The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival is set to launch its 12th annual event from April 4-6 in Manhattan and Brooklyn, offering an engaging slate of screenings, interactive panels, and competitions. Virtual access will be available from April 2-14 for audiences worldwide. As festival founder and director Daniel Abella explained, “Our goal is to create an immersive experience.” Participants can enjoy a range of innovative activities, including an interactive game called The Search for VALIS: Philip K. Dick’s Divine Transmissions, which leads players through riddles inspired by the author’s visionary works.
One of the festival’s highlights is The Unseen Realm, a program dedicated to reviving short films from previous festivals. This partnership with Dystopia Media aims to extend the reach of films that have run their course on the festival circuit, securing distribution and streaming rights to help them find new audiences. A live virtual introduction will be held on April 2 at 7pm, with films available online through April 14.
Visionary and Experimental Sci-Fi
2:45pm- 4pm
Apollo 11 Dream, 2023
Director Alain Thibault
Canada, 18 min
Inspired by the unconventional form and pacing of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the dreamlike and unconventional storytelling of Lynch and Japanese Noh theater, Apollo 11 Dream is asking the question: did the astronauts return to earth, or did they remain on the moon.
The Dance of the Nain Rouge, 2023
Director Eric Millikin
United States, 3min
The Dance of the Nain Rouge” is an experimental decolonial Detroit demonology deepfake dream dance documentary, based on the legend of the Nain Rouge (“Red Dwarf”) of Detroit.
Absorber of the Supreme Sun, 2024
Director Claus Arthur Breda-Gulbrandsen
Norway, 9 min
Absorber of the Supreme Sun is a visceral film that deals with the ebb and flow of time, space, emotions, biology, and physics. The film is an experimental film with music that attempts to convey certain non-verbal notions about the hidden structures in human behavior, memory, evolution, and our search for a higher meaning in a world in turmoil.
Intruders, 2024
Director Jan Locus
Belgium, 10 min
In an elongated pan, mountain landscapes and misty images of animals are presented in an ethereal, ghostly way. Locus uses found footage black and white photographs of UFO observations from the 1950s and 60s.
Telepathic Letters/HP Lovecraft and Fernando Pesso, 2024
Director Edgar Pêra
Portugal. 70 min
Howard Philips Lovecraft and Fernando Pessoa were among the most influential writers of the first half of the XX century. Pessoa and Lovecraft did not know each other despite having lived at the same time, but there is a huge complementarity between their lives and works. Telepathic Letters is a film, whose images were created exclusively through Animal Intelligence, in which a dialogue is established between his letters and essays, poems and fictions, an imaginary correspondence between the two authors, made exclusively from their texts, forming a new universe of artistic and literary possibilities, merging the Sensationism of Pessoa with the Weird Realism of Lovecraft.
Japanese Sci-Fi
4pm-5:15pm
Who Said Death Is Beautiful?, 2023
Director Ryo Nakajima
Japan, 70 minutes
In a zombie-infested Japan, Rika, an infected intern, cares for genius Rei and sister Yuna. Yuna turns into a zombie; Rika and Rei flee. Rika suggests escaping abroad with Takashiba for hope; Rei wants to return home. At Rei’s, they face a transformed Yuna’s confession. Amid despair, is hope alive?
International Sci-Fi Shorts
5:15pm-7:15pm
Director Gulnaz Galimullina
Russian Federation, 23 min
In search of confidence, the protagonist goes to the Master to buy a sample of a bold movie character. As it turned out, this is “the most popular product” and there are few characters left. In addition, there is a “side effect” – the acquisition of unpredictable traits, getting into an unexpected series of events. Despite this, the Guest agrees.
Bug, 2024
Director Filip Momirovski
North Macedonia, 10 min
An unemployed cellist turned software tester, tries out a smart speaker that generates music based on the listener’s feelings. Things take a turn when the speaker blares ominous sounds in the middle of the night.
Director Aleem Hossain
United States, 3 min
In the year 2065, a Bangladeshi-American documentary explores what the Bangladroids recall of their homeland.
