If you know us, you already know.
If you‘re just discovering us, we strive to be that independent fest that loves filmmakers, screening films, and then talking about them in the most convivial of ways. We believe we’re getting better at it. That’s us. That’s Boston SciFi aka Boston Science Fiction Film Festival & Marathon. We love the film culture, we love the possibility of ‘if’, and we’ve been doing it for 46 years. So there’s history.
The legendary Orson Welles Cinemas is where it started. Legendary? Yep, the first manager was some dude named Tommy Lee Jones, and people like Peter Bogdanovich, Neil Young, Errol Morris and many more experienced formative cinematic awareness there. It was a 3-screener, it had a restaurant. There was a film school and more. It burned in 1986, and we are all that survived. Making films, showing them, and celebrating the creators is in. our DNA.
Under normal conidtion, i.e, pre-Covid, we are housed in the vintage, independent Somerville Theatre. That’s in Davis Sq, the front door to Tufts University, and just a few T stops (Boston’s subway system) to Harvard, MIT, Boston University & Northeastern.
For 2021, we are an 5-day event with two distinctive parts. "The Fest" and “The Thon”.
The Fest is 9 days of submitted and judged films. Tossed into this will be curated films, some classics, some global discoveries. There are also workshops, panels, and other special events. There a number of events/parties for filmmakers including weekend brunches and evening parties. They are convivial networking opportunities with fellow filmmakers and the industry.
The closing event is part two of Boston SciFi. It is “The Marathon”, aka The Thon. Where the greats, the not-so-greats, the not-even-close-to-great screen in a 13 film, 24 hour roller coaster of cinema and community. Think of it binge viewing with hundreds of your best friends, even if you just met. Since we’ve been doing this for 46 years, we consider ourselves the “Original Binge View.”
That’s the layout. When it comes to asking yourself to submit, you probably have questions. Hopefully you can find the answers here. One question often asked is how do we define science fiction. If Rod Serling would play it on the original TWILIGHT ZONE, then who are we to argue? Whether it's shorts, features, documentaries, animation, webisodes, whatever, we'll screen it. In our world, good scripts are more important than an explosion. Although a well done, nicely timed explosion is fun.
The organizers of BostonSciFi are industry professionals with decades of experience. One of the biggest reasons to enter your film is to get exposure to audiences AND the industry. It is this latter piece where our experience helps. We invite our friends to come, and we recommend BostonSciFi films to those we know.
So welcome to SF46, the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, the oldest, and perhaps the coolest, SciFi festival in the US with a passion for film that comes age.
By the way, did you notice that FilmFreeway has awarded us their Top 100 Best Reviewed Festival? Not just once, ten times. Of the 8,500 festivals in FilmFreeway's universe, Boston SciFi consistently ranks in the top 100. We blame it on our staff who are committed and to the filmmakers who share their creativity with us.
Awards, including The Gort, are given by judges and by the audience. Sponsors provide additional booty. Traditionally we give out between 12-16 awards and about 25 Certificates of Merit. The Awards change from year to year to reflect the changes in content and method of storytelling. The regular awards are the standards: Best Feature, Shorts Director, Special Effects, Documentary, and more. We also empower our judging team to add additional awards based on the films they have seen. For example, we've added webisodes, music, and sound design based on judges recommendations,
Judges, at their discretion, may add additional awards based on merit.