Short Film: The Last Human

"The Last Human in the Milky Way" by Benjamin Combes

"An astronaut and his android have a talk about the place of the Human race in the Universe."

Short Film: Gear

"Gear" written and directed by Kevin Adams and Joe Ksander for Escapist Movies

"Gear" is a short science fiction film with a distinctly dystopian vibe.  It's follows the misadventures of a street kid named Mazzy and her robot friend.  The film feels like a scene from a much larger movie, which is likely the point, but the production values are impressively television quality.  (It's just about on par with a SyFy original like Dark Matter.)

"In a future where robots fill our daily lives, a young girl loses her family to a killing machine which ends up becoming her only family."

Sci-Fi Round-Up: January 13, 2016

"The Expanse - Julie in reactor room" by Tim Warnock

Interviews

The Book Plank interviews Lawrence M. Schoen, author of Barsk.

Collider chats The Martian producer Aditya Sood and Dr. Drew Feustal of NASA.

Coode Street interviews Elizabeth Bear and Scott Lynch, of Shoggoths in Bloom.

Happy Indulgence interviews Brett Michael Orr, author of The Bureau of Time.

Infoshop News interviews Adrienne Maree Brown, of Octavia’s Brood.

Medium interviews August Cole, editor of the War Stories From The Future.

Short Film: Traveler

"TRAVELER" written and directed by Simon Brown

"Traveler" is a very cool short science fiction film about a group of friends who create a vehicle resembling a landspeeder from Star Wars that can teleport.

"When a group of friends discover a secret code on the dark-web, they build a jet-powered craft to attempt jumping to the far side of our galaxy. But when they succeed, they unwittingly open up earth to the ‘aware’ - civilizations who are advanced enough to ‘jump’ through space.

Earth sits at a crucial way-point in the universe and has been targeted for illegal colonization. Only our adventurers can stop this - if they prove to the galactic council how nefarious the security chief’s plans are. Such a quest will take them to the far edges of the galaxies and the far-flung worlds there."

Short Film: AULD LANG SYNE

"AULD LANG SYNE" Directed by Bradley Porter

"Auld Lang Syne" is set in 2014 and time travel exists. It's New Years Eve and the only thing that gets Laura and Simon through the day are their brief flirtations. When Simon leaves for a lad's weekend to the past Laura gets caught in decade spanning black market war to save the man she might love.

Webisode: Red Weather

"Red Weather" by Jordan Downey

Fear Is The forecast in this pilot episode of Red Weather, a horror web series pitch from creator Jordan Downey. Simply put, it’s The Twilight Zone or Tales From the Crypt in under 5 minutes.

Red Weather aims bring a fun, whimsical nature to anthology horror. With a catchy theme song and memorable title sequence, episodes begin in the “bleeding storm” which departs to reveal the setting of each episode. New characters are introduced, often times unknowingly facing an ironic demise.
Nothing is off limits — monsters, ghouls, killer inanimate objects, evil government agents, dolls and demons are all part of the Red Weather folklore. You’ll never know what’s coming when the storm chooses you.

Driven by mystery and suspense first, Red Weather carries with it a cautionary theme: Be careful what you do, how you treat others and what you say because it might just come back to haunt you.
“We’ve developed a number of other episodes that are even scarier and more bizarre. But from the start, this has always been one of my personal favorites which I just felt was the best showcase for the style and tone of the whole series.”, Downey said. “I’ve always loved short horror films, especially when they’re essentially just one scene, and I hope we get to do more of these.”
Because in the Red Weather, every storm has a story!

Short Film: Post-Human

"Post-Human" Written & Directed by David Simpson

"Post-Human is a scifi proof-of-concept short based on the award-winning and bestselling series of novels by me, David Simpson. Amazingly, filmed over just three hours by a crew of three, the short depicts the opening of Post-Human, drawing back the curtain on the Post-Human world and letting viewers see the world and characters they’ve only been able to imagine previously. You’ll get a taste of a world where everyone is immortal, have onboard mental “mind’s eye” computers, nanotechnology can make your every dream a reality, and thanks to the magnetic targeted fusion implants every post-human has, everyone can fly (and yep, there’s flying in this short!) But there’s a dark side to this brave new world, including the fact that every post-human is monitored from the inside out, and the one artificial superintelligence running the show might be about to make its first big mistake. ;)

The entire crew was only three people, including me, and I was behind the camera at all times. The talent is Madison Smith (Legends of Tomorrow, Supernatural) as James Keats, and Bridget Graham (Pixels, Manhattan Undying, Hemlock Grove) as his wife, Katherine. As a result of the expense of the spectacular location, the entire short had to be filmed in three hours, so we had to be lean and fast. What a rush! (Pun intended).

The concept was to try to replicate what a full-length feature would look and feel like by adapting the opening of Post-Human, right up to what would be the opening credits. Of course, as I was producing the movie myself, we only had a micro-budget, but after researching the indie films here on Vimeo over the last year, I became convinced that we could create a reasonable facsimile of what a big-budget production would look like and hopefully introduce this world to many more people who aren’t necessarily aficionados of scifi exclusively on the Kindle. While the series has been downloaded over a million times since 2012, I’ve always intended for it to be adapted for film, and I’m excited to have, in some small measure, finally succeeded."

