Friday 3 October, 6.00pm | TRAILER

Rated G

Dir: Robert Stone / USA / 115 mins / NSW PREMIERE
Legendary NASA robotics engineer and best-selling science fiction author, Gentry Lee, has spent a lifetime seeking an answer to the ultimate cosmic question: Are we alone in the universe? At age 82 he has come to a revelatory conclusion.
OFFICIAL SELECTION - SXSW Austin 2025; Perth Revelation Film Festival 2025; Docville 2025; Seattle International Film Festival 2025

“Reconnects the audience to the true meaning of ‘marvel’ — to behold with astonishment, a kind of incandescent curiosity. Starman peels away the layers of our cynicism to infuse us with the feeling we had when space held an awe that felt transporting.” – VARIETY

Screens with BLU’S
Dir: Rajesh PK / India / 10 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Witnessing her environment being swallowed up by industrialisation, BLU decides to fight for the wildlife, meadows, rivers and trees before they disappear completely.

Session includes the pre-screening presentation of the Adam Lee Memorial Award to actor NICK TATE.

Friday 3 October, 9.00pm | TRAILER

Rated MA15+ (Strong Violence; Moderate Sexual Content)

Dir: Nemanja Ceranic / Serbia / 147 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
In a post-apocalyptic future, a young warrior must take revenge on his enemies for the crimes they committed against his family. One of the most expensive Serbian films ever made, this vast, epic saga of retribution and honour has been compared with such classics of the dystopian genre as Mad Max 2, Highlander and Doomsday.
OFFICIAL SELECTION - SciFi London Film Festival 2025

 Screens with ECHØLESS
Dir: Leonid Krykhtin / U.K. / 5 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
A brilliant neuroscientist joins a project to upload her consciousness into an AI system designed to surpass human intelligence.

Saturday 4 October, 10.30am | TRAILER

Rated G

Dir: Jeffery Morris / USA / 87 mins / INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
A cinematic odyssey by filmmaker Jeffrey Morris, exploring how the Apollo program and visionary science fiction of the 1960s and ’70s inspired a generation of thinkers, dreamers, and creators. At the centre of the film is the Eagle Transporter—the fictional spacecraft from SPACE: 1999 that served as a symbol of bold, reasoned, humanistic futures.
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Toronto International Film Festival 2025

Screens with THE ART OF LOOKING
Dir: Andris Gauja / Estonia / 17 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Two seemingly different groups of people - astrophysicists and slime researchers - explore the nature of things and conclude that the main drive of humanity is our natural curiosity.

Saturday 4 October, 1.00pm

A thrilling collection of visionary films from our shores, from animated works to bold student films to ambitious cinematic wonders (Session time: 96 mins)

Rated M (Horror Scenes; Impactful Fantasy; Mature Themes)

AWAKENING (Dirs: Jiaqi Wang, Haoyuan Zhao) In a lifeless item destruction factory, an old model labour robot encounters some unusual situations while working.

THE GLOW (Dirs: Sam Burzacott, Kiralee Greenhalgh) In a desolate world, a mysterious red glow consumes all life. One woman attempts to survive.

FORT SCRATCHLEY (Dir: Thomas Howlett) A routine night for Fort Scratchley’s searchlight operators takes a terrifying turn.

MORE OR LESS YOU (Dirs: Jun Thai, Hazel Jurin, Kong Yit Lam) In a future where body modification is limitless, a man obsessed with altering himself faces an unexpected enemy.

THE TRAVELLER (Dir: Dion Cavallaro) In 1895 Australia, a lone swagman has an unexpected encounter with a foreign being.

MARALINGA (Dir: Alexander Langsam) An author searching for a missing hitchhiker enters the forbidden zone of Maralinga.

SAME DAY SIMULATION (Dir: Tom Young) Experience a world in which reality simulation becomes the tool of the criminal investigation sector.

DREAM MACHINE (Dir: Dan Egan) A mechanic watches as flying cars strip away his livelihood, challenging his belief in the American Dream.

Saturday 4 October, 3.30pm | TRAILER

Rated G

Dir: Hannah Berryman / U.K. / 95 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Astronaut Eileen Collins is the first woman to pilot and command the space shuttle. From her smalltown beginnings, she went on to smash many glass ceilings at NASA in her career, culminating in four dramatic and dangerous space shuttle missions. Through sensational archival materials and intimate interviews, Hannah Berryman’s nail-biting film considers the emotional drama Eileen’s family experienced, and a philosophical question about what level of risk is acceptable in human endeavour.

Screens with TETHER
Dir: Meredith Berg / USA / 15 mins) / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
On the first day of her job running a isolated space station, mysterious transmissions place countless lives in the hands of a young woman.

Saturday 6 October, 6.00pm | TRAILER

Rated MA15+ (Violence; Horror Themes; Impactful Action)

Dir: R.T. Thorne / USA / 113 mins / NEW SOUTH WALES PREMIERE
Former soldier Hailey (Danielle Deadwyler) and her partner Galen (Michael Greyeyes) fled society’s collapse along with their children, training them to fight to survive at any cost. But now Hailey’s eldest Emanuel (Kataem O’Connor) is a young man, and when he meets a young woman (Milcania Diaz-Rojas) beyond the fence, his need for human contact could place the whole family in jeopardy.

“Spellbinding, balletic, its a fully realised, striking and challenging creation and one of the best films around.” - What She Said

Screens with THE KEEPERS
Dir: Milton Muller / Canada / 7 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
On a desolate planet, space faring outlaws must safeguard an ally's enigmatic transmission from a relentless adversary.

