Tag Archives: preview

Other Worlds 2021 preview: Day Four

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Returning for an eight exciting year, Other Worlds, one of the premier SciFi Film Festivals in the US, features some of the best and unheralded genre films. Beginning on Thursday December 2 at Austin’s Galaxy Highland 10, the four day event includes over 25 feature films, a slew of shorts, a screenwriting workshop, and the Mary Shelley Award. This year also features an additional five days of virtual events.

After skipping last years virtual only event, I gladly return to the festival for another go around

Art by Lauren Kitching

Here’s what to expect at Other Worlds 2021

Sunday, December 5

10AM

2001: A Brunch Odyssey

¡Vamonos!
4807 Airport Blvd, Austin, TX 78751

Before the final day of films, discuss your favorites of the festival so far with other attendees and filmmakers. For the first time, this party is open to all attendees.

12PM

Other Worlds Shorts II

Includes:

  • Echo Pines

Stephanie Begg | Australia | 12 min

Newly-minted Detective Barnes takes the lead on a missing child case, only to encounter a one-two punch of unexplainable phenomena in a nearby forest and no support from her fellow officers.

  • Florence

Florian Thess | UK | 13 min

She’s the first of her kind: an AI therapist for human patients. But as she learns more about the human condition, Florence isn’t sure that she knows the answers an isn’t sure that she knows the answers any more than those she seeks to help.

  • Giselle

Emmanuel Shiu | US | 2 min

A micro-meditation on loss, grief, and new beginnings.

  • Killing Time

P. Patrick Hogan | US | 15 min

A mysterious figure slips inside an isolated home and forces an independent research engineer to confront her past.

  • The Name of the Prime Minister

Bizzy Thompson | UK | 10 min

In this political thriller, a psychiatrist interviews a man convinced Tony Blair is still the Prime Minister, while trying to get answers from agents in a secret government facility.

  • Pew! Pew! Pew!

Loren Dunn | US | 13 min

At a cosplay convention, Miles has got some explaining to do with his friends. And what’s worse, his archenemy has just forced him into “battle,” putting those same friends in mortal danger!

  • Smudged

Jack Muldoon | US | 10 min

DMV, the near future: Adam finds himself on a Dantean odyssey through the bureaucratic hell of license-renewal.

  • Transfer

Sage Mears, Aaron Pagniano | US | 11 min

Max is rightfully nervous for this interview, and Bridget is not going to make it any easier for him.

  • Voices

Jake Hart | US | 7 min

A telepathic intelligence operative is confronted by her handler for connecting with the minds of unsanctioned targets.

Homebody: The Haunt Of Guy Withers

Zachary Endres | US | 2021 | World Premiere

Stars: Jordan O’Neal, Ryan Sterling Smith, Gary Teague

When Guy retreats into the apartment he runs as a shared short-term rental, he finds himself at the mercy of a world that doesn’t even notice he is gone, and haunted by the prospect of what lies past his door.

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Other Worlds 2021 preview: Day Three

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Returning for an eight exciting year, Other Worlds, one of the premier SciFi Film Festivals in the US, features some of the best and unheralded genre films. Beginning on Thursday December 2 at Austin’s Galaxy Highland 10, the four day event includes over 25 feature films, a slew of shorts, a screenwriting workshop, and the Mary Shelley Award. This year also features an additional five days of virtual events.

After skipping last years virtual only event, I gladly return to the festival for another go around.

Art by Lauren Kitching

Here’s what to expect at Other Worlds 2021

Saturday, December 4

10AM

Saturday Morning – Workshop
Storytelling In The Time Of Vr And Ar With Randal Kleiser

We’ve already left the age of just watching movies and have entered the age of being inside the movie. Unlikely as it sounds, Randal Kleiser, the director of Grease and Flight of the Navigator, has been at the forefront of this new technology for years, creating one of the first multi-episode VR series Defrost, adapting Grease’s “You’re the One that I Want” into a singing and dancing AR experience, and receiving a Lumiere Award for distinguished creative and technical achievements.

Join us for our annual screenwriting workshop to hear about crafting stories in new formats.

Esluna: The Crown of Babylon

Denver Jackson | Canada | 2021 | Texas Premiere

Stars: Grace Chan, Shawn O’Hara, Ariel Hack

After her mentor is abducted by a renegade monk, a relic hunter and her crew must find the Crown of Babylon, an ancient artifact rumored to have the power to bring back the dead.

