The 2019 Philip K. Dick European Science Fiction Film Festival Announces Events in France and Germany

The Philip K. Dick European Science Fiction Film Festival has unveiled the full lineup for its sixth annual event celebrating the life and career of novelist Philip K. Dick. With an emphasis on technological advancements and existence of alternative worlds and cultures, the festival will gather in Lille, France from October 25-26, 2019 and in Cologne, Germany from October 31-November 1, 2019.

Returning to screens in two familiar cities, the festival has become a prime destination for European filmgoers. "This is our sixth season in Lille and fourth in Cologne," said Daniel Abella, the founder and director of the festival. "It is a testament to the enduring quality of our screenings and the long-standing tradition of Science fiction in the cultural centers of Europe."

Attendees to this year's event will view themes reminiscent of today's society, and according to Abella, each official selection represents the fragmentation of consensus reality. "Many will argue that we already live in a sci-fi universe with serious talks given to UFO's, artificial intelligence, the universe as a computer simulation, and time travel," he said. "PKD's work followed the growing blurriness between man and machine and humanity's surrender to the seduction of technology. We cover these topics and more because more than any other writer, PKD had his finger on the pulse of what is happening today."

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2019:

L'Hybride (18 Rue Gosselet 59000, Lille, France)

Block 1: The Future is Now

7:30pm - 9:00pm

Face Swap (2018)

Director: David Gidali, Einat Tubi

Run Time/Country: 5 min, USA

Synopsis: A man convinces his wife to try out a new A.I. technology to spice up their sex life but he ends up getting a bit more spice than he bargained for.

Deep Dive (2018)

Director: Mohammad Soleimanifeijani

Run Time/Country: 6 min, USA

Synopsis: A young Persian refugee arrives at the border of Los Angeles and is given a mandatory set of government-issued immigrant transition AR lenses. Shut out of other people's reality she slowly descends into a new form of digital alienation.

Megan (2018)

Director: Greg Strasz

Run Time/Country: 8 min, USA

Synopsis: The story of a woman, who along with the elite Delta Force team, investigates a mysterious attack by in present day Downtown Los Angeles.

Eva - A Crispr Story (2018)

Director: Puneet Bharill

Run Time/Country: 22 min, Germany

Synopsis: Researchers have achieved a clinical milestone using CRISPR technology to transplant a genetically modified pig liver into a human embryo but face unforeseen consequences.

Shadowland (2019)

Director: Bellopropello

Run Time/Country: 14 min, Switzerland

Synopsis: The diverse communication options offered by a cell phone influence our social and consumer behavior. Excessive use changes the design of 'head-down people's' life and lifestyle habits.

Popular Tropes (2019)

Director: Dries Vergauwe

Run Time/Country: 15 min, Belgium

Synopsis: It's the third year of a pandemic and the worst winter in decades. Those who can afford it stay inside, THOSE WHO CAN'T collect the dead.

Uncle Griot (2018)

Director: Paul Charisse

Run Time/Country: 6 min, UK

Synopsis: A young girl takes her uncle for a walk.

The Great 60 Days (2018)

Director: Tae-Woo Kim

Run Time/Country: 9 min, South Korea

Synopsis: A doctor experimenting on fruit flies is developing a substance that can dramatically increase activity in brain cells. After a series of failures, one fruit fly finally has a huge reaction. Its intellect has become mutated.

Post-Film Q&A:

Screenings will be followed by an in-depth discussion with filmmakers.

Block 2: Flesh and Machine

9:30pm - 11:00pm

Tatu (2018)

Director: Garcerón Alejo

Run Time/Country: 2 min, Argentina

Synopsis: In this trailer, monster robots in a car junkyard battle it out.

I Don't Want To Be Alone (2019)

Director: Sergio Rozas

Run Time/Country: 19 min, Spain/Japan

Synopsis: A lonely girl walks around a future Tokyo chased by weird huge monsters. Even though she fights them, the monsters just keep growing in size and number so the girl has to make a decision.

Zoe (2018)

Director: Leif Brönnle

Run Time/Country: 17 min, Germany

Synopsis: A young woman without identity or memory. Two scientists with great ambition. A sequence of tests that will bring them all to their psychological frontiers.

Secret Chord (2019)

Director: Karl Thyselius

Run Time/Country: 12 min, Sweden

Synopsis: A failed musician in a dystopic Stockholm finds an A.I. that helps him become a Mozart of his time.

Eternity (2019)

Director: Anna Sobolevska

Run Time/Country: 24 min, Ukraine

Synopsis: Once upon a time in the nearest future, humanity has overcome death and is granted Eternity by digitizing human souls. But what happens if Eternity faced with Love?

