The Summary:
The First Contact Film Festival is a hybrid online and in-person short film festival in New Jersey open to fantastical and imaginative genre films. The festival has been running for eight 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.
The Story So far...
First Contact has its origins as an occasional curated film event in the back of one of the geekiest bookstores in New York City. We've grown a lot since then.
In March of 2020, the world changed as COVID 19 disrupted everything-- including our festival. We pivoted to an online festival and after seeing thousands of attendees coming from all over the world, we knew First Contact changed forever.
The biggest change-- an in-person festival to a week-long hybrid web-based festival with a live in-theater component if the state of the world allows.
Another HUGE change is that we have entered a partnership with First Night Morris. First Night Morris is the New Year's Eve celebration for Morristown, NJ. This major event has had up to 6,500 ticket holders. This partnership allows the First Night Morris organization to extend an invitation to family-friendly films to be included in this celebration. This is completely optional for the filmmakers and only open to family-friendly selections. In 2020, this is an online only event.
One thing that hasn't changed is that we are festival for filmmakers by filmmakers. We celebrate story and the hard work that goes into making it. Maybe more importantly, we are fans. We love each and every one of the films we show.
We love sci-fi, the fantastical, and the macabre. If you love those things too, I hope you'd consider joining us.
-Mark Boutros
Festival Director
Awards & Prizes
All accepted film makers will be eligible for Juried Awards and Prizes.
Best Short Live Action
Best Short Animation
Best Director
Best Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Visual FX
Best Practical FX
Best Sound
Best Original Score
Best Dark Comedy
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Ensemble
(other possible awards as are merited)