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Other Worlds 2021 preview: Day Two

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Returning for an eight exciting year, Other Worlds, one of the premier SciFi Film Festivals in the US, features some of the best and unheralded genre films. Beginning on Thursday December 2 at Austin’s Galaxy Highland 10, the four day event includes over 25 feature films, a slew of shorts, a screenwriting workshop, and the Mary Shelley Award. This year also features an additional five days of virtual events.

After skipping last years virtual only event, I gladly return to the festival for another go around

Art by Lauren Kitching

Here’s what to expect at Other Worlds 2021

Friday, December 3

4:30PM

Keeping Company

Josh Wallace | US | 2021 | Texas Premiere

Writers: Josh Wallace, Devin Das

Stars Jacob Grodnik, Devin Das, and Ahmed Bharoocha

A fateful chain of events begins to unravel after two brash insurance salesmen go knocking on the wrong door, only to find themselves selling to a serial killer. (Also screens on Saturday, December 4 11:30PM)

The Turn of the Screw

Alex Galvin | New Zealand | 2020 | Texas Premiere

Writer: Alex Galvin and Henry james

Stars: Greer Phillips, Jane Waddell, Ben Fransham

Julia—a last minute replacement for another actress—arrives the night before open and is thrust immediately onstage to act the lead role in an evening of terror. Cast as the governess in a stage adaptation of Henry James’ Turn of the Screw, Julia, just like her character, begins to suspect that not just the fictitious house is haunted, but also the stage where she stands.

Lingering Visions Shorts

Includes:

  • Blue Fire

Nick Ronan | US | 21 min

A mysterious alien entity serves to reunite two ex-lovers and offer a new path forward, should they choose to take it.

  • Evie

Alex von Hofmann | Australia | 18 min

Teen Evie lives in a post-apocalyptic frontier rife with human scavengers and genetically modified dinosaurs. When her father is injured, she must venture out alone to get the supplies to save him.

  • Silver Age

Steve Makowski, Harrison Lees | US | 22 min

Does Elliot’s ailing grandfather have a secret past as a masked vigilante, or is he just senile?

  • Why Is It So Warm At Christmas?

Choi Woo Gene | Korea | 27 min

Eugene is a movie star and, thanks to a freak accident, a masked superhero. There’s just one problem: his stylish costume leaves him cold in winter months. Never fear: crafty superfans to the rescue!

(Also screens on Saturday, December 4 9PM)

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Other Worlds 2021 preview: Opening Night

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Returning for an eight exciting year, Other Worlds, one of the premier SciFi Film Festivals in the US, features some of the best and unheralded genre films. Beginning on Thursday December 2 at Austin’s Galaxy Highland 10, the four day event includes over 25 feature films, a slew of shorts, a screenwriting workshop, and the Mary Shelley Award. This year also features an additional five days of virtual events.

After skipping last years virtual only event, I gladly return to the festival for another go around

Art by Lauren Kitching

Here’s what to expect at Other Worlds 2021

Thursday, December 2

7:42PM

Madelines
OPENING NIGHT FILM

Jason R. Miller | US | 2021 | World Premiere

Writer: Brea Grant, Jason R. Miller

Madeline and Owen have invented time travel, but after discovering a mistake in the code that causes a copy of Madeline to appear every day, they must kill each new Madeline to prevent the universe from collapsing in on itself.

10PM

Launch Party

The Aristocrat Lounge
6507 Burnet Rd
Austin, TX 78757

Let’s gather together physically in one place in person. That’s odd to write but should be a good time. We can discuss Other Worlds of yore, and filmmakers can vie for your attendance at their films. Look forward to themed cocktails and party games involving killing Madelines.

The Other Worlds Austin 2017 preview Days 1 and 2

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Design by tattoo and graphics artist David Poe

Returning for a fourth exciting year, Other Worlds Austin, one of the premier SciFi Film Festivals in the US, features some of the best and unheralded genre films. Beginning on Thursday December 7 at Flix Brewhouse, the four day event includes 16 full length films, a slew of shorts, and a screenwriting workshop. Not terribly surprising to anyone who regularly follows my writings, I’ll be at there.

