Norwescon Speculative Film Fest

Norwescon’s Speculative Film Fest is a celebration of science fiction, fantasy, horror and other speculative fiction films. This is a juried festival with over ten judges representing a wide range of people in the science fiction community. The festival screens about eight hours of short films each year.

Norwescon’s Speculative Film Fest embraces and fosters new voices in Speculative Fiction, including those of BIPOC, women, and LGBTQ+ creators. We have judges who represent these voices, and we waived entry fees for BIPOC directors.

Schedule

Block A: Thursday 3–6 p.m.

The Tales of Grandmother Basyang
Afterglow
Arlecchino’s secret
Cold
I Dream of a Day
Symbiosis
Shadow Man
Focal Plane
Broth
What’s that Smell?
Insanely Perfect
The Scalpel

Block B: Thursday 7–10 p.m.

Sulayman
In Half
A Necessary Evil
Blacked Box
C’mon
Memory Lake
Fiabexit
The Ghost of DB Cooper
Fear Algorithm
Demons Against Death Club
Bellum
I’m Here
Haunted
The Seance
Aftermath

Block C: Friday 8–10 p.m.

The Pretty
EMOH
Verflechtung
The Fate
20th Floor
Instinct
Lupe Q and the Galactic Corn Cake
Hestia 19
A Youtuber and a Demon
Progeny
An Artist’s Curse

Block D: Friday 10 p.m.–Midnight

Gesture
7 Sunsets
(le) Vampire
How to Summon a Demon
Urn
Rue Tea
Karak
Burn Out
The Emerald Wasp

The Films

20th floor (Piso Veinte)

Shot from behind just over the shoulder, a man looks up stairs at a shadowy crouched figure.

Director: Vicente Betancourt
Country of Origin: Chile
Description: After being locked out of his apartment, Sergio heads to the first floor of his building in search of help to return home. However, strangely, he ends up getting trapped on his own floor, specifically the twentieth.
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7 Sunsets

A man with wavy dark hair stands outdoors, wearing a worn heavy shirt and a large, angular, metal breathing mask.

Director: Katy Joy
Country of Origin: United States
Description: Nearly a decade after humanity has transcended into an eternal simulation, a lone survivor on an apocalyptic Earth travels long and far to fulfill his wife’s final wish.

AFTERGLOW

A white woman with long brown hair wearing a pink dress and a silver ankh necklace stands in a field of sunflowers, circles radiating out from her head.

Director: Vicky Wanless
Country of Origin: Australia
Description: A grief-ridden, young woman recreates memories of her recently deceased boyfriend in a virtual simulation.

Aftermath

A dark image of a woman's lower face in front of a microphone.

Director: Katrina Brede, Jason Connelly
Country of Origin: United States
Description: A young woman’s resilience is tested in the aftermath.

An Artist’s Curse

A young girl with her hair in pigtails wearing a flowered shirt looks forward with a blank expression.

Director: Steven J. Mihaljevich
Country of Origin: Australia
Description: When a malevolent creature resides inside the artwork of a 10-year-old girl, fate is sealed, with trauma from her childhood echoing across her life.

Arlecchino’s secret (Il segreto di Arlecchino)

On a white scrap of fabric with yellow and red fabric scraps on top, a pink human-ish figure is sketched.

Director: Antonio Candalice
Country of Origin: Italy
Description: Armando, a young tailor looking for success, is oppressed by his work. He often talks about it with his writer friend Anastasio, who advises him to quit. Armando doesn’t know what the meaning of his life is, but the arrival of a female demon will make him remember who he really is.
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Bellum

A black and white image of an empty wheelchair casting a shadow of a hunched human figure.

Director: Pablo Ferrando
Country of Origin: Spain
Description: Marc long ago decided to confront the trauma that has haunted him for years, but the past is starting to creep back in.
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Blacked Box

Against a striped red and black background, a young man wearing a black cap and white flannel shirt aims a red laser towards the camera.

Director: Julian V. Hampton
Country of Origin: United States
Description: When a young gamer purchases a mysterious box, he must uncover its secrets before his time runs out.
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Broth

Drawing of a figure seen from behind leaning on a rock, looking up at another figure sitting on top of a stony cliff.

Director: Nick Zweig
Country of Origin: United States
Description: A creature struggles for survival.
Links:

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Burn Out

A distorted image at the top of the poster of a man screaming, with another man's figure at the bottom of the poster.

Director: Russell Goldman
Country of Origin: United States
Description: An assistant will do anything to get a presentation in front of his boss, even set himself on fire.
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C’mon

Two women's faces overlaid at the center line, smiling on the left and crying on the right.

Director: Candice Palladino
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Description: Angela wants to make a medical insurance claim. But can she get past AI Cindy, an artificial intelligence employee of Metro Insurance?

Cold (Hotz)

A figure in the distance walks through a dark forest at night.

Director: Lander Castro
Country of Origin: Spain
Description: A man and a pregnant woman cross a snowy forest trying to escape from a dark past related to a traumatic crime, but she waits for them, hiding in the trees, determined to stop them.
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Demons Against Death Club

Cut out photos of different people are placed around a photo of a pink cake like a scrapbook.

