Screening at the Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center, we're the Biggest Little Science + Fiction Film Festival in the World!

Our goal is to bring science fiction and science documentary short films to audiences in Nevada and around the world -- and to recognize, reward and showcase creativity, ingenuity and science-based imagination.

Awards & Prizes

Category Awards for:

Best Science Documentary Short
Best Science-Fiction Short (Animation)
Best Science-Fiction Short (Live Action)
Best Virtual Reality

Specialty Awards include:

Roddenberry Award / Audience Choice
Best Fan Film
Best Planetarium Dome Film
Best Space Film (Animation or Live Action)
Directors' and Critics' Awards
Family-Friendly and Education Awards
Science + Imagination Award

Rules & Terms

Filmmakers must have the legal right to screen their film.

By submitting, the filmmaker grants the Festival the right to screen their film without fee or royalties for festival participants at premium local venues.

Note: All submissions must be made online, uploaded as a digital file. We do not accept, or return, dvds or other media.

Submission fees are not refundable.
49 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Justin Barber

    Wow what a special event in beautiful Reno! The Planetarium setting was unforgettable and the Director there was a great host and MC. I would love to show another film there in the future.

    May 2024
    Helpful
  • John Schlag

    Sci-On! is definitely the best little film festival that could! In the N-dimensional universe of 13,000-odd film festivals girdling planet Earth, Sci-On! cuts the pie in a unique way, combining science fact and science fiction in a venue that has both a long lineage and deep respect for science, and connections to Hollywood filmmaking that provide a vast array of space-related props and memorabilia for the Fleischmann Planetarium. Paul McFarlane, Jenny and the staff and volunteers are enjoying themselves immensely, between hosting school visits (3 in one day!, before the screenings that evening), planetarium shows, curating the museum, and running the film festival. This is more fun than you thought you knew how to have. My fellow filmmakers and I are honored to have had "M.T. Nestor" chosen to screen — which would have been enough — and atop that, to have been awarded the Gene Roddenberry award for Best Science Fiction Short Film. A big shout-out also to fellow filmmakers, e.g., James Tralie of NASA, for the opening night feature-length documentary on the OSIRIS-REx mission, "To an Asteroid and Back." Just awesome!

    May 2024
    Helpful
  • Varya Volkova

    Thanks for choosing my film "The Year in Spacecraft" as a Best Student Documentary! I was glad to be chosen in official selection of the festival, although I didn't visit the festival in person.

    May 2024
    Helpful
  • Nony Geffen

    I am privileged not only to have participated in the festival but also to have received an award. It is a tremendous honor, and I am immensely excited to have been part of such a prestigious event.

    May 2024
    Helpful
  • Viktoria Winge

    Sci-On! is a terrific little festival showcasing diverse yet very well curated films in the science and science-fiction genres from all over the world. Paul and Jenny are gracious hosts, and have created an environment truly awash in the love and wonder for the exploration of our place in the universe, the possibilities beyond our current scope of knowledge, and what that all means to us on the human scale. The audience is fantastically engaged and enthusiastic, and the venue itself is a space-age marvel. A very special experience to get to be shown at Sci-On!

    Regards Jack Pullman
    (Director)

    July 2023
    Helpful