Here’s what to expect at Other Worlds Austin 2017

 

Thursday December 7

7:42PM EVENT HORIZON (20TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING) LAUNCH FILM

Paul W.S. Anderson | USA | 96min | 1997

Writer: Philip Eisner
Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Jason Isaacs

A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned…with someone or something new onboard. Twenty years ago, Paramount took us to the darkest edges of space, terrifying audiences with what has become a cult classic.  Screenwriter Philip Eisner joins us to celebrate one of the most unforgiving examples of mankind tampering with what they should not.  If 1997 was a sort of watershed year for the 2nd wave of SciFi — with THE FIFTH ELEMENT as a new take on the galaxy-building of STAR WARS, CONTACT clearly a new CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND — nothing captures the horrifyingly cold neutrality and danger of space first glanced at in ALIEN like EVENT HORIZON.

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The Other Worlds Austin 2016 preview Day 4

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Design by tattoo and graphics artist David Poe

Design by tattoo and graphics artist David Poe

After two successful years, the Other Worlds Austin scifi film festival returns this Thursday, December 1st, in new digs (Flix Brewhouse) and with an additional day. The now four day event has grown to include 18 full length films, a slew of of shorts, and an appearance by B-movie legend Sybil Danning, the late Dan O’Bannon’s wife Diane O’Bannon, and others. Not terribly surprising to anyone who regularly follows my writings, I’m covering the event.

Here’s what to expect at Other Worlds Austin 2016.

 

Sunday, December 4

 

12:20 PM SCIFI SHORTS 2 – TOMORROW’S HEARTS BROKEN TODAY

Stripes (Texas Premiere)
Tibo Pinsard | France | 4 min
Writer: Tibo Pinsard

Another first date gets hijacked by two people unable to get past their own masks.

Memoir (Texas Premiere)
Alexander Jeffery | USA | 17 min
Writer: Paul Petersen

Dr. Theodore Maine is on the cusp of losing his job at Janus Labs where he is developing research for Alzheimer’s treatment, until a mysterious child arrives to change his future forever.

RAE (Texas Premiere)
Aaron Rovner | USA | 13 min
Writer: Aaron Rovner

When an office robot gives a co-worker a friendly gift, the fragile balance between the employees in the office is pushed to a tipping point.

Una Mujer Sin Precio 1961 [A Priceless Woman]
(Texas Premiere)

Juan F. Moctezuma II | Mexico | 15 min
Writer:  Juan F. Moctezuma II

When a perfectionist scientist loses his wife to a car accident, he builds a robotic version to replace her, in this newly restored classic from the missing genre trailblazer, presented by documentarian Alaric Rocha.

 The Lost City Of Tomorrow  

Auden Bui | Canada | 16 min
Writer: Auden Bui

Sent to shut down a floating film archive orbiting high above Earth, a bureaucrat meets an android caretaker whose love of film makes him almost more human than his counterpart.

Beautiful Dreamer
David Gaddie | USA | 26 min
Writers: David Gaddie, Steven Kelleher, & Ken Liu

Facing a terminal disease, a mother uses space travel and relativity to stretch her last two years over the lifetime of her baby daughter, building a relationship despite the longing and estrangement that mark seeing each other only once every seven years.

 

12:45 PM STILLE RESERVEN [HIDDEN RESERVES]

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Valentin Hitz | Austria | 96 min

Writer: Valentin Hitz
Cast:  Clemens Schick, Lena Lauzemis, Daniel Olbrychski, & Marion Mitterhammer

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With powerful companies running the Vienna of the not too distant future, only the privileged elite can afford death insurance. The rest suffer their corpses to be used long after their passing in life-support farms, until their debts are paid. When Insurance agent Vincent Baumann goes undercover to ‘sell’ activist Lisa Sokulowa on his services, he discovers a brewing revolution that may be worth cashing in his own policy.

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The Other Worlds Austin 2015 preview Day 2

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Designed by tattoo and graphics artist David Poe

Designed by tattoo and graphics artist David Poe

After last years successful first offering, the Other Worlds Austin scifi film festival returns thisThursday, December 3 at the Galaxy Highland Theater. The three day event has grown to include 13 full length films, a secret Star Wars-related screening, and a variety of shorts. Not terribly surprising to anyone who regularly follows my writings, I’m covering the festival.

Over the next three days, I will preview the 13 features.

