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MoPOP in partnership with Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) presents the 15th annual Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival.
Bringing together industry professionals in filmmaking, science fiction, and fantasy, SFFSFF showcases new, creative additions to cinema arts.
The festival will showcase animated and live-action science fiction and fantasy films.
Filmmakers from around the world are encouraged to submit. Admitted films are judged by a nationally recognized jury of luminaries in the fields of science fiction and fantasy.
SFFSFF UPDATE
Due to COVID-19, MoPOP and SIFF have decided to postpone this event. The main event will now be August 1, 2020 and Encore screening event on August 2, 2020. Visit SIFF's SFFSFF page for more information.
FILMS
Running Time: 204 minutes
A Timely Reminder For Time Parter Partners
d. Jamie Gower | 1 min
Time travel is a tough job. And filling out your timecard is the toughest part. Especially if you're a part-time Time Parter at Time Parter Partners.
Alpha Squadron
d. Michael Litwak | USA | 11 min
A fighter pilot struggles to keep his group of friends together.
Big Boom
d. Brian Watson | 15 min
Jimbo, a service robot at a gas station, finds that his life has no purpose since the disappearance of all human life 37 days ago. He wrestles with his desire to be with his friend Bob (another service robot who is over 200 miles away) and his programming that keeps him at his post at the gas station.
Black Champagne
d. Jeremiah Williams | USA | 6 min
Priestess Queen Suraya and Priest King Jamari are the leaders of the magical Nemanyo civilization and derive their powers from an ancient lotus flower that was brought to earth from their ancestors thousands of years ago. Envious of their sacred power and magic, the Nemanyo fall under siege by the Czar of Chezidak and his horde of militants. Left for dead, Suraya and Jamari rise from their war-torn sunken city to reclaim their power and set their beloved people free.
Bunker Burger
d. Adam Yorke | Canada | 12 min
The members of an underground, post-apocalyptic bunker invite a psychologist down from the radioactive and chaotic surface above to audition for a place to live among them.
El Emotional Intelligence
d. Dennis Sungmin Kim | 9 min
A story of an AI unit who is anything but artificial.
Eli
d. Nate Milton | USA | 11 min
A 15 -year-old musician believes he has an extra-terrestrial implant in his ear. This is a true story based on the filmmaker's experiences within the realms of High Strangeness, Magical Thinking and Manic Delusion.
Flotando
d. Frankie De Leonardis | 8 min
A Russian astronaut awakes on an ISS space module after an accident. His attention is caught by outside knockings. Someone has come to welcome him, although it might all be just his imagination, or maybe not.
In Full Bloom
d. Maegan Houang | USA | 11 min
"In Full Bloom" tells the story of Cecile, an older Vietnamese-American hoarder, whose life is upended when worms open a black hole in her house and threaten to take all her stuff.
Kim
d. Madeline Landry | USA | 6 min
"Kim" is a stop-motion animated mock-umentary about a friendly, outgoing, people-eating siren. The film explores the titular character Kim's daily life and her begrudging interactions with the older fisherman Phil. Through these characters, the film also touches on environmental issues and the effects of these issues on the lives of those around us.
Moon Drops
d. Asaf Yecheskel | 16 min
A factory worker assembles an enigmatic machine that produces liquid drops from the moonlight.
Nature Planet: Staffer Duel
d. Michael Sime | USA | 2 min
A herd of Continental Seated Staffers fighting to survive in a harsh environment. As the aging leader begins to show signs of weakness, younger staff members pine for his position. But who is strong enough to topple this experienced king?
The Problemless Anonymous
d. Gary Roberts | UK | 14 min
Ivan has tested positive for perfection, but sadly in this world it's illegal and the law states he must attend a private clinic to be made imperfect.
Rocket Roaches
d. Mick Mahler | Germany | 11 min
After the earths surface has become uninhabitable the remaining humans connected themselves to a virtual reality. To the delight of the cockroaches who have flourished ever since. When they build a rocket to fly to the moon and leave the destroyed earth behind, they accidentally wake up one of the last humans from his virtual dreams...
Side B
d. Vanessa Williams | USA | 9 min
A YouTuber returns home for Spring break where her videos begin to take a strange turn.
Summon a Fiend
d. Eleanor Cho | 15 min
Hazel is a lonely little girl who struggles to make friends. One day, while in the library with her father, she wanders into a deserted room where she finds a mystical spell book. Within the magical tome, Hazel discovers a spell that she believes will allow her to summon a friend, but, she accidentally misreads it and summons a ferocious demon named Dantalion. The fiend must help Hazel to find a real companion before he slinks back to the underworld.
The Original
d. Michelle Garza Cervera | 13 min
Alana is a woman struggling to keep her relationship alive as her partner suffers with a debilitating illness. A new medical procedure offers the answer to their prayers, but not without forcing her to make one last sacrifice.
This Time Away
d. Magali Barbe | 14 min
Nigel is an elderly man living as a recluse, haunted by his past and memory of the family he once had... until an unexpected visitor arrives and disrupts his lonely routine.
Tragic Magic
d. Geoffrey Clark | 11 min
An elderly wizard and his impatient apprentice's day is disrupted when Death arrives. Will their combined magic skills be enough to defeat him?
We Got A Monkey's Paw
d. Aaron Pagniano | 9 min
Things get hairy when Zack convinces Jakki to spend the day making wishes on a Monkey's Paw. Soon the two find themselves doing backflips trying to undo the cataclysmic series of events they've set off. Ghost brides, demon boxes, dead-y bears, oh my! This paw is definitely in the wrong hands.
About the Festival
Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival brings together industry professionals in both filmmaking and the genres of science fiction and fantasy to encourage and support new, creative additions to science fiction and fantasy cinema arts. The film festival is co-presented by MoPOP and SIFF. For more detailed information, download the Rules and Regulations and the Info Sheet.
Date + Location
March 28, 2020—SFFSFF Screening @ SIFF Cinema Egyptian
March 29, 2020—SFFSFF Encore Screening @ SIFF Cinema Uptown
Jury
A nationally recognized panel of distinguished film, television, literature, and science fiction industry professionals, peers, and film critics will review qualifying submissions. A jury, which includes science fiction notables and award-winning film professionals, will view the top selected films in competition during the festival to determine the winners.
Awards
Grand Prize, Second Place, Third Place, Douglas Trumbull Award for Best Special Effects, and Audience Favorite.
Format
10 short films will screen in the first session followed by 10 short films in the second session. An awards ceremony will follow the second session, and all filmmakers are invited to a post-festival reception with jurors, MoPOP and SIFF supporters, and members of the Seattle film and sci-fi/fantasy communities.
Mission + Objective
The Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival promotes and encourages an awareness, appreciation, and understanding of the art of science fiction and fantasy cinema. Its mandate is to create a forum for creative artistry in science fiction and fantasy film and recognize the most outstanding short films produced.
Questions?
Contact MoPOP at FilmFest@MoPOP.org.
