Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival

Leichhardt, NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia, Oceania

Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival logo
Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival

Leichhardt, NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia, Oceania

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General Information

Contact details

30A, Italian Performance Precinct 23 Norton St Leichhardt, NEW SOUTH WALES 2040 Australia

2040

sifimadjen@gmail.com

043-194-8522

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About the festival

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: The inaugural Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival (SSFFF) has announced a line-up which makes its mission goal very clear. Australia’s newest celebration of genre film culture has launched as a truly international event, with a program that presents 10 features and 41 shorts from 20 countries.

Under the patronage of director Alex Proyas (Dark City; I, Robot; Knowing) and Festival Director Simon Foster, the SSFFF is set to run from November 19 to 21 at the state-of-the-art Actors Centre Australia complex in the inner-west suburb of Leichhardt. The 2020 schedule boasts the World Premiere of four Australian works, notably Mark Toia’s MONSTERS OF MAN. Independently shot in Cambodia and best described as ‘Predator-meets-Robocop’, the fierce action/thriller will open the festival, with fan anticipation high in the wake of its trailer going viral on YouTube.

Then, on Saturday 21st from 1.00pm, a strand called NORTHERN LIGHTS: QUEENSLAND SCIFI SHOWCASE will feature the first global screenings of Travis Bain’s mini-feature, STARSPAWN: OVERTURE, starring genre icon Vernon Wells (Mad Max 2), and Stephen Osborne’s debut feature, the UFO-themed comedy/thriller, STRANGEVILLE.

The fourth debut will be Richard de Carvalho’s Star Wars fan-fiction actioner, A BLASTER IN THE RIGHT HANDS, which will kick-off the AUSTRALIAN SHORT FILM SHOWCASE on Saturday 21st from 10.30am. This homegrown parade of 11 shorts runs the gamut from student pics (Ilana Finocchario’s EXTRA(TERRESTRIAL) and micro-budget indies (Kyle Lacey-Janettzki’s MILK) to cutting edge effects showpieces (Megan Bromberg’s STORAGE) and international festival hits (Adrian Powers’ BROLGA).

The features representing the world of speculative cinema come from Italy (Emanuela Rossi’s DARKNESS); Germany (EDM auteur FINT’ directorial debut, FONOTUNE: AN ELECTRIC FAIRYTALE); Japan (Kousuke Hishinuma’s HIDE & SNIFF); Spain (Juan Gonzalez & Nando Martinez’s THE QUEEN OF THE LIZARDS); and, Russia (Nikita Argunov’s epic fantasy, COMA, the festival’s Closing Night film).

Also from France is Baptiste Rouveure’s ANONYMOUS ANIMALS, a truly shocking reverse-world look at mankind at the mercy of animals, which will screen as the centrepiece of HORRIFIC FUTURES: SCIFI’S DARKEST VISIONS on Friday November 20 from 9.00pm. Also in this challenging, MA-rated roster is THE HOST (Poland, Dir: Pawel Song No); MIDNIGHT MOVIE: MAGNUM OPUS (Tunisia, Dir: Myriam Khammassi); TRANSFERT (France, Dir: Jonathan Degrelle) and EVENFALL (Australia, Dir: Dean Butler).

A highlight of the first Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will be the prime Saturday evening session, which has been allocated to two remarkable films from a region rarely represented in genre events. From 6.30pm, the strand SCIENCE FICTION FROM THE MIDDLE EAST will present the psychological thriller THE FABRICATED, the astonishingly assured debut of Iranian director Ali Katmiri, followed by the breathtaking beauty of SCALES, female director Shahad Ameen’s sea-monster/female-empowerment vision, from the U.A.E.

Repping the global short film community will be such acclaimed works as Yuichi Kondo’s RYOKO’S QUBIT SUMMER, an LGBTIQ-themed A.I. romance from Japan that earned Outstanding Film honours at the Berlin Sci-Fi Film Fest; French directors Loris Lamunière and Charles Mercier DAR(k)WIN PROJECT, a mesmerising mock-doc revealing the plastic sea-creatures of the future; and, Polish student Dominika Ożarowska’s cerebral thinkpiece SPACE PROBE PASSENGER, a fictional character study of how humans would interpret poetry sent from a free-thinking, deep-space craft.

Women directors are represented by 12 films (23%) in the SSFFF 2020 line-up. In addition to those already mentioned (Shaheed Ammen’s SCALES; Tunisian director Myriam Khammassi’s MAGNUM OPUS; Emanuela Rossi’s DARKNESS), female visions include Canadian Chelsea Jade McEvoy’s PALLIDUS; Spaniards Silvia Conesa’s POLVOTRON 500 and Eva Daoud’s THE LIGHT THIEF; and, American Trish Harnetiaux’s head-scratcher YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND.

*COVID19* The health and safety of everyone at the venue is our priority and we have been closely monitoring the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19). In line with the latest advice from the Australian Federal and State Governments on the prevention of the spread of COVID-19, Actors Centre Australia (ACA) have registered as a COVID safe business, and have placed strict hygiene and safety measures for all staff, students and visitors. This includes registration of attendees, temperature checks and daily comprehensive on-site cleaning. Staff are ensuring ACA fully complies with the COVID safe measures and rules ACA have in place as an educational and artistic institution.