 

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Eric Piccoli | Canada | 98 min

Writers: Julien Deschamps Jolin, Eric Piccoli, Mario J. Ramos
Cast: Jean-Nicolas Verreault, Julie Perreault, Julien Deschamps Jolin, Nadia Essadiqi, Pierre Verville

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Orbiting the Earth aboard a space station for 1,000 days to prepare for a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa, four astronauts face unforeseen crises when a war breaks out on Earth below. Arguing whether to break off their mission, or what to do about the loss of communication from headquarters, or what to do about the other satellites orbiting the Earth, the team and themselves more alone than they could have prepared for.

(Friday, 10:15)

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The Other Worlds Austin 2015 preview Day 1

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Designed by tattoo and graphics artist David Poe

Designed by tattoo and graphics artist David Poe

After last years successful first offering, the Other Worlds Austin scifi film festival returns thisThursday, December 3 at the Galaxy Highland Theater. The three day event has grown to include 13 full length films, a secret Star Wars-related screening, and a variety of shorts. Not terribly surprising to anyone who regularly follows my writings, I’m covering the festival.

Over the next three days, I will preview the 13 features.

 

Boy 7

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Özgür Yildirim | Germany | 110 min

Writers: Philip Delmaar, Marco van Geffen, Özgür Yildirim based on the novel by Mirjam Mous
Cast: David Kross, Emilia Schüle, Ben Münchow, Jens Harzer, Jörg Hartmann, Liv Lisa Fries

download

Sam wakes up in the middle of the tracks of a subway tunnel. He can’t remember his name or how he got there. When he sees himself on a wanted picture, he realizes that his life is in extreme danger and his pursuers are hot on his heels. Unexpectedly, he finds a diary written in his own handwriting, and it seems to be the key to everything. When a young woman appears, who has the same burn as him on her left hand, a dangerous journey into thepast begins. BOY 7 is a SciFi RUN LOLA RUN, an adrenaline dash through a dystopian society where juvenile delinquents are recruited by the government for their particular ‘skills.’ An adaptation of a best-selling young adult novel that made its World Premiere at Fantasia in Montreal.

(Thursday, 7:42/8:00)

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Fantastic Fest 2015 Preview Day Eight

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It’s that time again for my sojourn to Fantastic Fest, the annual Alamo Drafthouse week long love letter to horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. This year’s festival runs from Sept 24-October 1, here in Austin at the South Lamar location.

As in year’s past, I begin my coverage with a multi-part/day preview.

 

Fantastic Fest Preview Day Eight

 

Evolution

Life probably began in the sea. Billions of years ago, amino acids joined together in the primordial soup to form the first simple microbes that evolved over the eons into the complex organisms that now dominate this world. Because of this, we’re frequently drawn to use the sea in film as a metaphor of life. Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s newest film, EVOLUTION, takes our longing of the sea and shows its beauty; even lingers on how wonderfully alien it can be. Life probably began in the sea, but it’s still unknown and deadly to us, as life can certainly also end in the sea.

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Fantastic Fest 2015 Preview Day Six

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It’s that time again for my sojourn to Fantastic Fest, the annual Alamo Drafthouse week long love letter to horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. This year’s festival runs from Sept 24-October 1, here in Austin at the South Lamar location.

As in year’s past, I begin my coverage with a multi-part/day preview.

 

Fantastic Fest Preview Day Six

 

The Similars

In October of 1968, something unbelievable happened to a group of people stuck in a small bus station five hours outside Mexico City. The first person we meet is Martin. Martin may be stuck in a rut, but at least it’s a calm, familiar rut. He’s waiting out his last days until retirement from his job as the clerk at the bus station. Ulises has bigger problems. His wife is giving birth in a hospital in Mexico City and he’s stuck at Martin’s station. The buses are delayed because of the weather and the old pay phone can’t seem to hold a connection. Ulises dejectedly takes a seat and finally notices the elderly woman nodding off in the back corner of the station. But then the very pregnant Irene blows in like a storm. She manages to use the phone to call a taxi. But when she goes to the bathroom, she discovers another person in the station, an odd young lady named Rosa working as a bathroom attendant. Our last three people arrive soon after in a taxi. There’s the young medical student, a concerned mother and her sick son. With all the players present and accounted for, the game is set.

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