The Fourth, 2022
Director Johnny Kirk
United States, 10 min
Eager to celebrate the 4th of July, a group of young black and Latino friends experience a police encounter that shatters the meaning of the holiday.
Portti, 2024
Director Tuomas Järvenpää
Finland, 10 min
A satirical sci-fi short film about the encounter between a frustrated man and an advanced artificial intelligence. The AI offers the man a new alternative. A tale of human curiosity, greed, and the coldness of artificial intelligence.
The Shaver Mystery, 2024
Director Dean Bertram
United States, 14 min
Was sci-fi writer Richard Shaver really abducted and tormented by a malevolent underground race of hideous humanoids, known as the “Dero”? Regardless, his “true” stories – known collectively as “The Shaver Mystery” and sometimes ghost written by editor Raymond A. Palmer.
Deepheist, 2024
Director Glen Vivaris
United States, 10 min
Four activists race to steal the program of the first A.G.I. CEO.
Ovo, 2023
Director Stiv Spasojevic
France, 6min
This is the story of a meeting between an astonishing robot from outer space and an adorable little bird just hatched from its egg.
Director Petja Pulkrabek
Germany, 15 min
In a bleak future in the year 2118, a gigantic skyscraper called the Factory rises above the ruins of the old world. In the dark lower floors, forced laborers toil tirelessly to produce diamonds. Emotions and contact are strictly forbidden.
Sci-Fi and Supernatural Shorts
7:15pm-9:30pm
Chthonic (Teaser), 2025
Director Tremayne LaMont
United States, 5 min
Hearing chatter and gossip. Hearing light whispers leaving sensual lips. They are doing this, they are doing that. They say this happened at night. They say that happened on this fateful day. All these rumors and old wives’ tales. That’s what they say. Whispers coming from the underground. Riding the wind saying something that might be profound.
Verflechtung, 2024
Directors Philip Hofmänner, Simon Jonas Pflanzer
Switzerland, 18 min
In the near future, Susana’s fiancé Marco decides to have a chip implanted in his brain.Marco, who suffers from severe depression and has professional problems as a result, sees this new technology as his only chance, not to lose touch. Susana, who originally drew his attention to the chip, soon begins to have doubts.
Bad Seed, 2024
Director Karan Sridharan
India, 6 minutes
A man meets his maker and doesn’t like what he sees.
Interference, 2024
Director Lila Woodbridge
United States, 25 min
The story of one teenage boy’s struggle with paranoia and identity amidst the start of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s.
Stephan’s Computer Parts, 2024
Director Ari Aleksander Miller Miller
United States, 11 min
A lonely owner of a computer store seeks to physically connect to the internet via self surgeries. Along the way he meets a writer, who becomes witness to his ultimate project.
Jirba, 2024
Director Sebastian Gonzalez
United States, 16 min
Based on the short story “Piper in The Woods” By Philip K. Dick, Dr. Henry Harris, is an alienated industrial therapist who works for an interstellar water bottle company. Harris is sent to investigate a strange phenomena happening at one of the company’s filtration facilities on the moon of Jirba
Monster, 2024
Director 乔 乔治
China, 10 min
A zombie plagues Beijing.
The Last Zombie, 2022
Director Adam J. Vaughn
United States, 10 min
At the conclusion of a zombie apocalypse, a lone zombie wanders the planet, isolated and threatened by every human in sight. When Nova, the last zombie, comes across a little girl who knows no fear, the two form an unlikely – and tragically short lived – friendship.
Demons, 2023
Director Adesh Prasad
India, 15 min
A man shares a newly found ‘cure’ to help his friend get rid of what haunts him. The haunting does stop, but at a gruesome cost.
Second Harvest, 2023
Directors Victoria Gayer, Naythan Smith
United States. 5 min.
A grieving widow attempts to renegotiate a corporate contract that sets the terms of her husband’s burial.
Rodent, 2024
Director Joe Fereday
United Kingdom, 8 min
A rat transports us through the last vestiges of humanity as it forages for food for its family. Confronted by a formidable threat, we discover the true magnitude of recent global events.
