From November 19-21, 2020, the state-of-the-art facilities at the Actors Centre Australia (ACA) will host a wildly diverse screening schedule drawn from visionaries working in the field of speculative storytelling from Australia and around the world.
The inaugural Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival (SSFFF) will include 8 feature-film screenings, with each session including a curated short-film accompaniment. It all begins with the Opening Night screening and celebration on Thursday, November 19 within the beautiful surrounds of Sydney's premiere inner-west venue, The Italian Forum at Leichhardt, and continues with two sessions on the evening of Friday 20th and a whopping five sessions on Saturday 21st.
The Founder and Festival Director is Simon Foster, who comes to the new role after three years as Program Director of SciFi Film Festival; he is also currently Festival Director of the Sydney leg of Monster Fest. “There is an enormous groundswell of support amongst the Sydney science-fiction community for an especially dedicated festival,” says Foster, “one that caters to broader tastes yet also services the most fringe elements of the genre.”
While the core of the 3-day event will be the presentation of cutting-edge science-fiction cinema, the SSFFF will also highlight the best speculative narratives in the field of art and photography, with planned exhibition space; engage with the future of science fiction cinema, with students from the ACA taking part in script-reading sessions; and, a special scifi-themed session of the ACA's popular 'In Conversation' Q&A events, with a leading filmmaker offering insight into his creative process.
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.