Festival Spotlights Importance of Independent Cinema
Event To Feature Screenplay and Graphic Novel Competitions
The 2023 New York Science Fiction Film Festival has announced the full program for its third annual event, with a creative lineup of screenings, discussions, and screenplay and graphic novel competitions. Featuring over 40 official selections, the festival will be held in-person on Saturday, March 25th at the Producers Club Theaters, with a virtual encore on Sunday, March 26th. Passes are available at https://www.newyorksci-fifest.com.
As a lifelong admirer of science fiction, Daniel Abella established the festival for filmmakers to display their work as part of the city’s diverse filmmaking community. He noted that, “New York has always been the center of independent cinema, and we are proud to showcase equality and excellence in our lineup.”
This year’s event consists of 31 shorts, two features, eight screenplay and graphic novel entries, and spans nine countries. Citing the foreboding nature of the films, the festival serves as a visual premonition of the future. “Think of this as a sneak preview of what’s to come,” said Abella. “As the boundaries of science and science fiction continue to blur, our festival offers the opportunity to take charge of the world we live in, and help us prepare for a better future.” After being introduced last year, the sci-fi and supernatural screenplay and graphic novel competitions will once again be featured. “Carefully constructed screenplays and graphic novels are the results of imaginations allowed to roam free,” said Abella. “I believe these categories will inspire many up-and-coming writers.”
By offering a wide range of science fiction entertainment, the festival hopes attendees will grasp the full effect of the innovative genre. “Indie sci-fi films are a labor of love,” said Abella. “They are more passionate and original than the tentpole productions that come out of Hollywood, because these filmmakers are not afraid to take chances and reinvent the medium.”
SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 2023:
Producers Club Theaters (358 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036)
Block 1: Experimental Sci-Fi Shorts
Time: 10:30am – 1:00pm EST
Cosmic Virtuoso (2022)
Submitter: Scienshell Studio
Run Time/Country: 20 minutes, USA
Synopsis: Showcasing alien mega constructions around the universe.
Ulalume (2022)
Director: Gary D. Rhodes
Run Time/Country: 7 minutes, Ireland
Synopsis: Dreamlike animation brings Poe’s unforgettable poem to life, with desolate, macabre, and volcanic imagery.
Stoneman (2022)
Director: Rupert Barker
Run Time/Country: 38 minutes, UK
Synopsis: The last man on Earth must escape the British Isles before the country’s unmanned nuclear power stations go into meltdown.
Agatha (2022)
Director: Roland Becerra, Kelly Bigelow Becerra
Run Time/Country: 60 minutes, USA
Synopsis: The film follows “The Professor,” a man suffering from a terminal disease, who by a twist of fate, witnesses an incredible event involving his mysterious neighbor Agatha.
Block 2: International Sci-Fi Shorts
Time: 1:00pm – 3:30pm EST
The Signal (2022)
Director: Daniel Lasker
Run Time/Country: 18 minutes, Zimbabwe
Synopsis: A deadly sound transmitted from space known as “The Signal,” corrupts the minds of all who hear it, turning them into soulless demons under its control.
Gliese (2022)
Director: Jorge Guimerá
Run Time/Country: 20 minutes, Spain
Synopsis: Nacho wakes up on the advanced planet Gliese, where he discovers by mistake that death does not exist. He lives a confrontational trip in which he has to decide whether to accept it or return to Earth and reveal the secret forever.
The Operator (2022)
Director: Matt Riley
Run Time/Country: 20 minutes, UK
Synopsis: The Operator follows Michael, a client contact associate as he starts another dull day of business as usual. Connecting long distance intergalactic calls from a remote satellite (not as exciting as it sounds); a bleary eyed and coffee fueled Michael receives a distress call. No one ever receives a distress call. They barely touch on distress calls during the induction day.
Eden (2022)
Director: Olivier Perrier
Run Time/Country: 12 minutes, France
Synopsis: Antoine is moving with his mother and little brother in a modern tower with green walls and a sustainable, self-sufficient architecture. In great psychological distress, he feels like a stranger to this new environment.
Eosphere (2022)
Director: Kolton Alexander Nowaczynski
Run Time/Country: 16 minutes, Canada
Synopsis: A grieving scientist struggles to accept help from his robotic creation; which is trying to address the cause of his guilt.