Tomorrow, Shall We All Be Transhumans? (2019)

Director: Benoît Schmid

Run Time/Country: 9 min, Switzerland/France

Synopsis: Jump into a mesmerizing journey into the spirit of the first man who succeeded to digitize his own brain, algorithm his soul, and who injects himself some Holy Transgenic Fluids in order to transcend his flawed flesh.

Post-Film Q&A:

Screenings will be followed by an in-depth discussion with filmmakers.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2019:

L'Hybride (18 Rue Gosselet 59000, Lille, France)

Block 1: Beyond Faith and Reason

7:30pm - 9:00pm

The Nine Billion Names of God (2018)

Director: Dominique Filhol

Run Time/Country: 15 min, France/Switzerland

Synopsis: In New York 1957, a Tibetan monk rents an automatic sequence computer. The monks seek to list all of the names of God. They hire two Westerners to install and program the machine in Tibet. A short film is based on the book by Arthur C. Clarke.

Quiver (2019)

Director: Shayna Connelly

Run Time/Country: 14 min, USA

Synopsis: A woman's grief transcends the boundaries of the natural world and arouses a primordial being. She courts this ghost, using intellect and desire to forge a union between them.

Time Sphere (2019)

Director: Andre Seewood

Run Time/Country: 10 min, USA

Synopsis: After the destruction of the Third World War, a man traveled back in time to deliver a message to someone he loved before the end of the world only to be met with a cruel twist of fate.

Tomorrow Might Be the Day (2018)

Director: Joséfa Celestin

Run Time/Country: 20 min, France

Synopsis: A fanatic subjects his niece, whose faith wavers, to a baptism in order to restore her faith and ultimately save her from an impending doomsday flood.

I Am the Doorway (2018)

Director: Simon Pearce

Run Time/Country: 20 min, UK

Synopsis: After a journey to investigate desolate Pluto, an astronaut returns home a shattered man. He sees eyes forcing their way through the skin of his hands, eyes that distort his friends and the landscape itself into monstrous visions. Believing himself the doorway to alien invasion and gruesome murder, he must take desperate action. Based on the short story by Stephen King.

Mise En Abyme (2018)

Director: Edoardo Smerilli

Run Time/Country: 11 min, Italy

Synopsis: An eccentric and aristocratic gentleman devotes most of his time to a bizarre activity. Obsessed by beauty, he wanders everyday in the wood nearby the city, hunting the most rare butterflies. Once captured, he frames them and put in a massive and disturbing collection. He will soon realize to be himself part of a bigger collection.

Who is Martin Danzig? (2018)

Director: Michael Baker

Run Time/Country: 11 min, USA

Synopsis: A mysterious old man sits in the park feeding pigeons, ruing the refuse of humanity encroaching on his sanctuary. He then meets his much younger replacement and learns to accept his future - with the fate of all humanity in the balance. Starring Walter Koenig (Star Trek) and Kevin Page (RoboCop).

Post-Film Q&A:

Screenings will be followed by an in-depth discussion with filmmakers.

Block 2: Cults, Conspiracies and Paranoia

9:30pm - 11:00pm

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space (2018)

Director: Tristan C. Pina

Run Time/Country: 10 min, Canada

Synopsis: An unfulfilled high school senior becomes obsessed with an ominous radio broadcast containing steps to a cryptic puzzle. Thinking he is being pursued by a sinister organization, his search for clues takes over his life.

Beyond the Door (2018)

Director: Em Johnson

Run Time/Country: 20 min, USA

Synopsis: One day Hedy brings home a cuckoo clock to decorate the baby's room, unbeknownst that the cuckoo clock has the ability to love and hate just like humans. The cuckoo clock tests the couple's love by mimicking the presence of their deceased son. Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick.

Sereget (2018)

Director: Dempsey Tillman

Run Time/Country: 13 min, USA

Synopsis: An emotionally detached husband with a child on the way gets a rude awakening when aliens invade his home and target his family.

Diversion (2018)

Director: Mathieu Mégemont

Run Time/Country: 23 min, France

Synopsis: A small town journalist covering a case in the French countryside stops after running over a dog on the road and finds himself trapped in the stories he usually writes.

Just After Midnight (2018)

Director: Jean Raymond Garcia and Anne-Marie Puga

Run Time/Country: 22 min, France

Synopsis: A young blind primary school teacher keenly studies art history devoted to witches and to Satan's erotology.Transformed, she tries to steal a man's eyes to recover her eyesight.

Post-Film Q&A:

Screenings will be followed by an in-depth discussion with filmmakers.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019:

Film Club 813 e.V. (Hahnenstraße 6 50667, Cologne, Germany)

Block 1: The Future Is Now

7:30pm - 9:00pm

Face Swap (2018)

Director: David Gidali, Einat Tubi

Run Time/Country: 5 min, USA

Synopsis: A man convinces his wife to try out a new A.I. technology to spice up their sex life but he ends up getting a bit more spice than he bargained for.

Cold Cold Coffin (2019)

Director: Brian Cichocki

Run Time/Country: 7 min, USA

Synopsis: A heartbroken and dying tycoon exacts revenge on his gold-digging young bride by having himself cryogenically frozen in order to outlive her and the terms of his will. Starring Dennis Dunaway, the original bass guitarist for Alice Cooper.

Megan (2018)

Director: Greg Strasz

Run Time/Country: 8 min, USA

Synopsis: The story of a woman, who along with the elite Delta Force team, investigates a mysterious attack by in present day Downtown Los Angeles.

Eva - A Crispr Story (2018)

Director: Puneet Bharill

Run Time/Country: 22 min, Germany

Synopsis: Researchers have achieved a clinical milestone using CRISPR technology to transplant a genetically modified pig liver into a human embryo but face unforeseen consequences.

Llora Conmigo (2019)

Director: Camilo Urdaneta

Run Time/Country: 15 min, Mexico

Synopsis: A Mexican American teen accidentally lures the Latin legend of La Llorona back to his home where he must face the long night ahead.

Popular Tropes (2019)

Director: Dries Vergauwe

Run Time/Country: 15 min, Belgium

Synopsis: It's the third year of a pandemic and the worst winter in decades. Those who can afford it stay inside, THOSE WHO CAN'T collect the dead.

Antenna (2016)

Director: Carsten Woike

Run Time/Country: 16 min, Germany

Synopsis: A lonely 11-year-old-boy gets in contact with an alien via his old radio-device system. Or is the alien only a lonely old man?

The Great 60 Days (2018)

Director: Tae-Woo Kim

Run Time/Country: 9 min, South Korea

Synopsis: A doctor experimenting on fruit flies is developing a substance that can dramatically increase activity in brain cells. After a series of failures, one fruit fly finally has a huge reaction. Its intellect has become mutated.

Post-Film Q&A:

Screenings will be followed by an in-depth discussion with filmmakers.

Block 2: Flesh and Machine

9:30pm - 11:00pm

Tatu (2018)

Director: Garcerón Alejo

Run Time/Country: 2 min, Argentina

Synopsis: In this trailer, monster robots in a car junkyard battle it out.

I Don't Want To Be Alone (2019)

Director: Sergio Rozas

Run Time/Country: 19 min, Spain/Japan

Synopsis: A lonely girl walks around a future Tokyo chased by weird huge monsters. Even though she fights them, the monsters just keep growing in size and number so the girl has to make a decision.

Zoe (2018)

Director: Leif Brönnle

Run Time/Country: 17 min, Germany

Synopsis: A young woman without identity or memory. Two scientists with great ambition. A sequence of tests that will bring them all to their psychological frontiers.

Chromophobia (2019)

Director: Keith Adams

Run Time/Country: 13 min, USA

Synopsis: A clinical psychiatrist becomes obsessed with her mysterious new patient's artwork and realizes he possesses a curious gift.

Secret Chord (2019)

Director: Karl Thyselius

Run Time/Country: 12 min, Sweden

Synopsis: A failed musician in a dystopic Stockholm finds an A.I. that helps him become a Mozart of his time.

I Can (2019)

Director: Diana Elizabeth Jordan

Run Time/Country: 5 min, USA

Synopsis: A young woman faces a supernatural existential crisis and must overcome her fears to unlock her power within.

Eternity (2019)

Director: Anna Sobolevska

Run Time/Country: 24 min, Ukraine

Synopsis: Once upon a time in the nearest future, humanity has overcome death and is granted Eternity by digitizing human souls. But what happens if Eternity faced with Love?

Hunting For Huxley (2019)

Director: Claire Fleming

Run Time/Country: 5 min, UK

Synopsis: This documentary follows philosopher Aldous Huxley when he visited the recently built and technologically advanced Billingham Manufacturing Plant in 1929. He left inspired and his novel "Brave New World" was born from what he saw combined with his visioned future.

iCon (2017)

Director: Konstantina Papadopoulou

Run Time/Country: 18 min, Greece

Synopsis: In a society where smart apps dominate, a man chooses an environment away of the comforts high technology offers and tries to face a powerful opponent, using only his own strength.

Tomorrow, Shall We All Be Transhumans? (2019)

Director: Benoît Schmid

Run Time/Country: 9 min, Switzerland/France

Synopsis: Jump into a mesmerizing journey into the spirit of the first man who succeeded to digitize his own brain, algorithm his soul, and who injects himself some Holy Transgenic Fluids in order to transcend his flawed flesh.

Post-Film Q&A:

Screenings will be followed by an in-depth discussion with filmmakers.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019:

Film Club 813 e.V. (Hahnenstraße 6 50667, Cologne, Germany)

Block 1: Beyond Faith and Reason

7:30pm - 9:00pm

The Nine Billion Names of God (2018)

Director: Dominique Filhol

Run Time/Country: 15 min, France/Switzerland

Synopsis: In New York 1957, a Tibetan monk rents an automatic sequence computer. The monks seek to list all of the names of God. They hire two Westerners to install and program the machine in Tibet. A short film is based on the book by Arthur C. Clarke.

Quiver (2019)

Director: Shayna Connelly

Run Time/Country: 14 min, USA

Synopsis: A woman's grief transcends the boundaries of the natural world and arouses a primordial being. She courts this ghost, using intellect and desire to forge a union between them.

Time Sphere (2019)

Director: Andre Seewood

Run Time/Country: 10 min, USA

Synopsis: After the destruction of the Third World War, a man traveled back in time to deliver a message to someone he loved before the end of the world only to be met with a cruel twist of fate.

Tomorrow Might Be the Day (2018)

Director: Joséfa Celestin

Run Time/Country: 20 min, France

Synopsis: A fanatic subjects his niece, whose faith wavers, to a baptism in order to restore her faith and ultimately save her from an impending doomsday flood.

I Am the Doorway (2018)

Director: Simon Pearce

Run Time/Country: 20 min, UK

Synopsis: After a journey to investigate desolate Pluto, an astronaut returns home a shattered man. He sees eyes forcing their way through the skin of his hands, eyes that distort his friends and the landscape itself into monstrous visions. Believing himself the doorway to alien invasion and gruesome murder, he must take desperate action. Based on the short story by Stephen King.

Mise En Abyme (2018)

Director: Edoardo Smerilli

Run Time/Country: 11 min, Italy

Synopsis: An eccentric and aristocratic gentleman devotes most of his time to a bizarre activity. Obsessed by beauty, he wanders everyday in the wood nearby the city, hunting the most rare butterflies. Once captured, he frames them and put in a massive and disturbing collection. He will soon realize to be himself part of a bigger collection.

Who is Martin Danzig? (2018)

Director: Michael Baker

Run Time/Country: 11 min, USA

Synopsis: A mysterious old man sits in the park feeding pigeons, ruing the refuse of humanity encroaching on his sanctuary. He then meets his much younger replacement and learns to accept his future - with the fate of all humanity in the balance. Starring Walter Koenig (Star Trek) and Kevin Page (RoboCop).

Post-Film Q&A:

Screenings will be followed by an in-depth discussion with filmmakers.

Block 2: Cults, Conspiracies and Paranoia

9:30pm - 11:00pm

Beyond the Door (2018)

Director: Em Johnson

Run Time/Country: 20 min, USA

Synopsis: One day Hedy brings home a cuckoo clock to decorate the baby's room, unbeknownst that the cuckoo clock has the ability to love and hate just like humans. The cuckoo clock tests the couple's love by mimicking the presence of their deceased son. Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick.

Sereget (2018)

Director: Dempsey Tillman

Run Time/Country: 13 min, USA

Synopsis: An emotionally detached husband with a child on the way gets a rude awakening when aliens invade his home and target his family.

Diversion (2018)

Director: Mathieu Mégemont

Run Time/Country: 23 min, France

Synopsis: A small town journalist covering a case in the French countryside stops after running over a dog on the road and finds himself trapped in the stories he usually writes.

Simulation (2019)

Director: Hashem Al-Ghaili

Run Time/Country: 24 min, Germany

Synopsis: An advanced alien civilization builds a simulated reality where infinite beings, including humans, are imprisoned.

DreamLogic (2017)

Director: Rodolfo Rincones

Run Time/Country: 10 min, USA

Synopsis: An aimless man addicted to cyberspace connects with a hacker with plans of freeing people from virtual existence.

Post-Film Q&A:

Screenings will be followed by an in-depth discussion with filmmakers.

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