Feature Presentation:
9:30pm-11pm
The Last Night in the Life of Death, 2024 — NY Premiere
Director Isaiah Brody
United States, 79 min
Every night, Death comes to take care of people who move on from here to forever. But this night – tonight – something has changed, and Death is confronted with the possibility that there is no longer any use for his kind. Through seven encounters, Death begins to understand his true fate.
Village East Cinema by Angelika
181-189 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003
International Sci-Fi Shorts
5pm-7:30pm
Concrete, 2024
Director Eli Vidis Newman
United States, 15 min
In an alternate version of 20th century America, all citizens are subject to government-issued neurological implants which they are told prevent their heads from exploding. Starring Ed Harris, Henry Fulton Winship, Sophia Ali, and Frankie Quinones.
Director Gerard Corporon
France, 18 min
After visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, a couple who witnessed something that deeply upset them search for an explanation for what they experienced.
Director Olivier Xavier
Canada, 19 min
Montreal, 1888. The demonstration run of a time machine allows Stephanie, a young girl with a gift for science, to take her revenge upon the misogynistic and phallocratic world of a university. ATIME OF MICE AND HUBRIS is Quebec’s first steampunk film.
De Profvndis, 2024
Director Nina McNeely
United States, 4 min
Directed by acclaimed choreographer Nina McNeely, featuring CLI Conservatory, “De Profvndis” captures the essence of iconic religious artworks, with dancers embodying the spirit of ascension, the vibrancy of life, the solemnity of death, the passion of love, the purity of innocence, and the sanctity of ritual.
Director Hadley Hillel
United States, 6 min
In a sleepy seaside town, Chappell Roan falls in love with a mysterious Siren but soon realizes that the creature is more dangerous than she ever could have imagined.
First Sight, 2024 — NY Premiere
Director Andrew McGee
United Kingdom, 19 min
Luna’s dating life takes a dark turn in this gripping story about love, loss, and augmented reality. The future is in sight. Starring Ellise Chappell Poldark and Young Wallander, and Jacob Fortune-Lloyd.
Bloom, 2024
Directors Rachel Morgan, Paul Del Gesso
United States, 15 min
Struggling to make it as a model in New York City, Flora Piper gets an unexpected offer from a fashion photographer to care-take his plant-filled studio. This mysterious and mystical opportunity may change her life forever. Starring Grainger Hines and Emily Bennett.
Director Daniel Corey
United States, 3 min
“Reclaimer” is a short film by Daniel Corey that tells the story of a man who uses his supernatural powers to heal a broken city.
Lillo, 2023
Director Andrea Figueroa
Mexico, 8min
After the death of his father, a little boy has to do the cornfield harvest on his own, overcoming his loss with the help of his imagination.
Feature Presentation
7:30pm-10pm
Director Vanessa Ly
United States, 116 min
In a near future, a genius scientist recounts how he created the first androids, exact replicas of deceased children. In a very distant future, a small community of children-androids lives on a remote island. The arrival of a female teenager, the only human, changes the pace of their life. Two androids embark on their last journey to find the Truth. Starring William Fichtner and Aurora Quattrocchi.
Panel Discussions
Is the US Government Doing DNA Analysis on UFO Abductees?
Join filmmaker Liz Guaraccino and a panel of leading thinkers as they explore this possibility.
The Future of Film Distribution
1pm-2pm
Learn how to navigate the distribution maze in today’s changing climate Panelists to be announced.
Sunday, April 6, 2025
Stuart Cinema & Cafe
79 West St, Brooklyn, NY 11222
International Sci-Fi Shorts
2pm-4pm
Universe 25, 2023
Director David Tappan
United States, 20 min
A mysterious entity. A bizarre psychological experiment. Imprisoned in “The Room,” a woman can’t know anyone longer than 30 days. It’s difficult to say what’s worse: knowing that anyone she cares about will disappear, or that they might be replaced by someone worse. With no hope of escape, she must confront the absurdity of her new existence.
Woke Up in an Ashtray, 2024
Director Justine Gasquet
France, 4 minutes
In a world where the boundaries between humans and machines have been abolished, now that death has been overcome and eternity is in sight, is there a soul left alive?
