The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its tenth annual season. The festival will be held from Thursday, December 15 through Sunday, December 18, across Manhattan and Queens in New York. Passes are available here.

Events include film and documentary screenings, virtual reality demonstrations, and post-film discussions. As a platform for exploring the evolution of science and technology, the festival showcases a variety of themes associated with independent storytelling. 

“Think of this as the coming attractions of tomorrow’s world, with each film exploring the intersection of technology and culture, all set within the framework of Philip K. Dick’s vision,” said the festival’s founder and director Daniel Abella. “Science fiction opens the doors of imagination and the ‘what if’s’ of life. Through the power of technology, the boundaries of real life and the genre we love continue to be blurred. While science fiction is a respectable form of literary and cinematic fiction, we must also comprehend its message and brace for what’s to come.”

The Schedule

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2022:

Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Ave, Astoria, NY 11106)

Block 1: Future Shock — Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm EST

Nice Shoes (2018)

• Director: Jonathan Lawrence
• Run Time/Country: 3 min, USA
• Synopsis: A sci-fi extravaganza that is as pointless as the lyrics. Over 40 classic movie references are featured in this epic music video.

Tellurian (2022 Trailer)

• Director: Graeme Carr
• Run Time/Country: 2 min, UK
• Synopsis: Fifteen years after an alien invasion destroyed Earth’s government and decimated the population, resistance fighter Mike Walsh and his team of soldiers are tasked with protecting the last child on Earth from falling into the wrong hands.

Megaville After Hours (2022)

• Director: Tim Cürlis, Christian Skibinski
• Run Time/Country: 14 min, Germany
• Synopsis: On a restless night in the cyberpunk city “Megaville,” a disillusioned ranger encounters a washed up chef called Jack. They reach an agreement and a culinary duel to the death follows. A lethal supper that only one of them will survive.

A Mind Cannot Touch (2022)

• Director: Geoffrey Prather
• Run Time/Country: 15 min, USA
• Synopsis: A sci-fi drama about a mother, LEDA, who uses her expertise in neuroscience to bring her deceased daughter, AIRLIA, back from the grave as a sentient hologram — complete with Airlia’s memories and consciousness via mind uploading.

AFRO-ALGORITHMS (2022)

• Director: Anatola Araba
• Run Time/Country: 15 min, USA
• Synopsis: In a distant future, an artificial intelligence named Aero is inaugurated as the world’s first AI leader. However, she soon finds that important world views are missing from her databank, including the stories of the historically marginalized and oppressed. A slate of well-known Black actors lend their voices to the film, including Robin Quivers, Ava Raiin, and Hoji Fortuna

Escalation (2022)

• Director: Christian Bachini
• Run Time/Country: 15 min, Italy
• Synopsis: In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chris, a paranoid and self-centered man, is happily avoiding all human contact, preferring to escape from reality in whatever’s on TV. When a friend reaches out to him to confront him about his past promises, Chris has to decide what kind of person he is inside, or it may just eat him…alive.

Echoes (2022)

• Director: Anthony Kalmeta
• Run Time/Country: 14 min, USA
• Synopsis: A dark mystery puzzle-drama. Trapped within a distortion of time, unravelling his fragmented memories, a man comes into contact with a woman living in real-time who reveals the truth about him.

Motherload (2022)

• Director: Sebastien Landry
• Run Time/Country: 9 min, Canada
• Synopsis: An alien, borrowing the body of a human mother-to-be, is confronted by fear and uncertainty as its offspring grows inside her.

Neoshin Episode 01: Cold Blood (2022)

• Director: Sebastian Selg, Ramon Schauer
• Run Time/Country: 5 min, Germany
• Synopsis: After the invention of CRYONIC REALITY (CR) by EDEN Association, world leaders chose to discontinue the counting of time in 2073 and proclaimed the final year 2073X. CR is a virtual world of utopia that people can access to escape the bleak reality. When influencer AYUKO heads to a concert of her favourite band NEOSHIN in CR, she has no idea that a virtual virus will change her life forever.

