Science Fiction | Fantasy | Imaginative Horror
Fantastical stories limited only by the imagination.
10th Anniversary season!
The First Contact Film Festival is now at Kevin Smith's SModcastle Cinemas!
The First Contact Film Festival is a short film festival in New Jersey open to fantastical and imaginative genre films. This festival has been running for 10 years and attracts high quality films, passionate filmmakers, and engaged audiences.
Sci-fi, horror, fantasy, fantastical, and magical films are all appropriate. Think of a party where the Twilight Zone, The Dark Crystal, Alien, Doctor Who, Black Mirror, Conan the Barbarian, and Tales From the Crypt were all invited. And then they all brought friends. Stephen King is mixing the drinks and Scooby-Doo has the snacks. Don't worry, we have plastic on the furniture.
First Contact is an IMDB qualifying festival.
2024 marks our return to a live theater, and we are proud to offer this big screen appearance at SModcastle, the new home for New Jersey's independent film community.
We are a festival for filmmakers by filmmakers. We celebrate story and the hard work that goes into making a movie. We understand the pain and joy of filmmaking because we are filmmakers. Maybe more importantly, we are fans. We love each and every one of the films we show.
We also continue our partnership with First Night Morris County, the New Year's Eve celebration for Morristown, NJ. This additional event allows the First Night Morris organization to extend an invitation to family-friendly films shown at First Contact to be included in this celebration. This is completely optional for the filmmakers and only open to family-friendly selections and requires no additional fees.
We love sci-fi, the fantastical, and the macabre. If you love those things too, I hope you'd consider joining us.
Awards & Prizes
All accepted film makers will be eligible for Juried Awards and Prizes.
Best Live Action
Best Animation
Best Director
Best Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Visual FX
Best Practical FX
Best Sound
Best Original Score
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Ensemble
Director's Choice Awards (1 from each festival director)
(other possible awards as are merited)