Pox (2022)
Director: Simon Young
Run Time/Country: 4 minutes, Austria
Synopsis: In a burned out shack in the great American dust bowl, a pox rages through a pioneer family.
Noctuidae (2021)
Director: Alexandra Mauritz
Run Time/Country: 23 minutes, Germany
Synopsis: A lonely seamstress receives a strange request: to sew a cloak made only from the wings of moths.
The Split (2022)
Director: Dario Vero
Run Time/Country: 11 minutes, USA
Synopsis: Something dark and mysterious happened on January 10th 1982 in Nevada. And it happened again 20 years later.
Double Trouble (2022)
Director: Levi Smith and Brett Helms
Run Time/Country: 15 minutes, USA
Synopsis: Two teenagers stay overnight in an arcade and happen upon a spooky, haunted arcade machine.
Block 3: Documentary Presentation
Time: 3:15pm – 5:00pm EST
Black Knight Satellite: Beyond the Signal (2022)
Director: Melissa Tittl
Run Time/Country: 78 minutes, USA
Synopsis: Billy Carson as he uncovers the truth coming from an unknown signal. Carson has spent most of his life studying the unseen to uncover why humanity is here and where we came from. When he discovers a NASA image depicting an unknown object, Carson knows this could be the answer to his questions. Known as The Black Knight Satellite. He interviews leading thinkers in the field.
Block 4: Horror Shorts
Time: 5:00pm – 7:00pm EST
Staycation – Trailer (2023)
Director: Russell Emanuel
Run Time/Country: 2 minutes, USA
Synopsis: Teaser Trailer for the upcoming film “Staycation” starring Olivia d’Abo, Sean Kenney, Tracee Cocco, Laurene Landon, Kelli Maroney, and Eileen Dietz.
Finger (2022)
Director: Joe Lueben
Run Time/Country: 12 minutes, USA
Synopsis: A mysterious woman appears at a young father’s home seeking recompense for a long-buried transgression. But she doesn’t want money—she wants one of his fingers.
Storage (2022)
Director: Colin Francis Costello
Run Time/Country: 17 minutes, USA
Synopsis: Things spin out of control very quickly after a doctor awakens in a storage room with no idea how she got there, who put her there or who she even is.
Dilemma (2022)
Director: Arik Bauriedl
Run Time/Country: 8 minutes, USA
Synopsis: In this short horror comedy set during Christmas time, the two best friends Amber and Emma discover something shocking in their bathroom. They have to find a way to protect themselves and the future of their start-up. A bloody mess is inevitable.
Creepers (2021)
Director: Kimberly Divad
Run Time/Country: 9 minutes, USA
Synopsis: Alone in her room, the pressures of life consumes Amy. At her breaking point she is confronted with the reality she unknowingly created.
The Hangman (2022)
Director: Cameron Sun
Run Time/Country: 12 minutes, USA
Synopsis: A woman returning home is stalked by a mysterious upside down figure.
Echo’s Voice Box (2022)
Director: Alex Sultoon
Run Time/Country: 4 minutes, UK
Synopsis: A singer is terrified of losing her voice and thinks someone is out to steal it.
Birthday Boy (2021)
Director: Dan Sellers
Run Time/Country: 12 minutes, USA
Synopsis: An abusive dad gets his just desserts on his birthday.
The Pit and the Pendulum (2021)
Director: Danny Ashkenasi
Run Time/Country: 29 minutes, USA
Synopsis: Musical short film adaptation of the classic Poe story. A desperate composer imagines himself both the victim and the Inquisition in Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Reality and fantasy converge with frightening consequences.
Block 5: Supernatural and Sci-Fi Shorts
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm EST
Launch at Paradise (2021)
Director: Carrie Ann Quinn
Run Time/Country: 15 minutes, USA
Synopsis: The lines between life and death become blurred for John as he takes the risk to live forever.
The Marinn Company (2022)
Director: Emma Swider
Run Time/Country: 12 minutes, USA
Synopsis: A damaged rental sex robot learns to defy her programming against her sadistic patron.
Runaway (2022)
Director: Harrison Heller, Tommy Kraft
Run Time/Country: 20 minutes, USA
Synopsis: Maria is an android on the run–falsely accused of murdering her master. Pursued through the woods by ruthless bounty hunters, Maria struggles to reach the Free States and maybe discover her humanity along the way.
