The 8th annual SciFi Film Festival returns to Sydney’s premier screening venue at Event Cinemas, George Street from October 14-17, 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.