Showing posts with label Radio Free Albemuth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Radio Free Albemuth. Show all posts

18 April 2013

The Return of the Phillip K Dick Science Fiction Film Festival




THE PHILIP K. DICK SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL NOW ACCEPTING
SUBMISSIONS FOR SECOND ANNUAL EVENT

New York City's First Official Sci-Fi Film Festival Expands Film Slate For Upcoming Domestic and International Functions

Brooklyn, N.Y. April 11, 2013 - The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival is gearing up for a second exciting year to honor of its namesake and one ofthe most celebrated novelists of the 20th century. Expanding its film and panel slate to various sub-genres, multiple venues in Brooklyn and Manhattan will
hold screenings and gatherings from December 5-8, 2013 in what is expected to be yet another successful celebration of Philip K. Dick and his legions of fans who continue his legacy by recreating the magic he bestowed on the world of science fiction.

The festival is now accepting submissions in science documentaries, science fiction shorts and features and films inspired or adapted from the works of Dick in themes including cyberpunk, dystopian realities, paranoia, altered states and singularity punk. Panels will include discussions on psychic children
and superconscious, the singularity, trans-humanism, media influence, the science of tomorrow, cryonics, borderland sciences and anomalous aerial phenomena (AAP). Other activities include an extensive graphic novel and comic book section to accompany the film screenings and panels and a 48 hour
challenge to pick the best Dick-inspired short adaption. The festival will also host a series of independent science fictions screenings at Anthology Filmmakers throughout the summer and fall.

As further details come available in the coming weeks the festival anticipates another successful event, further solidifying the city's underlying appreciation for Philip K. Dick. Last year's festival saw record crowds of over 1,000 participants for the exclusive screening of John Alan Simon's Radio Free Albemuth
which was based on Dick's 1985 novel posthumously published three years after his death. The weekend-long festival also held numerous film screenings and panels with Simon, esteemed professors Ronald Mallet and Enrique Ricardo Miranda, distinguished writers Angela Posada-Swafford, Walter Mosley and Dennis Paoli and science fiction experts Richard Dolan and Peter Robbins. The team behind the annual festivities will also pioneer international events this fall in Lille, France and a spring 2014 cyberpunk festival in Tokyo.

The Second Philip K. Dick International Film Festival of Science, Science Fiction, Fantastic Film and the Supernatural will return bigger than ever. For film submissions please visit http://www.thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com and for more details go to the festival's Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/ThePhilipKDickFilmFestival and follow all the happenings on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PhilipKDickFest.

About The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival:

The Second Philip K. Dick International Film Festival of Science, Science Fiction, Fantastic Film and the Supernatural and the first of its kind to grace the screens of New York City is organized by filmmakers who understand the difficulties and challenges of telling a unique story in a corporate environment.

The year 2013 marks the second year of the festival which will expand it's genres of films, panels and venues throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan. Guest

speakers and writers that best represent the goals of the festival will attend the opening ceremonies. We look for original voices and visions in works submitted. Lastly, this is a festival by filmmakers for filmmakers.

About Philip K. Dick:

"Reality is whatever refuses to go away when I stop believing in it." - Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) was one of the 20th century's most profound novelists and writers within the science fiction community. His exploration, analysis and beliefs led to the publishings of 44 novels and 121 short stories. Dick's enormous library of works led to several film developments including Blade Runner (1982), Total Recall (1990), Minority Report (2002), Paycheck (2003) and most recently Radio Free Albemuth (2010), The Adjustment Bureau (2011) and the successful remake of Total Recall (2012). The film industry is also awaiting the release of King of the Elves in 2014, which will surely be yet another prosperous depiction of Dick's literary contribution to science fiction. Dick's enormously effective views comprised of fictional universes, virtual realities and human mutation foresaw an exaggerated version of the current state of government and contemporary life. Though he is gone in the physical form his philosophies live on in the techniques applied to modern stories and films and generate large displays of appreciation and understanding.

19 December 2012

Winners Announced For the First Philip K Dick Film Festival

New York, NY - The first Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival was attended by over a thousand people this month at various screenings (10 features, 50 shorts) and panels. The creative vision of Philip K. Dick lives on as the borough becomes the setting of a myriad of films inspired by one of the genre's most celebrated contributors at The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival from December 7-9. Named for the iconic novelist and short story writer whose work inspired the films Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report, the three-day Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival started a tradition of honoring films inspired by authors who have explored the metaphysical and eerie in all its manifestations.
 