Ring of Light (2022)
Director: Maxfield Cooper Smith
Run Time/Country: 17 minutes, Canada
Synopsis: In an authoritarian world, a young worker is promoted to distributing the most valuable item in existence when a mysterious woman offers an escape.
Robot (2021)
Director: Tom Ryan
Run Time/Country: 22 minutes, USA
Synopsis: A young boy retrieves a special debris from a spacecraft.
New Air (2022)
Director: Leo Lee
Run Time/Country: 12 minutes, Canada
Synopsis: A story of a mother A story of a mother and daughter on a brutal, resource-scarce planet galaxies away.and daughter on a brutal, resource-scarce planet galaxies away.
What Is Your Raison D’être!? (2022)
Director: Freddie Gardner
Run Time/Country: 6 minutes, USA
Synopsis: A young woman is held captive in a secluded lab as she goes through a series of experiments to test her supernatural abilities.
Chatsworth (2022)
Director: Joseph Junod
Run Time/Country: 11 minutes, USA
Synopsis: In 2004, a New Jersey park ranger, trying to cope with the recent disappearance of his wife, searches the vast Pine Barrens for his co-worker after failing to check in at the end of the day.
Remy (2022)
Director: Shallah Jones
Run Time/Country: 5 minutes, USA
Synopsis: A telekinetic little boy, named Remi, tries to emotionally bond with his negligent, addict father and ends up following him to a dangerous underhanded drug deal.
Block 6: Feature Horror Presentation
Time: 9:15pm – 11:30pm EST
The Monster Mash (2022)
Director: Richard Terrasi, Kevin Losani
Run Time/Country: 120 minutes, USA
Synopsis: An anthology of three gruesome tales that will take you back to the days of creature features.
Best Sci-Fi Screenplay Competition:
Official Selections
Death Memory
Writer: Jenny Popovich
Synopsis: An eager scientist develops and performs an experimental cure for Alzheimer’s on her mother, who begins having disturbing memories of crimes she committed.
Harpyr
Writer: Michael Natoli
Synopsis: In a dystopian future, a quirky anarchist and a mild-mannered journalist break out of quarantine to road-trip through the ruins of society. As they rebuild settlements and reinvent themselves,they uncover a vicious secret that could change the wasteland forever.
Best Supernatural Screenplay Competition:
Official Selections
An American Afterlife
Writer: Michael Natoli
Synopsis: After a shady life and a suspicious death on a job gone wrong, loudmouth mercenary Gee Zulamina finds herself conscripted onto a team of afterlife assassins, made up of misfit souls from different eras of American history.
Black Sunshine
Writer: Kirk Allen Muesse
Synopsis: Death is just the beginning of the fun when a miserable, newborn vampire hits the road. Making friends and enemies in his wake of carnage, he is called home by unfinished business.
Pussy
Writer: Payton McCarty-Simas
Synopsis: Over the course of a debauched long weekend at her friend’s beach house, Carter, a young butch lesbian, navigates her bro-ey friends hazing, getting closer to a new crush –– and demonic possession.
Best Short Screenplay Competition:
Official Selections
E.Nygma – A Batman Story
Writer: Rob Ayling
Synopsis: A psychological dive into the narcissistic mind of Edward Nygma,who is struggling to answer one of his most personal riddles.
Butterfly
Writer: Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel
Synopsis: After the rising tides turn New England into New Island, teens Macky and Ket are about to be taken away to the mining camps, when the arrival of an ancient species brings hope that only Ket understands.
Best Graphic Novel Competition:
Official Selections
Gorilla My Dreams – Team-Up #1
Writer: Tim Stiles, Kieran Jack
Synopsis: Knockaround-Guy (KG) and Cthulhu Williams don’t always see eye-to-eye. KG is a D-List superhero (and talking gorilla) who solves the weird and bizarre, street-level cases the A-List ignore. Williams is a paranormal investigator/monster hunter who takes his job VERY seriously.
Festival Lineup and Passes
Event lineup subject to change. For the latest information on the full schedule and passes, visit https://www.newyorksci-fifest.com.
About The New York Science Fiction Film Festival:
Founded in 2017, The New York Science Fiction Film Festival celebrates freedom of expression and the unique approaches of independent filmmakers as a merit to the science fiction, horror, supernatural, and fantasy genres. By honoring a groundbreaking past and looking ahead to an unprecedented future, the festival is committed to encompassing the brilliance of film.
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