Block 2: A Separate Reality — Time: 8:00pm – 10:00pm EST

Chaska (2022 Trailer)

• Director: Liz Guarracino
• Run Time/Country: 2 min, USA
• Synopsis: How would you feel if you found out the U.S. Government created ancestry .com to catch a single being?

Hysteric (2022)

• Director: Rod Blackhurst
• Run Time/Country: 10 min, USA
• Synopsis: A mysterious sound, a mother stricken with madness, and two daughters caught in a fight for survival.

Convergence (2021)

• Director: Zechariah Thormodsgaard
• Run Time/Country: 15 min, USA
• Synopsis: At the edge of a black hole, in the midst of a mission to save humanity, an astronaut discovers something that will forever change him.

Darwin Fick (2022)

• Director: Joe Benedetto
• Run Time/Country: 19 min, USA
• Synopsis: When a famous author develops writer’s block, an unusual option arises.

Conexion (2022)

• Director: Jamin Scotti
• Run Time/Country: 10 min, USA
• Synopsis: After fleeing a chaotic family situation, a young woman discovers her True Self, in the vastness of the Mojave desert.

The Jogger (2022)

• Director: Daryl Denner
• Run Time/Country: 7 min, USA
• Synopsis: A woman’s jog through the park reveals a shocking discovery.

Robot Tells a Joke (2022)

• Director: Cameron Strittmatter
• Run Time/Country: 4 min, USA
• Synopsis: A brief and educational video about a young roboticist’s current project.

Artsanity (2022)

• Director: Alexander Kostic
• Run Time/Country: 14 min, USA
• Synopsis: A freelance photographer in New York City, suddenly finds himself under a bleak confinement of his own mind. Isolated he roams the deserted streets in the night his mind becomes increasingly restless. But as the time passes by, a strong sensation of being followed by a mysterious stranger creeps inside, while the empty city continues to draw him in.

Nothing Is Real (2022)

• Director: Masa Gibson
• Run Time/Country: 4 min, USA
• Synopsis: Who gets to decide what’s valuable? A silent short film about a woman who lives life with a bold twist.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2022:

Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Ave, Astoria, NY 11106)

Block 1: Journey To The Far Side — Time: 5:00pm – 7:00pm EST

Chimera (2022)

• Director: Andrew Lee Ryan
• Run Time/Country: 25 min, USA
• Synopsis: Set in a not too distant future small town, a VR life simulation junkie goes on a mission in reality to get a new dopamine game cartridge before she goes through happiness withdrawal.

Mirror Man (2021)

• Director: Ginew Benton
• Run Time/Country: 5 min, USA
• Synopsis: A Native police officer, who is doubting her traditional faith, is called to a possible burglary but is met by a supernatural entity that leads her to a buried secret.

Eden (2022)

• Director: Olivier Perrier
• Run Time/Country: 12 min, France
• Synopsis: Antoine is moving with his mother and little brother in a modern tower with green walls and a sustainable, self-sufficient architecture. In great psychological distress, he feels like a stranger to this new environment.

House of the Unholy (2022)

• Director: Daniel Merlot
• Run Time/Country: 15 min, USA
• Synopsis: A bloodthirsty princess puts out a bounty to hunt down the last of the Indigo Elders tribe. She is on a quest to attain a magical elixir that’s hidden in his heart. The elixir can grant her the powers to reign over the kingdom for an eternity, but all does not go as planned.

Gnawer of Rocks (2021)

• Director: Andrea Flaherty
• Run Time/Country: 13 min, Canada
• Synopsis: Two young women are trapped in the lair of the Mangittatuarjuk, the Gnawer of Rocks. The young women and their village use the teachings of the elders to try to defeat the monster.

Trigger.Charlie.One (2022)

• Director: Dan Clifton
• Run Time/Country: 10 min, UK
• Synopsis: In the face of her doubts, a naval commander must follow orders and press the launch button triggering the earth’s final nuclear apocalypse.