The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival patron and the organisation's Board Members will preside over the following three honours:

BEST FEATURE FILM: The feature (over 40 mins) that best exemplifies the vision, values and ambitions of the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival.

BEST SHORT FILM: The short (under 40 mins) that best exemplifies the vision, values and ambitions of the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival.

PATRON'S HONOURS: The work considered by our body of patrons to be a unique, challenging and uncompromising example of science fiction/fantasy cinema.

Filmmakers will also be eligible for the SSFFF AUDIENCE AWARD, the most popular feature film as voted upon by Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival audiences.

About

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: The inaugural Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival (SSFFF) has announced a line-up which makes its mission goal very clear. Australia’s newest celebration of genre film culture has launched as a truly international event, with a program that presents 10 features and 41 shorts from 20 countries.

Under the patronage of director Alex Proyas (Dark City; I, Robot; Knowing) and Festival Director Simon Foster, the SSFFF is set to run from November 19 to 21 at the state-of-the-art Actors Centre Australia complex in the inner-west suburb of Leichhardt. The 2020 schedule boasts the World Premiere of four Australian works, notably Mark Toia’s MONSTERS OF MAN. Independently shot in Cambodia and best described as ‘Predator-meets-Robocop’, the fierce action/thriller will open the festival, with fan anticipation high in the wake of its trailer going viral on YouTube.

Then, on Saturday 21st from 1.00pm, a strand called NORTHERN LIGHTS: QUEENSLAND SCIFI SHOWCASE will feature the first global screenings of Travis Bain’s mini-feature, STARSPAWN: OVERTURE, starring genre icon Vernon Wells (Mad Max 2), and Stephen Osborne’s debut feature, the UFO-themed comedy/thriller, STRANGEVILLE.

The fourth debut will be Richard de Carvalho’s Star Wars fan-fiction actioner, A BLASTER IN THE RIGHT HANDS, which will kick-off the AUSTRALIAN SHORT FILM SHOWCASE on Saturday 21st from 10.30am. This homegrown parade of 11 shorts runs the gamut from student pics (Ilana Finocchario’s EXTRA(TERRESTRIAL) and micro-budget indies (Kyle Lacey-Janettzki’s MILK) to cutting edge effects showpieces (Megan Bromberg’s STORAGE) and international festival hits (Adrian Powers’ BROLGA).

The features representing the world of speculative cinema come from Italy (Emanuela Rossi’s DARKNESS); Germany (EDM auteur FINT’ directorial debut, FONOTUNE: AN ELECTRIC FAIRYTALE); Japan (Kousuke Hishinuma’s HIDE & SNIFF); Spain (Juan Gonzalez & Nando Martinez’s THE QUEEN OF THE LIZARDS); and, Russia (Nikita Argunov’s epic fantasy, COMA, the festival’s Closing Night film).

Also from France is Baptiste Rouveure’s ANONYMOUS ANIMALS, a truly shocking reverse-world look at mankind at the mercy of animals, which will screen as the centrepiece of HORRIFIC FUTURES: SCIFI’S DARKEST VISIONS on Friday November 20 from 9.00pm. Also in this challenging, MA-rated roster is THE HOST (Poland, Dir: Pawel Song No); MIDNIGHT MOVIE: MAGNUM OPUS (Tunisia, Dir: Myriam Khammassi); TRANSFERT (France, Dir: Jonathan Degrelle) and EVENFALL (Australia, Dir: Dean Butler).

A highlight of the first Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will be the prime Saturday evening session, which has been allocated to two remarkable films from a region rarely represented in genre events. From 6.30pm, the strand SCIENCE FICTION FROM THE MIDDLE EAST will present the psychological thriller THE FABRICATED, the astonishingly assured debut of Iranian director Ali Katmiri, followed by the breathtaking beauty of SCALES, female director Shahad Ameen’s sea-monster/female-empowerment vision, from the U.A.E.

Repping the global short film community will be such acclaimed works as Yuichi Kondo’s RYOKO’S QUBIT SUMMER, an LGBTIQ-themed A.I. romance from Japan that earned Outstanding Film honours at the Berlin Sci-Fi Film Fest; French directors Loris Lamunière and Charles Mercier DAR(k)WIN PROJECT, a mesmerising mock-doc revealing the plastic sea-creatures of the future; and, Polish student Dominika Ożarowska’s cerebral thinkpiece SPACE PROBE PASSENGER, a fictional character study of how humans would interpret poetry sent from a free-thinking, deep-space craft.

Women directors are represented by 12 films (23%) in the SSFFF 2020 line-up. In addition to those already mentioned (Shaheed Ammen’s SCALES; Tunisian director Myriam Khammassi’s MAGNUM OPUS; Emanuela Rossi’s DARKNESS), female visions include Canadian Chelsea Jade McEvoy’s PALLIDUS; Spaniards Silvia Conesa’s POLVOTRON 500 and Eva Daoud’s THE LIGHT THIEF; and, American Trish Harnetiaux’s head-scratcher YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND.