Director Mora Carew
United States , 16 min
A brilliant but disturbed artist struggles to connect with his audience.
Hidden Agendas: Lineage Industries Ties to the U.S. Government, 2025
Director Liz Guarracino
United States, 20 min
Lineage Industries, the leading ancestral research lab in the world, was created by the U.S. Government to find a single being.
Fiddler’s Green, 2024
Directors Harrison Heller, Tommy Kraft
United States, 15 min
At a rest stop bar in the middle of nowhere, a mysterious proprietor helps a guilt-ridden man reckon with his choices.
Discorporate, 2024
Director Dane Williams
United States, 20 min
In a near-future rife with misinformation, Petra uploads her consciousness, believing in a greener existence, only to uncover a dark truth about the process.
Creature, 2024
Director Georg Koszulinski
United States, 12 min
In a future world ravaged by war and ecological collapse, an extraterrestrial entity appears in the form of a glacier.
Director Mike Hay
United Kingdom, 6 min
A lone battle-scarred woman navigates the streets of a city in the future, where the populace is enslaved by the tyrannical GovCorp. As she moves further into the heart of darkness, Vita is determined to break the cycle of greed and repression.
4pm-6pm
Sex Robot Madness, 2025 — U.S. Premiere
Director Jimmy Mehiel
United States, 94 min
As Big Tech shifts its focus from the attention economy to the emerging “intimacy economy,” the question arises: Are we ready for customizable lovebots designed to push our most primal buttons? Sex Robot Madness is a fast-paced, unapologetic dive into human-machine intimacy, where the line between connection and commodification blurs.
Feature Presentation
6pm-8pm
The Protos Experiment, 2024 — East Coast Premiere
Directors Brian Avenet-Bradley, Laurence Avenet-Bradley
United States, 88 min
Kyra and John wake in a strange prison… They’re not alone. They discover they are chained and are utterly vulnerable in the presence of nightmarish, prowling figures controlled by unseen captors.
Films will be available online to attendees from April 3-14
International Sci-Fi Shorts
Portti, 2024
Director Tuomas Järvenpää
Finland, 10 min
A satirical sci-fi short film about the encounter between a frustrated man and an advanced artificial intelligence. The AI offers the man a new alternative. A tale of human curiosity, greed, and the coldness of artificial intelligence
The Fourth, 2022
Director Johnny Kirk
United States, 10 min
Eager to celebrate the 4th of July, a group of young black and Latino friends experience a police encounter that shatters the meaning of the holiday.
Absorber of the Supreme Sun, 2024
Director Claus Arthur Breda-Gulbrandsen
Norway, 9 min
Absorber of the Supreme Sun is a visceral film that deals with the ebb and flow of time, space, emotions, biology, and physics.
Deepheist, 2024
Director Glen Vivaris
United States, 10 min
Four activists race to steal the program of the first A.G.I. CEO.
Ovo, 2023
Director Stiv Spasojevic
in Best Animation
France, 6min
This is the story of a meeting between an astonishing robot from outer space and an adorable little bird just hatched from its egg.
Bug, 2024
Director Filip Momirovski
North Macedonia , 10 min
An unemployed cellist turned software tester, tries out a smart speaker that generates music based on the listener’s feelings. Things take a turn when the speaker blares ominous sounds in the middle of the night
Factory Drop, 2024
Director Petja Pulkrabek
Germany, 15 min
In a bleak future in the year 2118, a gigantic skyscraper called the Factory rises above the ruins of the old world. In the dark lower floors, forced laborers toil tirelessly to produce diamonds. Emotions and contact are strictly forbidden.
Paint, 2024
Director Mora Carew
United States, 16 min
A brilliant but disturbed artist struggles to connect with his audience.
Sci-Fi and Supernatural Shorts
Apollo 11 Dream, 2023
Director Alain Thibault
Canada, 18 min
Inspired by the unconventional form and pacing of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the dreamlike and unconventional storytelling of Lynch and Japanese Noh theater, Apollo 11 Dream is asking the question: did the astronauts return to earth, or did they remain on the moon.
