BEST SHORT FILM & BEST FANTASY FILM – Cuerdas
BEST FEATURE FILM & BEST GAMING FILM – Game Changers
BEST SCI-FI FILM – The Greater Evil
2016 WINNERS
A Noble Quest
(Short – 7:25)
Two late bloomers take a break from reanimating a chipmunk brain, so they can go on a quest to find the Applebee’s waitress that came to them in a dream.
Attacking the Darkness
(Feature – 1:37:00)
American fundamentalism collides with independent horror filmmaking when Harmony Hope Bryant sets out to create a cautionary movie about the dangers of roleplaying games.
Basic Adventuring 101: Die Loud or Die Permanently
(Short – 11:15)
Karen is a new LARPer who is unsure how she is going to fit in when she joins her older sister’s overly enthusiastic adventuring group. Reclusive Karen is thrown headfirst into a fantasy world, a land where magic flows freely and conflicts are often resolved with the blade of a sword. Things seem to be going well until the party stumbles upon a mysterious old woman captured by goblins.
Artificial Intelligence
(Short – 10:03)
A woman finds herself being coerced into a robotic-related scientific breakthrough. She struggles to take control, but at what cost? Inspired by the Portal video games, and written by a teenager for the Pens to Lens screenwriting competition.
Backyard Blockbusters
(Feature – 1:35:00)
Batman versus the Predator? It happened. Raiders of the Lost Ark, remade by kids? It happened. For years, people have been making home movies, many times using pop culture properties that they may not own, but love. In recent years, these types of projects have come to be known as “fanfilms”. Backyard Blockbusters looks at the history and influence of the fanfilm genre, as well as the copyright and fair use problems these films create, featuring highlights from and interviews with the creators of many popular films
Betrayal: The Blackwood Project
(Short – 4:14)
A “Vampire: The Masquerade” inspired short which combines noir and classic horror styles with modern music and special effects.
Blood of the Tribades
(Feature – 1:18:00)
2000 years after the Vampire Bathor has established the village of Bathory, superstition and religious violence take over as the men and women battle for control.
Cuerdas (Strings)
(Short – 10:52)
WINNER – BEST SHORT FILM
WINNER – BEST FANTASY FILM
Maria’s routine at school is altered by the arrival of a very special child. Soon, they become close friends. The film is full of nuances and it relates a tender story of a friendship between two very special children. Strings speaks of values and illusions and is able to retain the spectator from the first frame and the first musical note until the end of the film credits.
Darkness Falls
(Short – 14:49)
Melissa suffers from amnesia. When she slowly regains her memory, the world isn’t what it’s supposed to be.
Board with Life: The Series – Dead of Winter
(Short – 22:33)
A comedy web series following a group of board game geeks during their regular game nights. Alliances will forge, rivalries will emerge, and everyone will end the night Board with Life.
Dark Iris
(Short – 9:37)
Iris is stalked by a woman obsessed with her. Iris’s stalker is of a different breed because her stalker is a government trained killer. Iris thinks she finds refuge in an FBI safe house, but when it is discovered who her stalker really is the agents are the ones at risk.
Echo
(Short – 4:14)
When an Artificial Intelligence Program begins to remember her past, her manufacturer will stop at nothing to keep their secrets secret.
Endo
(Short – 8:17)
A robo-phobic man has a foul incident with his new cleaning android.
Game Changers
(Feature – 1:28:00)
WINNER – BEST FEATURE FILM
WINNER – BEST GAMING FILM
Brian and Scott are two life long friends, their identity and value has always been tied to their notoriety as professional gamers. Now in their late 20’s and working together at an IT company, they begin to feel the responsibilities of adulthood sinking in.
Outlawed Faith
(Short – 15:25)
Young Jonah’s faith carries him and his young sister, Celine, to the last borderland town, Harpdale, in order to escape captivity. They seek out his mother’s old friend, the famous reformed gunslinger Kulta; but what they find is more than what anyone bargains for.
Friendlies
(Short – 5:15)
A lonely astronomer discovers extraterrestrial life.
Of Dice and Men
(Feature – 1:15:00) (Exhibition Only)
The lives of six roleplaying gamer friends are thrown into upheaval when one of them enlists to go to Iraq. A geek movie without the self-loathing.
Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys
(Feature – 1:10:00) (Exhibition Only)
Through interviews with former Kenner employees, experts and authors like Stephen Sansweet and Gus Lopez, and of course collectors, Plastic Galaxy looks at Star Wars toys’ history, their influence, and the fond and fervent feelings they elicit today.
Starship Farragut: The Crossing
(Feature -1:13:00)
The Farragut has come across a tear in space and found survivors who have made it through: The ISS-Potemkin from the mirror universe! Failed negotiations results in the crew of the Farragut facing off against enemies who know their systems as well as they do and bear familiar faces. Join the crew for their most dangerous adventure yet onboard Starship Farragut!)
The Gamers: Humans and Households
(Short – 8:03)
The kingdom may be in peril, but on an adventurer’s day off, why not relax with a game of Humans & Households? The latest Gamers film from Dead Gentlemen, Zombie Orpheus, and Lynnvander!
The Next Great American Game
(Feature – 1:22:00)
From crowded convention halls to backrooms of Toy Fairs, Randall Hoyt enthusiastically pitches his game Turnpike to publishers with increasingly discouraging results. The film takes a deeply personal tone as Randall candidly discusses his struggles with being bipolar and the intersections of mania and creativity.
The Cyclist
(Short – 6:47)
She’s gone and he knows that he doesn’t have much time. His legs are giving out, but they’ll last. They’ll last long enough to get there, and that’s all that matters. THE CYCLIST is an emotional, visceral short film about the memories a man takes with him on his final ride.
The Greater Evil
(Short – 7:35)
WINNER – BEST SCI-FI FILM
Lilith Delaney has snagged a plum assignment with the campaign team of Victor Balch, a brash but popular candidate for the Presidency. Though initially seeing it as just another job, Lilith gradually falls under the candidate’s spell… until she catches a glimpse of his horrific true nature.
The Quantum Suicide of Sophie Miller
(Feature – 1:25:00)
The story of Dr. Sophie Miller, a neurotic and introverted physics professor who, consumed by repressed guilt and afflicted with a self-imposed incapacity to assign meaning to interpersonal relationships, is compelled to multiple suicide attempts in pursuit of an absurdly rational scientific quest.
The Rangers I: A Shadow Rising
(Feature – 48:29)
The Rangers film project is about a special force of soldiers, known as Rangers, who were founded long ago by King Alirion to guard and watch the borders of the Kingdom of Olaran.
TREKOFF: The Motion Picture
(Feature – 1:19:00)
The TREK comedy-podcast movie! Join geek-podcasters Alexia and Justin as they perform their dirty, raucous, sexy, TREK comedy show at fan-favorite cons, meet celebrities and fans, visit a STAR TREK Musical Parody, explore a TREK burlesque, and more!
YO SOY PEDRO
(Short – 10:35)
In 1977 Mackenzie and Banks, two Americans cops, encounter an alien that has just crashed. The police take him for a film actor and decide to bring him back to Hollywood studios.
The Spell Tutor
(Short – 4:36)
The pilot episode of a web series inspired by the works of J.K.Rowling. A young student of magic must hone her skills with the help of her tutor.
Viridian City
(Short – 8:16)
A hapless player gets caught up in the dangerous world of underground trading card games.