Short Film: Singularity

"Singularity" Directed by Samuel Jorgensen of The Bicycle Monarchy

"In the midst of a war between humans and sentient androids, a Delta Force team must battle a dangerous enemy to rescue the US President."

Short Film: Homeostasis

"Homeostasis" Directed by Tracy Mathewson

Written by Julien Bernard Grau

"In a world oppressed by fear and consumerism, a young boy attempts to reclaim the memory of his parents’ affection."

Short Film: Tessellate

"Tessellate" Written and Directed by Dario Ortega

"A man tries to save his son by taking, storing, transferring his memories and thus creating unforeseen events."

Posters: Blade Runner

Blade Runner Poster by Casey Callender

Sci-Fi Round-Up: January 6, 2016

"Warping Gone Wrong" by Leon Tukker

Interviews

Black Clock interviews Lewis Shiner, author of Black & White.

Book View Cafe interviews Lawrence M. Schoen, author of Barsk.

Diabolical Plots interviews Rob Dircks, author of Where the Hell is Tesla?

Examiner.com interviews Piers Platt, author of Rath’s Deception.

Examiner interviews Russell James, author of Q Island.

Short Film: The Mysterious Lost Orb

"Jack and the mysterious lost Orb" by Gobelins

"Jack and the mysterious lost Orb" is a short animated sci-fi film with an Indiana Jones vibe.  In it, Jack, who appears to be a relative of Rocket Raccoon, steals a MacGuffin in the form a glowing sphere, but once he has it, he must escape the object’s guardian, a giant shadow monster.

The film was created by Pierre-Marie Adnet, Coralie Bruschi, Mylène Cominotti, Marion Coudert, and Valentin Lucas for the French School Les Gobelins.  It's only a minute long, but it still manages to tell a very engaging, self-contained story. 

Short Film: Rocketship

"Rocketship" Written and Directed by Alfred Thomas Catalfo

A young boy befriends an old man, much to his parents’ consternation. Together, they transform a vintage vacuum cleaner into a rocketship for a surprising journey. The film was inspired by the rocketship sculptures of artist David Random.

Short Film: Shadow Complex

"Shadow Complex" by Dark Pixel

Jason Fleming finds himself trapped behind enemy lines; keeping him from getting to his extraction point. He has to fight through soldiers, helicopters and even a gigantic mech to get to Claire, who has managed to escape the compound with one of the enemy's vehicles. Can they make it to the extraction point without getting seriously JACKED??!? 

Short Film: Retrofit

"Retrofit" directed by Eric Law Anderson

Retrofit is set in the near future, when death is just a new beginning for those who can afford it. Dylan, driven by his need for reconciliation, brings his father back from the dead, and houses him in a shabby utility robot ‘acquired’ from the black market. To make matters worse Dylan did this without his father’s consent, and now his father is angry and wants to be switched off. Dylan must now convince him to give life a second chance.

Short Film: The Looking Planet

"The Looking Planet" from Eric Law Anderson

Winner of over 50 film festival jury and audience awards including Best Short Film, Best Sci-Fi Film, Best Animated Film, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound Design.

During the construction of the universe, a young member of the Cosmos Corps of Engineers decides to break some fundamental laws in the name of self-expression.

Short Film: Resuscitation

"Resuscitation" by Uladzimir Bahatyrevic

The human brain is capable of activity for some time after we die. These moments of revival are devoted to memories, regardless of who we are and where we end up.

Sci-Fi Round-Up: December 23, 2015

"MOSQUITO" by Cristiano Rinaldi

Interviews

Blastr interviews Charles Dance, star of Childhood’s End.

Blastr interviews Mark Fergus, producer of The Expanse on return to space.

Civilian Reader interviews Guy Haley, author of The Emperor's Railroad.

The Functional Nerds interview Ilana C. Myer, author of Song Before Night.

GQ talks to Daniel Wu, star of Into The Badlands, about training 12 Hours a Day.

Inverse interviews Jack McDevitt, author of Thunderbird.

Sci-Fi Round-Up: December 9, 2015

"From The Black: Free Fleet 4" by Maxime Delcambre

Interviews

Ars Technica interviews Randall Munroe, author of the Thing Explainer.

The Boskone Blog interviews Robert J Sawyer, author of Quantum Night

Civilian Reader interviews Michael Livingston, author of The Shards of Heaven.

Electric Literature interviews Catherynne M. Valente, author of Radiance.

NPR interviews Thomas Levenson, author of The Hunt for Vulcan.

Rising Shadow interviews Oisín McGann, author of The Vile Desire to Scream.

The Rumpus interviews William Gibson, author of The Peripheral.

SFFWorld interviews Mike Resnick, author of The Prison in Antares.

Sleeps With Monsters interviews S.L. Huang, author of Zero Sum Game.