The Unveiled (2021)

• Director: Andres Rovira
• Run Time/Country: 9 min, USA
• Synopsis: A lonely couple downloads a new technology that allows them to unveil the spirit realm through their smartphone, only to discover that they aren’t as lonely as they thought.

Producers Club Theaters (358 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036)

Block 2: Nowhere To Hide — Time: 7:00pm – 11:00pm EST

Memento Mori (2022 Trailer)

• Director: Izzy Lee
• Run Time/Country: 2 min, USA
• Synopsis: In 1983, a scientist in isolation resurrects a dead colleague.

Creep Box (2022)

• Director: Patrick Biesemans
• Run Time/Country: 9 min, USA
• Synopsis: After his wife’s suicide, a scientist tries to use new technology to determine if there is life after death. But some things are better off being put to rest.

Belfast 1912 (2021)

• Director: Dominic O’Neill
• Run Time/Country: 12 min, Ireland
• Synopsis: Six unlikely souls gather for a seance in Edwardian Belfast. When a dark secret is revealed, their reality begins to unravel in this unsettling short horror film.

Potatohead (2022)

• Director: Joel B Harlow
• Run Time/Country: 16 min, USA
• Synopsis: Meet Marti. Nothing special about him. He is just one of millions sequestered at home under a mandatory lockdown. With no human interaction for months, loneliness has a way of seeping into all of us.

Night (2022)

• Director: Frank Sun
• Run Time/Country: 20 min, USA
• Synopsis: A man arrives at a friend’s apartment and hears sounds from outside his window…but is it real?

Gulabo Rani (2022)

• Director: Usman Mukhtar
• Run Time/Country: 35 min, Pakistan
• Synopsis: A young boy, Akhtar, is accepted into a 150 year old university and due to an administrative fluke, he finds himself housed in the dilapidated “Wing C” of the dorms. Tormented and alone, he finds himself face to face with a horror far greater than he could have ever imagined.

Mudmonster (2021)

• Director: O.B. De Alessi
• Run Time/Country: 25 min, Italy
• Synopsis: Following the sudden disappearance of her father, young Fiamma is visited by a mud monster. As her encounters with the creature become more frequent and intense, Fiamma begins to suffer from a sudden, mysterious illness.

The Collector (2020)

• Director: Ihsanul Huq
• Run Time/Country: 14 min, USA
• Synopsis: When Hal discovers and restores a damaged android he must let go of the past in order to give the living a chance at a future.

Blue Fire (2021)

• Director: Nick Ronan
• Run Time/Country: 20 min, USA
• Synopsis: Deep in the snowy Blue Mountains, two damaged lives come crashing back together when they discover something in the forest not of this world.

Pray the Gay Away (2022)

• Director: Chang-Min Jonathan
• Run Time/Country: 12 min, USA
• Synopsis: Danny, a queer, Korean high schooler, becomes invisible after an intense prayer group literally prays the gay away. Will he ever be seen again?

The Desecrated (2018)

• Director: John Gray
• Run Time/Country: 8 min, USA
• Synopsis: A young morgue attendant working the night shift encounters an unwelcome visitor.

Block 3: Feature Presentation — Time: 9:00pm – 11:00pm EST

Capsules (2022)

• Director: Luke Momo
• Run Time/Country: 70 min, USA
• Synopsis: After experimenting with mysterious substances, four chem students find themselves addicted in the worst way possible: they’ll die unless they take more.

Block 4: Virtual Reality — Time: 8:00pm – 10:00pm EST

Fortune Teller (2022)

• Director: Brian Abraham
• Run Time/Country: 5 min, USA
• Synopsis: A fortune teller who’s down on her luck mistakenly summons the ghost of her ex-husband, revealing secrets that spell her doom. VR180 narrative horror/thriller short film. 

