Homemade Sci-Fi

Join us at Comic-Con io9 meet-up

We're co-producing the io9 Comic-Con meet-up, so if you're in San Diego on Friday 7/23, you should stop by and mingle with the sci-fi posse while everyone is in town.

Even if you don't have a Comic-Con pass, you can still attend the meet-up since it's outside the actual convention. Free pizza is provided while supplies last (courtesy two upcoming indie sci-fi projects: our film In-World War and the cryptic mind-thriller Pig).

io9 Comic-Con Meet-up
Fri July 23
6 - 8pm
Fluxx Night Club
500 4th Ave (@ Island Ave.)
San Diego, CA

More info via io9.

Sci-fi web series previews at Comic-Con

If you're going to be at Comic-Con make sure to check out the free Celebrate the Web forum on July 24th.

The 2nd annual Celebrate the Web forum, separated into two parts, (the first for sci-fi/horror) will feature Q&As and highlight and premiere exclusive content from upcoming web series including The Mercury Men.

Read on for details and (required) registration. Less than two dozen (free) tickets remain as of this writing.

Similo: Artificial love amidst the Antarctic melt

Meet Similo, an impressive-looking short film that we can't wait to see finished. According to their Kickstarter page:

SIMILO is a science fiction love story set in the year 2064. The polar ice caps have melted. The world struggles to survive drought and poverty. But those few who live in the new cities in the arctic can live a happy life. At least, that´s what they want to believe.

What is a Similo? Similo: An artificial person designed to be the perfect lover. Similo comes from the word Simulating.

Based on a teaser film by Zacharias and Macgregor, Similo has reached its funding goal (thanks to donations via Kickstarter) and the filmmakers are now in the tedious process of putting together the visual effects shots for the short film.

It looks gorgeous and atmospheric. Keep your eyes open for this one on the festival circuit.

The Mercury Men: Retro sci-fi noir web series

The Mercury Men is a retro sci-fi web series with a noir flavor. Based on Christopher Preksta's earlier award winning short, "The Mercury Men" takes place in 1975 Pittsburgh where a low-level government bureaucrat finds himself trapped in his office building where the Mercury Men are staging their diabolical plot.

Festival Scan: new indie sci-fi on the film festival circuit

Film festivals are constantly introducing fresh new indie sci-fi movies and shorts. If you want to know what's next in indie sci-fi -- that's where to look.

(BTW, the above trailer is from the amazing-looking feature Cargo from Switzerland.)

Read on to discover new independent and DIY science fiction making the rounds at recent (and upcoming) film festivals.

HENRI 2.0 - Robot existentialism in space

Currently still in production (according to their Kickstarter page):

Set thousands of years in the future, a derelict spacecraft powered by a human brain [named HENRI] floats aimlessly in the outer reaches of space. Yearning for freedom and yet unable to move, HENRI devises a plan to build himself a mechanical body from parts of the ship.

Director Eli Sasich was kind enough to give us an exclusive interview about the film.

Cockpit: The Rule of Engagement - science fiction horror in space

I met Jesse Griffith in college.

We both were undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz and he had just made a no-budget sci-fi feature film (the third in a series, if I recall correctly).

It was amateur. It was corny. Everything about it looked like ultra-cheap student filmmaking. But it was a powerfully delirious experience to see a fellow student make a feature film, inspiring my own "don't ask permission" approach many years later.

Jesse now works in the movie industry professionally and continues to make movies on the side -- films that look every bit as polished as any Hollywood blockbuster.

Check out the trailer his latest short film, Cockpit: The Rule of Engagement, and read our exclusive interview with him.