Director: Sarah Scarborough
Country of Origin: United States
Description: Sick of killing humans, a team of demons meet to discuss ways they can rebel against the demon world to disrupt the balance of good and evil.
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The Emerald Wasp

Director: Peter Renzullo
Country of Origin: Australia
Description: The retelling of the tale of the emerald wasp is the foundation stone to the relationship between Khan and Isabella.

EMOH

Mirrored images of Earth from space, one at the top of the poster and one at the bottom.

Director: Katy Joy
Country of Origin: United States
Description: A lone space traveler, Eve, and her wired AI assistant land on a sought-out planet nearly identical to earth. After losing the A.I.’s coordination abilities, Eve is left to complete their mission alone.

The Fate (El destino)

A collage of a woman in a hat seen from behind, a man in a black cap looking over his shoulder, and a woman's decaying face.

Director: José García Pérez
Country of Origin: Spain
Description: Corralled woman.

Fear Algorithm

A wooden floor paneled with a yin-yang inside symbols from the I Ching, with four figures laying on the floor in a cross, feet towards the yin yang.

Director: J.A. McLendon
Country of Origin: United States
Description: Four strangers wake up in an AI construct where they are forced to confront their deepest fears.

Fiabexit

Sketch of people's faces around an archway with a figure in a trench coat walking through.

Director: Lorenzo Giovenga, Giuliano Giacomelli
Country of Origin: Italy
Description: We too have the right to dream.
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Focal Plane

An Asian woman looks at something with a concerned look on her face.

Director: Tommy Heffernan, Nicole Olson
Country of Origin: United States
Description: In the near future, a young activist goes on a date with a company woman bearing a secret.
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Gesture

Seen from behind, a woman faces other people sitting in chairs as in a self help group; her hand is on her neck and there appears to be a computer chip embedded in her spine.

Director: Jesse Pickett
Country of Origin: Canada
Description: After having a surgical procedure that was meant to cure her of pain and disability, Sydney now experiences memory loss associated with specific memories of her traumatic incident and certain physical gestures.

The Ghost of D.B. Cooper

A man with short dark hair, wearing a dark suit and sunglasses, and with an airline emergency mask on.

Director: Nick Harkins
Country of Origin: United States
Description: On November 24, 1971, a young boy and comic book enthusiast encounters a mysterious stranger in his home.
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Haunted

Art of a young boy in a trench coat holding a drink mug, a peacock, and a man in a long coat and scarf standing outside a house with a shrouded figure standing in the doorway.

Director: Rohan Laser King
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Description: A young woman, Jane, suddenly finds herself inheriting an old house previously owned by her great-grandfather.

HESTIA 19

Director: Stephen Bigot
Country of Origin: France
Description: The members of the International Space Station (ISS) have just made an exceptional discovery. One of the astronauts, Paul, brings this discovery back to earth.

How to Summon a Demon

Under various symbols scrawled on a blackboard, four women wearing white robes and masks made of flowers stand in a field.

Director: Aiman Malik
Country of Origin: Australia
Description: Four wacky flower-faced forest-dwelling cultists are faced with a devastating dilemma. Hysterical, they go on a quest to collect eight occult ingredients to summon a demon to grant them a wish.

I dream of a day (Sueño con un día)

A young girl peeks out through a gap in green foliage.

Director: Elías Barreto
Country of Origin: Mexico
Description: Lu, a little girl who tells her dreams to her turtle, finds the possibility of finally feeling company when she meets Aini, an entity with head of a cloud.
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I’m here

A man sitting in front of a computer on a table turns to look behind him.

Director: Peter Chan
Country of Origin: Cambodia
Description: A live streamer feels uncertain after receiving strange comments from a new viewer from an unknown place.

In Half

An animated character with blue hair, purple skin, with a thin mustache and goatee, looks upward beneath an ornate ceiling.

Director: Jorge Morais
Country of Origin: Spain
Description: Through a child’s imagination it tells the journey of a man who, after falling prey to his fears, must cross a strange world, a universe full of magic.
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Insanely Perfect (Dokonalosť sama)

Seven people in formal wear pose on a white marble staircase.

Director: Lukas Vizner, Miriam Fulmekova
Country of Origin: Slovakia
Description: A story of an ordinary night in an extraordinary household. The Weisse’s, a well-respected, high-ranking family, value their blood bond above all else.
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INSTINCT

Against a purple background, black and white photos of two women are in pixelated leaf shapes.

Director: Gizem Polat
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Description: A vampire story with an ethical perspective aiming to make the audience question if the good and evil are always black and white, and if it is always obvious to know what is good and what is bad.

Karak

A yellow VW Beetle drives down a dark road at night.

Director: Ian Tan
Country of Origin: Canada
Description: A young couple have a horrifying encounter with a yellow Volkswagen Beetle while driving home on a deserted highway in the middle of the night.
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Lupe Q and the Galactic Corn Cake (Lupe Q y la Arepa Galáctica)

A collage of images of musicians playing electric guitars and drums over a background of demonic teeth.