The Shaver Mystery, 2024
Director Dean Bertram
United States, 14 min
Was sci-fi writer Richard Shaver really abducted and tormented by a malevolent underground race of hideous humanoids, known as the “Dero”? Regardless, his “true” stories – known collectively as “The Shaver Mystery” and sometimes ghost written by editor Raymond A. Palmer.
Monster, 2024
Director 乔 乔治
China, 10 min
A zombie apocalypse plagues Beijing.
Director Gulnaz Galimullina
Russian Federation, 23 min
In search of confidence, the protagonist goes to the Master to buy a sample of a bold movie character. As it turned out, this is “the most popular product” and there are few characters were left. In addition, there is a “side effect” – the acquisition of unpredictable traits, getting into an unexpected series of events. Despite this, the Guest agrees.
Demons, 2023
Director Adesh Prasad
India, 15 min
A man shares a newly found ‘cure’ to help his friend get rid of what haunts him. The haunting does stop, but at a gruesome cost.
The Last Zombie, 2022
Director Adam J. Vaughn
United States, 10 min
At the conclusion of a zombie apocalypse, a lone zombie wanders the planet, isolated and threatened by every human in sight. When Nova, the last zombie, comes across a little girl who knows no fear, the two form an unlikely – and tragically short lived – friendship.
The Unseen Realm
Films will be available online to attendees from April 3-14
Pa Pa, 2020
Director Douglas Petrie
United States, 14 min
A lonely mechanic builds a mechanical boy, and becomes an unlikely Father to his own creation. Starring Clancy Brown.
The Art of Human Salvage, 2015
Director Dempsey Tillman
United States, 10 min
A young boy must be saved from execution by his last hope. Starring Edward James Olmos.
HENRi, 2012
Directed by Eli Sasich
US, 12 minutes
A derelict spaceship becomes self-aware as the starship crashes into a black hole. Starring Keir Dullea and Margot Kidder.
Skinjob, 2017
Director Steve Simons
United Kingdom, 15 min
A group of slave Androids steal a space shuttle and journey back to earth to find their maker.
I Am What You Imagine, 2023
Directed by Matt Modine
US, 6 min
Matthew Modine’s new short film, I AM WHAT YOU IMAGINE, is a sensual exploration of the unexplainable. Featuring the voice talents of Ruby Modine and long-time Kubrick collaborator Leon Vitali (in his final performance), the short uses sound, music, and expressionistic imagery to take viewers on a journey of the heart and mind.
Screenplay and Graphic Novel Competitions
Best Sci-Fi Screenplays
The Boy Who Found Infinity
Writer Richard Fenwick
UK
Osiris
Writer Jay Strong
United States
Blue Shades (One Hour Pilot)
Writer Alejandro Vilpa
United States
Othermor
Writer Justin Solaiman
United States
Final Timefall
Writer Ivanhoe Flighter
Serbia
Welcome to the Occupied States
Writer Sarah Cawdron
United States
Best Supernatural Screenplays
The Pit
Writers Duncan B. Putney, Greg Chopoorian
United States
If November Ends
Writer Michael Yurinko
United States
Clawed Predator
Writer Peter Michael Kershaw
United States
The Bog
Writer Jan Buttram
United States
Self-Inflicting Tortured Souls
Writer Ryan Matthew Andrews
Canada
Outgrowth
Writer Katrina Salicrup
United States
Best Sci-Fi Prototyping, World Building and Future-Casting Screenplay
Buddy/Joe
Writer Cameron Young
United States
Digital Support Group #75,000B
Writer Linda Pallotta
United States
The Cube
Writer Mitch Yapko
United States
Bradbaori
Writer Joshua Ashish Dawson
United States
Best Sci–Fi/Horror Graphic Novel, Manga, Comic
Writer Henry Chebaane
United Kingdom
Halloween Girl Book Two: Dead Reckoning
Writer Richard T. Wilson
United States
Writer Dario Antepara
United States
Passes are currently on sale at the official website, inviting sci-fi and horror enthusiasts to explore Philip K. Dick’s concepts of humanity, technology, and mysticism in a fully immersive environment.
