Boston Science Fiction Film Festival (46)

Festival start: 05 February 2021      Festival end: 15 February 2021

If you know us, you already know.

If you‘re just discovering us, it's pretty simple. We strive to be that independent fest that loves filmmakers, screening films, and then talking about them in the most convivial of ways. That’s us. That’s Boston SciFi aka Boston Science Fiction Film Festival & Marathon. We love the possibility of ‘if’, and we love the film culture. By now it we be pretty good at it. We’ve been doing it for 46 years.

So we got history.

The legendary Orson Welles Cinemas is where it started. Legendary? Yep, the first manager was some dude named Tommy Lee Jones, and people like Peter Bogdanovich, Neil Young, Errol Morris and many more experienced formative cinematic awareness there. It was a 3-screener, it had a restaurant. There was a film school and more. It burned in 1986, and we are all that survived. Making films, showing them, and celebrating the creators is in. our DNA.

Today we are housed in the vintage, independent Somerville Theatre. That’s in Davis Sq, the front door to Tufts University, and just T stops (Boston’s subway system) to Harvard, MIT, Boston University & Northeastern.

We are an 11-day event with two distinctive parts. "The Fest" and “The Thon”.

The Fest is 9 days of submitted and judged films. Tossed into this will be curated films, some classics, some global discoveries. There are also workshops, panels, and other special events. There a number of events/parties for filmmakers including weekend brunches and evening parties. They are convivial networking opportunities with fellow filmmakers and the industry.

The closing event is part two of Boston SciFi. It is “The Marathon”, aka The Thon. Where the greats, the not-so-greats, the not-even-close-to-great screen in a 13 film, 24 hour roller coaster of cinema and community. Some will even be in 35mm, and we’re always looking for a 70mm. Think of it binge viewing with 700 of your best friends, even if you just met. Since we’ve been doing this for 46 years, we consider ourselves the “Original Binge View.”

That’s the layout. When it comes to asking yourself to submit, you probably have questions. Hopefully you can find the answers here. One question often asked is how do we define science fiction. If Rod Serling played it on the original TWILIGHT ZONE, then who are we to argue? Whether it shorts, features, documentaries, animation, webisodes, whatever, we'll screen it. In our world, good scripts are more important than a conveniently placed piece of SFX. Although a well-done, nicely timed big boom is fun.

The organizers of BostonSciFi are industry professionals with decades of experience. One of the biggest reasons to enter your film is to get exposure to audiences AND the industry. It is this latter piece where our experience helps. We invite our friends to come, and we recommend BostonSciFi films to those we know.

So welcome to SF46, the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, the US’ longest-running fest, and perhaps the coolest, SciFi festival in the US with a passion for film that comes age.

It's about exploring new worlds.

Awards, including The Gort for best short, are given by judges and by the audience.

- sponsors may provide additional prizes,
- between 12-16 awards are given out,
- award categories vary from year to year,
standard categories are:
Short, Feature, Director, Documentary, the Shannon Moloney Award, Festival Director’s Award, Audience, Script, Actor, Sound Design, Special Effects.
- other categories may be added at judges request,
other categories may be added as seems prudent,
25 Certificate of Merits are sent out.

The regular awards are the standards - Best Feature, Short Director, Special Effects, Documentary, and more. We also empower our judging team to add additional awards based on the films they have seen. For example, we've added webisodes, music and sound design based on judges recommendations,

Judges, at their discretion, may add additional awards based on merit.

Features and Shorts SUBMISSION Guidelines:

- any film that has a science fiction or science underpinning
- it has been made in the last 18 months. (older films can request consideration)
- works in progress are accepted.
- waivers are rare.
- premieres are welcome
- films should be at least a New England premiere
- non-English films should be subtitled.
- each film is a separate entry.
– BostonSciFi does not use DVDs for screening purposes.
- All films must not have screened online.
- selected films will be delivered on a timely basis
- selected films will assist in social media and traditional marketing
- selected films must be an industry grade DCP
please note: self-made DCPs often have errors & cannot be played

PROGRAMMING Guidelines
- When films are scheduled is Boston SciFi’s sole decision
- Changes to any schedule may occur at any time.
- Missing deadlines may result in eligibility negation.
- Films may screen more than once during the course of the Fest
- Decisions of Boston SciFi and Judges is final.

Judging notes are retained. If any applicant, who is not accepted, wishes to get feedback from the judges, we will make that available, but only after the festival as concluded and we've recovered.