Director: Javier Badillo
Country of Origin: Canada
Description: Aliens. Punk Rock. Corn Cakes. In space, only grandma’s Latin cooking will save you.
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Memory Lake

High contrast images of a person's eyes and two people lying in bed looking at each other.

Director: Federico Cantini
Country of Origin: Italy
Description: Can love really be erased? Francesco, a former employee of Eikon Industries (a futuristic memory factory) has spent years in solitude planning his project, stealing memories from Riccardo, to spend the rest of his life with the woman he is obsessed with.

A Necessary Evil (Um Mal Necessário)

A shadowy figure backlit in red casts a long, drawn shadow of a figure with horns holding a trident.

Director: Lucas Martins
Country of Origin: Brazil
Description: A young wanna-be actor sells his soul to Mephistopheles, a punk demon, in order to become famous. However, movie characters invade his real life and his dream turns into a nightmare.

The Pretty (La Bonita)

A Polaroid photo of a glass jar with a few coins in it sitting on a black and white checked surface.

Director: Miguel Córcoles
Country of Origin: Spain
Description: An actors’ agent arrives at a cocktail bar called The Pretty, whose waitress demands payment of a coin from all the clients who go too far with her.

Progeny

A Black man and a white woman, both dressed in worn drab clothing, stand with their eyes closed and foreheads touching.

Director: Katy Joy
Country of Origin: United States
Description: Foreign creatures invade Earth and years later, dominate as the new alpha species. A group of surviving nomads come together each winter season in an attempt to sabotage the creature’s nesting offspring.

Rue Tea (Té de Ruda)

A drawing of a girl with long dark braided hair wearing a white top and long black skirt, standing on a hillside and holding a rifle.

Director: Jennifer Remba
Country of Origin: Mexico
Description: During the Mexican Revolution, Isabel flees her violent husband to an abandoned hacienda to have an abortion. As he gets closer to her, she discovers that there is a beast inside her.
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The Scalpel

A collage of faces over a notecard titled Crystals of Thyro-Chlorom (something) under an evil-looking figure emerging from curtains.

Director: Richard H. Lyford
Country of Origin: United States
Description: A mad doctor transforms into a monstrous killer and creates mayhem in a medical institute. (The Scalpel is a 1936 never-released film by then 19-year-old filmmaker, Richard Lyford with a score by Ed Hartman.)
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The Séance

A young woman with blood running from her eyes and nose holds three tarot cards.

Director: Hunter Burns, Jordan Spalding
Country of Origin: United States
Description: Sadie, a teenage witch helps her crush, the cutest boy in school, get in contact with his late mother, despite ample warnings from the spirit world.

Shadow Man

A woman with long straight blonde hair wearing a sleeveless green day t-shirt stares at the camera.

Director: Salomón Urfalian
Country of Origin: Argentina
Description: A girl is tormented by a strange entity.
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Sulayman

An animated man wearing green pants and a tan vest lunges forward with a wavy sword in front of a wall of bladed weapons.

Director: Blog Caliguia
Country of Origin: Philippines
Description: A warrior confronts a mysterious menace from the forest to protect his village.

Symbiosis

A claymation girl with a worried expression.

Director: Meghana Didugu
Country of Origin: United States
Description: A young woman named Maya stumbles upon a mysterious phenomenon when her TV begins to broadcast a strange show about her life. As reality blurs with fiction, Maya is forced to question her own identity and the nature of her existence.
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The Tales of Grandmother Basyang: The Mysterious Guardian of Mount Arayat (Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang)

An animated still of an old woman reading from a book to three young children.

Director: Nelson Jr. Caliguia
Country of Origin: Philippines
Description: After meeting an elderly fairy, a young boy goes through a fantastic journey through time and space.

Urn

A cylindrical ceramic urn with crosses on it stands on its edge on a shelf.

Director: Ian Tan
Country of Origin: Canada
Description: Vera experiences supernatural encounters in the wake of her husband’s untimely death.

(le) Vampire

A red bowl is seen from directly above, filled with white rice, and with a bloody handprint on top.

Director: Riccardo Romano
Country of Origin: Italy
Description: An unexpected visit from an old pen pal disrupts the life of a young couple.

Verflechtung

A nude man sits in a bathtub as a woman wraps a blanket around his shoulders and hugs him from behind.

Director: Philip Hofmänner, Simon Jonas Pflanzer
Country of Origin: Switzerland
Description: In the near future, Susana’s fiancé Marco decides to have a chip implanted in his brain.

What’s That Smell?

Seen from behind, a woman in a dark robe spreads her arms in front of a red-lit altar.

Director: Alex Furnas, Tommy Heffernan
Country of Origin: United States
Description: James is cursed with a terrible affliction right before having to give a presentation at his new job.
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A Youtuber and a Demon (Un Youtubeur et un Démon)

A drawing of two shadowed figures sitting on a large rock in the woods, one holding a cellphone casting light on them.

Director: Betty Kaplan
Country of Origin: Germany
Description: A lonely Youtuber follows random app-generated coordinates to remote locations in search of anomalies, when an anomaly finds him. She finds him interesting.