*COVID19* The health and safety of everyone at the venue is our priority and we have been closely monitoring the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19). In line with the latest advice from the Australian Federal and State Governments on the prevention of the spread of COVID-19, Actors Centre Australia (ACA) have registered as a COVID safe business, and have placed strict hygiene and safety measures for all staff, students and visitors. This includes registration of attendees, temperature checks and daily comprehensive on-site cleaning. Staff are ensuring ACA fully complies with the COVID safe measures and rules ACA have in place as an educational and artistic institution.

The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival patron and the organisation's Board Members will preside over the following three honours:

BEST FEATURE FILM: The feature (over 40 mins) that best exemplifies the vision, values and ambitions of the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival.

BEST SHORT FILM: The short (under 40 mins) that best exemplifies the vision, values and ambitions of the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival.

PATRON'S HONOURS: The work considered by our body of patrons to be a unique, challenging and uncompromising example of science fiction/fantasy cinema.

Filmmakers will also be eligible for the SSFFF AUDIENCE AWARD, the most popular feature film as voted upon by Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival audiences.

Awards & Winners

There are no winners yet for this festival

Terms and rules

Terms and Conditions:

1. All filmmakers/applicants or entity submitting a film to the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival (hereafter known as “SSFFF”), accept and agree to comply with the following Terms and Conditions. The person submitting a film to SSFFF is hereafter known as ‘You’ or ‘Your’.

2. We welcome films from any country in the world. If the film is in any other language other than English, the submission requires embedded English subtitles.

3. We only accept films that have been produced during and after 2018.

4. All submission fees are non-refundable. Please do not ask for a full fee waiver. Waivers are only offered to films invited to screen by SSFFF.

5. How to submit:
• Complete and submit Your online submission form.
• Pay relevant submission fee
• Films can only be submitted via the FilmFreeway platform.
You will receive confirmation of Your successful registration

6. Student and Young Filmmaker category entrants must be registered in a recognised film school, university, college, high school, middle school or elementary school with proof of ID from the institution to qualify for the relevant fees. You must supply the following:
• Your Student ID
• Name of school, college or university
• Name of Your Course
• Lecture or teacher
• Email of lecturer or teacher

7. FAN FILMS: SSFFF will accept fan films to this festival. You must have all permissions from the copyright holder and/or franchise holder and/or intellectual property owner and reveal those for the SSFFF upon request.

8. Filmmakers submitting must supply:
• Production credits/contact details
• 5 (five) photos for promotional purposes, (min. resolution 1024 x 576 pixels)
• Press Kit for promotional use by SSFFF
• Film Poster
• A trailer and/or scene clips from the film (ProRes 422 Full HD; 1920x1080 or higher).

9. A DCP of the full film must be supplied for the SSFFF screening, unless an alternate format is otherwise agreed upon by SSFFF.

10. Once a film is accepted by SSFFF and programmed, it cannot be withdrawn from the festival line-up, other than at the discretion of the SSFFF.

11. The SSFFF undertake to make every effort to adhere to the published schedule program. However, SSFFF reserves the right to alter this schedule and venue at any time for any reason. SSFFF does not accept any liability for any costs claimed to arise as a result of a change in the scheduling.

12. Awards may be presented during the SSFFF, at the discretion of the organisers and the Jury Panel (where applicable).

13. By submitting a film, You grant us the right to screen Your film at one or more SSFFF event, copy and/or reproduce, modify, adapt and any part thereof, up to one (1) minute of the film submission. We may also use Your submission and any other promotional material/photo’s and/or information submitted by You to communicate it to the public in all media, including via our website and publicity materials, or to advertise and promote SSFFF event(s), its products and services, or all, and to showcase Your film.

14. You own the copyright to Your film as its author and represent and warrant that You have (and will continue to have during the duration of SSFFF and thereafter) all necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions we need to use Your film and You will provide evidence of such on our reasonable request.

15. We accept no responsibility for any damage, loss, liabilities or injury incurred or suffered by any person as a result of submitting a film to SSFFF and its curation and all related events.

16. You indemnify and hold harmless SSFFF from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney’s fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening materials entered.

17. By submitting, You agree that you have read and understood these terms & conditions of entry.

18. The SSFFF reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify or otherwise alter these 'Terms and Conditions' at any time. Unless otherwise indicated, amendments will become effective immediately.

For further information contact SIMON FOSTER, Festival Director.

Ratings & Reviews

Categories and fees

FEATURE FILMS (Longer than 40 minutes)
Early Bird (7th July, 2020) $3,488
Regular (3rd August, 2020) $4,185
Late (23rd August, 2020) $4,883

Science Fiction/Fantasy feature; inc. fiction, animation, documentary, experimental, music.

SHORT FILMS (40 minutes or less)
Early Bird (7th July, 2020) $2,092
Regular (3rd August, 2020) $2,511
Late (23rd August, 2020) $3,209

Science Fiction/Fantasy short film inc. fiction, documentary, experimental, music, web series.

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