SciFi Film Festival ()

Festival start: 07 October 2021      Festival end: 10 October 2021

The 8th annual SciFi Film Festival returns to Sydney’s premier screening venue at Event Cinemas, George Street from September 23-26, 2021.

SciFi Film Festival is an annual event in Sydney, Australia dedicated to celebrating and promoting fantastical science fiction, fantasy and horror genre stories, from Australia all around the world.

Our curated program includes, the latest indie and mainstream films to themed screenings and cult classics, as well as crowd pleasing events, from forums to Q&As with filmmakers and their crew, also, we have an eclectic mix of sideshow activities that are fun, quirky and will change from time to time.

The SciFi Film Festival offers awards in key categories that will be presented prior to the Closing Night film. The awards are named in honour of the great pioneers in science-fiction:

● Mary Shelley Award for Best SciFi Feature Film and Best Short Film is named in memory of the teenage girl who invented modern science fiction in 1818 with her novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus. Shelley, went on to create The Last Man (1826), which set the scene for the end of the world in the year 2100. Shelley was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, 2014, posthumously.

● George Pal Award for Best Director: Hungarian-born animator, director, and producer who was a leading figure in the science-fiction genre (Director: The Time Machine; Producer: Destination Moon, When Worlds Collide, War of The Worlds)

● H.G. Wells Award for Best Script: Often referred to as the "father of science fiction" and best remembered for his novels include The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), The War of the Worlds (1898) and the military science fiction The War in the Air (1907). Wells was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times.

● Lotte Reiniger Award for Best Animation Award (Charlotte"Lotte" Reiniger) is presented in memory of the first feature-length animated genre film in the history of cinema. The The Adventures of Prince Achmedis a 1926 German film, made during the Weimar period.

● Georges Méliès Award for Best Special Effects is named after the great French pioneering work in film and innovative special effects.

● Léon Theremin Award Best Music/Sound is presented in honour of one of the first electronic musical instruments and the first to be mass-produced. Thanks to its eerie sound effect, the theremin became the signature sound by the 50’s, for science fiction film and television.

● Brigitte Helm Award for Best Actress: iconic scifi actress best known as 'Maria' in Metropolis.

● Gustav Fröhlich Award for Best Actor: icon scifi actor best known as 'Freder' in Metropolis.

● Nevil Shute Outstanding Achievement Award is named in memory of ‘On The Beach’ written by Nevile Shute, also the first science fiction movie Hollywood ever made on Australian soil.

● Discovery Student Film Award is open to students who are registered in a recognised film school, college or university, when they have made their film.

Terms and Conditions
1. All filmmakers/applicants or entity submitting a film to the SciFi Film Festival (hereafter known as ‘SciFi’, ‘SFFF' ‘We’, ‘Us” and ‘Our”), accept and agree to comply with the following Terms and Conditions

2. SciFi only accepts online registrations and submissions to be assessed. We accept films in any language… However, films not made in English must have English subtitles.

3. The person submitting a film to SciFi Film Festival is ‘You’ or ‘Your’ and You agree that Your film may be screened at SciFi Film Festival event, if it is selected.

4. We only accept films that have been produced during and after 2016

5. All submission fees are non refundable.

6. How to Submit
• Complete and submit Your online submission form.
• Pay relevant Submission fee
• You will receive confirmation of Your successful registration
• Films must be submitted via an online platform.

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. Filmmakers submitting must also supply:

• Production credits and contact details
• 5 Photos for promotional purposes, no smaller than 1024 x 576 pixels
• Media pack for promotional use by SFFF
• Film Poster
• A short trailer of the film (Optional)

8. All films will be accepted and assessed with the view to screening them at a SciFi event(s). However, only films included in the Official Selection will be screened at a cinema venue(s). If Your entry is selected as part of the Official Selection for SciFi, You must provide Us with a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) in order for it to be screened. You will receive instructions on how to submit your DCP.

9. Cinema screenings are scheduled during the festival and or event at the discretion of SciFi. We undertake to make every effort to adhere to the published schedule program, however, SciFi reserves the right to alter this schedule and venue at any time for any reason. SciFi does not accept any liability for any costs claimed to arise as a result of a change in the scheduling.

10. Awards may be presented during the SciFi, at the discretion of the organisers and the Jury Panel.

11. By submitting a film, You grant us the right to screen Your film at one or more SciFi Film Festival 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 SciFi, event(s), its products and services, or all, and to showcase Your film.

12. 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 SciFi 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.

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

15. You indemnify and hold harmless SciFi 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.

For further information contact SciFi Film Festival: info@scififilmfestival.com