Radio Free Albemuth
Best Science Fiction Feature
In an alternate reality America circa 1985 under the authoritarian control of Nixonesque President Fremont (Scott Wilson), Berkeley record store clerk Nick Brady (Scarfe) begins to experience strange visions from an entity he calls VALIS that cause him to uproot his family and move to Los Angeles where he becomes a successful music company executive. With the help of best friend, science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick himself (Whigam) and a mysterious woman named Silvia (Morissette), Nick finds himself drawn into a dangerous political-mystical conspiracy of cosmic proportions. The Houston Chronicle hailed it as "Excellent acting! Must see!" 

__________
The Last Push
Best Science Fiction Feature in 
Dramatic Competition
When a tragic accident cuts short the first manned mission to explore life on the moons of Jupiter, Michael Forrest must make the 3 year journey home to Earth in pure solitude. This film explores what it means to be human, and how are lives are nested within the lives of others. 

__________
Henri
Best Science Fiction Short
Set hundreds of years in the future, a derelict spacecraft, controlled and powered by a human brain, floats aimlessly in the outer reaches of space. Trapped in the cold, mechanical prison of the vessel, the brain, which has no recollection or concept of self, miraculously begins to experience disjointed images of its former life - images it cannot understand. Piece by piece, it builds a body eventually becoming a cyborg with awareness. A running voice over brings us into the mind of Henri as he remembers his last interaction with his builder(Margot Kidder, Superman), Henri becomes human (Keir Dullea) in his final confrontation with mortality. 
 __________
The Hidden Hand
Best Documentary
The Hidden Hand is an EBE Award winning documentary by filmmaker, James Carman. The concept of an alien presence is a part of our contemporary culture and many people believe extraterrestrials actually exist. Could there be something to this modern myth? Could an extraterrestrial species really have a hidden hand in shaping the events of our civilization? The Hidden Hand explores a new paradigm of consciousness taking root within humanity. 
 
 __________
 Singularity
Best 2012 Singularity & Beyond
Singularity is a time when human technology moves beyond our ability to understand it; a time in which humans will find their future impossible to predict. Singularity contemplates the days leading up to this event and revolves around the memories of the A.I.'s creator who uses his memories as a way to teach and bring the computer program to self awareness.
 __________
Blood for Irina
Best Horror Supernatural Feature
Blood for Irina, from Fangoria editor Chris Alexander, follows the titular character: a predator who stalks streets at night looking for blood, she has lived over a century; tormented by memory, living in a run-down motel by the sea, Irina has reached the end. Her perceptions skewed, her body and mind revolting against themselves, she waits for an exit. Her private hell is echoed by the motel manager driven by an obsession to protect Irina and keep her secrets safe, and a broken prostitute whose desperate plight may be worse than Irina's.

__________
36 Saints
Best Trailer
 
 __________
White
Best Film From a Creator of Color
It's another sweltering 120-degree winter day with five more days to Christmas and hot is the only season left in New York City. Global warming has become a tangible threat to survival and everyone is creating new ways to protect themselves from the sun. Bato, an expecting father enters into a race against the sun, the birth, and his own identity to save his family as he is forced to sell the new currency of this world. 
 
Trailer: 
http://youtu.be/l6ajFOGYDWc
__________
The Silent City
Best Web Series

The festival was also honored to host panels with several distinguished guests who have led affluent careers in the field of science, science fiction and in the approach and investigations of the phenomenons that have bestowed countless thoughts and ideas among scholars, theorists and believers for centuries.   
 
 
Festival Operations Manager Rose Marie Poledri said, "The festival turned out amazing. Months of all our hard work really paid off. The festival was packed out, with many films selling out. We did so well we are going to continue having events year round. I can only imagine next year's festival being even bigger. I'm really looking forward to all the events we are now planning and how things are going to turn out. I can only see things getting better."

Photos from the event can be downloaded here.

For more information on the Philip K Dick Film Festival, please visit us at:
http://www.thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ThePhilipKDickFilmFestival
https://twitter.com/PhilipKDickFest