Saturday 4 October, 8.30pm | TRAILER

Rated PG (Mature Themes)

Dir: Goce Cvetanovski / North Macedonia / 85 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE. When an IQ-challenged human gets abducted by a narcissistic robot to become a specimen in his intergalactic zoo, they will have to join forces to stop the most dangerous weapon in the galaxy from falling into the wrong hands.

Screens with:
THE ULTIMATE WEAPON Dir: Romain Revert / France / 1 min / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE A kaiju meets its match.

THE SUPERNOVA NEXT DOOR Dirs: Rueben Bennett, Louis Caruana, Mary Domingo, Soviola Ginat, Daze Vang / Australia / 2.28 mins / THEATRICAL PREMIERE An inquisitive underground child wonders what lies above.

FORBIDDEN VALENTINE Dir: Owen Coughlan / Canada / 11.20 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE A short film about AI, toxic masculinity and unrequited love.

CHRYSALIS Dir: Rachel Macindoe Baker / New Zealand / 12.20 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE As her planet’s weather shifts unpredictably, a recluse finds herself caught between a need for stability and an inevitable confrontation with change.

Sunday 5 October, 10.30am

We undertake a journey across the planet to explore what bold, new speculative visions are emerging (Session running time: 104 mins)

Rated M (Mature Themes; Impactful Fantasy Sequences)

MUSHROOM CUT Dir: Kuba Szutkowski / The Netherlands / 8 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE A hairdresser is shocked when her client, a long-haired welder, turns into a girl.

SAYS PRISONER 8903 Dir: Heewon Lee / Korea/China / 11.35 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE On death row, an inmate watches images from his past, but discovers that the memories aren’t his.

AN OLD FRIEND Dir: Nuk Suwanchote / U.S.A. / 14 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE An imaginary friend’s sole purpose is to bring happiness to his child, even if his ‘child’ is a 90 year old man.

LUPE Q AND THE GALACTIC CORN CAKE Dir: Javier Badillo / Canada / 4.23 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE Aliens. Punk Rock. Corn Cakes. In space, only Grandma's Latin cooking will save you.

THE LAST FOOL Dir: Cong Le / China / 17 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE Society’s last below-average child fights to expose the cruel world that judges him.

ECHOES Dir: Sean Nam / France / 14.20 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE A revolutionary company that predicts and secures the destinies of its clients becomes unravelled when romance forges a new path.

DISTANT BLUESHIFT Dir: Aloysius Ong / Singapore / 10.35 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE An AI-generated father-son relationship takes unexpected turns.

EXIMO Dir: Mayed Al Qasimi / U.K. / 20 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE Two lovers from different class structures must survive a moon landing and family ill-will.

Sunday 5 October, 1.00pm | TRAILER

Dir: Javier Cutrona / Ecuador / 103 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE

Rated M (Mature Themes)

Played with a heartbreaking honesty by the remarkable Jessica Barahona, Camila suffers from amnesia. She recalls little of her childhood on the coast and in the sea, because of a traumatic event. To remain sane, she fills her pain and emptiness with an imaginary world where the perception of reality is unique and extraordinary; where details are brought to life; and, where a giant fish is her guardian.
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Tallin Black Nights Film Festival (Winner - Special Jury Prize); Cinefantasy Film Festival, Brazil.

Screens with IMPRINT
Dir: Rafael Martínez-García / Mexico / 15 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE.
Alicia uses "Imprint," a service that allows her to revisit three minutes of her past, to relive the last time she spoke with her missing daughter.

Sunday October 5, 3.30pm | TRAILER

OUR ALIEN FRIENDS: A session dedicated to the wonderful new experience of meeting someone totally unlike yourself (Running time: 130 mins)

Rated M (mature Themes; Impactful Fantasy Sequences)

Dir: Yerden Telemissov; Kazakhstan, 105 mins) AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
As the district administration prepares for the arrival of high-ranking officials, the local homeless alcoholic takes on problems of intergalactic proportions. This charming, hilarious and very moving riff on close encounter mythology is the festival’s crowdpleaser.
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Montreal Fantasia Film Festival 2025; Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival.

Screens with:
IT’S NOT THE CAT! Dir: Louisa Bablin / U.K. / 4 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE Can a UFO enthusiast finally prove his lifelong theory to a wife who’s never believed him?

INTERCEPTION Dir: Peter McCully / New Zealand / 9.30 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE Dann dodges cat-sitting only to have his weekend turn very weird!

INVASION ’53 Dir: Danielle Weinberg; USA, 10 mins / AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE A man-eating alien crashes a suburban cocktail party. Starring Jeffery Coombs, of Re-animator fame.

Sunday October 5, 6.00pm | TRAILER

IN MEMORY OF VAL KILMER: THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU

Rated MA (Horror Elements; Mature Themes)

Dir: John Frankenheimer / Australia, U.S. / 100 mins / UNRATED DIRECTOR’S CUT

In honour of the late Val Kilmer, we are proud to present a rare big-screen showing of one of the most insanely inspired films ever to come out of Hollywood – the 1996 production of H.G. Wells’ sci-fi/horror classic, THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. Shot in the rainforests of northern Queensland, the film is infamous for its troubled shoot, on-set acrimony and wildly out-of-control creativity, the likes of which we may never see again. Featuring Marlon Brando as the unhinged Moreau, David Thewlis in one of the great “What the hell is going on?!” performances and Kilmer as…well, Kilmer, THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU is a grand film folly of the highest order, and a must-see cinema experience.

Session includes the 2025 SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS CEREMONY