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2022:

Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Ave, Astoria, NY 11106)

Block 1: Best of PKD Shorts — Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm EST

Belonging: Night (2022)

• Director: Cory Williams, Jacqueline Cooper
• Run Time/Country: 5 min, USA
• Synopsis: This episode is a dreamily reimagined excerpt from Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night” (1956). A poetic sailor is at peace in nature but challenged to feel a sense of belonging amongst friends.

Red Gaia (2022)

• Director: Udesh Chetty
• Run Time/Country: 13 min, South Africa
• Synopsis: Alone on the dying red planet, among the ruins of human civilization, one last android desperately guards the last essences of life. In her pursuit for meaning, she finds her own soul hanging in the balance. Red Gaia is a tone-poem meditation on life, death and rebirth, destruction and creation and the cycles of existence, drawing inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita, Dante’s Purgatorio, the Kabballah, the Tibetan Bardol Thodol.

Kill – Burn (2021)

• Director: Adam Hayes, Nick Hayes
• Run Time/Country: 7 min, Taiwan
• Synopsis: KILL-Burn explores social media’s impact on mental health in a near-future society, a mirror to our own current times. We follow three protagonists on a journey to discover the possibility of learning to love imperfect reality, rather than perfect virtual realities.

Faith (2022)

• Director: Carol Butron
• Run Time/Country: 19 min, Spain
• Synopsis: When just a small child, Teresa has to face the disappearance of her best friend, Lucas. After many years and without having forgotten him, Teresa begins to have a hunch that Lucas is alive, but in another dimension.

The Collector (2022)

• Director: Erik Sharpnack
• Run Time/Country: 20 min, USA
• Synopsis: Set in an alternate world, where memories can only be fully experienced through special devices. Christoph, after finding someone’s device, starts to blend his own memory with a stranger’s lost one.

The Empathy Machine (2022)

• Director: Grant Sissons
• Run Time/Country: 10 min, South Africa
• Synopsis: Thembisile is a gifted neuroscientist. She dreams of building a machine that will facilitate the download of consciousness, and as its end purpose, facilitate the engendering of empathy. Progress on the machine is brought to a halt by the sudden death of her young daughter, Khanyisile. Thembi then uses the machine to attempt to reconnect with her daughter’s downloaded consciousness. For Thembi, it’s a means of dealing with grief and a form of catharsis, but a process that will also bring its own painful realizations.

Earthbound (2021)

• Director: Baker Karim
• Run Time/Country: 10 min, Sweden
• Synopsis: When Earth has become inhabitable, mankind seeks salvation by leaving the planet on interplanetary arks to colonize other worlds. But who is chosen to represent mankind in the future?

Dawn (2020)

• Director: Shane Lim
• Run Time/Country: 18 min, UK
• Synopsis: On the night of the largest supermoon in history, Willow is called upon by her estranged father and finds society’s elites gathered in a secret facility, ready to escape the planet.

Block 2: Feature Presentation — Time: 4:00pm – 6:00pm EST

Impuratus (2022)

• Director: Michael Yurinko
• Run Time/Country: 134 min, USA
• Synopsis: Circa 1930: A police detective is summoned to a remote mental hospital to witness a death-bed confession from a mysterious Civil War soldier that will have him question the validity of the supernatural. Starring Tom Sizemore, Robert Miano, Lew Temple, Silvia Spross and Airen DeLaMater.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2022:

Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Ave, Astoria, NY 11106)

Block 1: Documentary Presentation — Time: 4:00pm – 6:00pm EST

A Tear in the Sky (2021)

• Director: Caroline Cory
• Run Time/Country: 90 min, USA
• Synopsis: An unprecedented journey into the UFO / UAP phenomenon. A team of military personnel, scientists and special guest William Shatner will attempt to re-capture, in real time, the US Navy “TicTac” UFOs, using state-of-the-art, military-grade equipment and technology. What they find instead are thought-provoking clues into the true nature of the UFO phenomenon and the very fabric of our spacetime reality.

Awards Ceremony

Time: 4:00pm – 6:00pm EST

• Awards will be presented to the category winners of The 2022 Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival.