field, their mission is jeopardized.
THE IDENTIFIER (Dir: Olly Geyl | Australia, 6 mins) In a future where memories can be embedded into physical objects for viewing and consumption, a young identifier is forced to authenticate the memory of a recently deceased murder victim whilst digging into the closed archives of a police precinct.
ON THE MARGINS OF METAXY (Dir: Sonia Albert-Sobrino, Miriam Albert-Sobrino | USA, 3 mins) An experimental film that takes audiences to an imaginary world where the boundaries of the normal are broken or bent.
DYSTOPIA (Dir: Laura Ugolini | Norway, 6.50 mins) Forget reality shows and Instagram beauties; a young girl's fantasy becomes the playground for a gang of women set to create the perfect man, one limb at a time.
15th ANNUAL SYDNEY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL
Dates: Thursday 9th September - Sunday 26th September
Ticketing and Online Session Information: www.suff.com.au
Tickets: $12 per session, or a complete Festival pass for $195
2nd ANNUAL SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL
Dates; Thursday 4th November - Saturday 13th November
Website: https://www.sydneysciencefictionfilmfestival.com.au/
Ticket Packages NOW AVAILABLE: https://filmfreeway.com/events/127900/dashboard