DUST Season 1, Episode 30: State Zero

Similo

Zac & Mac’s “Similo” gives us a glimpse into a future that offers robots as romantic partners.

The iMom

Ariel Martin’s “iMom” takes our culture’s habit of “other-mothering” and scrutinizes it with terrifying accuracy.

13 min

The Decelerators

Mark Slutsky’s sci-fi short film “The Decelerators” explores what happens when a group of ambitious friends create a machine that allows its user to linger forever in a moment of happiness. As they each take turns removing themselves from the stream of time, they quickly realize that without each other they will run out of opportunities to use the machine.

5 min

Rise

This is the dark conclusion that humans have reached in David Karlak’s short film “Rise.” In the near future, robots have developed advanced emotional sophistication and their human creators don’t like it. What should have been a simple and violent extermination of artificial life proves harder when a captured robot demonstrates that the human aggressors are biting off more than they can chew.

6 min

The Candidate

The story follows a secret society whose purpose is to find people who don’t deserve to live and to kill them with their thoughts. The tension between the pessimistic protagonist and the liaison of the secret society comes to a head in a riveting twist.

20 min

From the Future with Love

Capitalism and justice are ugly partners. That’s the thesis of K-Michel Parandi’s “From the Future with Love.” This bleak short film explores a world where police now work for privatized agencies that offer different levels of protection depending on how much you pay.

12 min

Lunar

A life sentence regardless of the crime. A destitute Earth stricken with hunger and crime. A planet where the smallest of infractions can result in the gravest of consequences. Tyson Johnston’s LUNAR makes the last frontier a one-way ticket to a hellish nightmare for Earth’s convicts they can no longer support. Taken from their homes to the Lunar penitentiary, these men with a penchant for breaking the law find themselves on a moon that thrives of the absence of justice. The new wild west, where there is no law and their fate is determined at the hands of a government where there’s no one to account for their actions. But one man may have found a way for their voices to be heard. A way to escape and tell the people of his home planet of the atrocities they’ve been subject to. A way to seek justice for the harrowing sentence he’s been dealt and if justice can’t be found, revenge.

7 min

R'ha

R’Ha, directed by Kaleb Lechowski, is a fight for survival in a solar system where no one can be trusted. A civil war started by subversives they could have never seen coming. A group of fighters, relentless in their quest to protect their planets will do everything in their power to emerge the victorious underdog against an enemy that appears to always be two steps ahead.

6 min

No-A

Stuck right in the middle of chaos with no explanation. But no explanation is needed. Liam Murphy's No-A communicates everything we need to know about its main characters through wordless action. The end result is an empathetic and poignant short fueled by a robot’s love for its creator and its willingness to pay the ultimate sacrifice to save this girl from harm.

4 min

I Killer

Francesco Calabrese’s short “I Killer” explores what happens when you pick the wrong crowd to fit in with. The short follows two young boys as they follow through with a terrifying gang initiation process. You’ll have to see for yourself how this heart wrenching short ends.

10 min

Isolated

After finding himself in a wrecked taxi, Evan tries to figure out the pieces of the puzzle, while dealing with a dangerous threat, in a seemingly deserted city.

6 min

Lovely Monster

Francesco Calabrese’s “Lovely Monster” narrates the unique challenges faced by a girl with an incurable and frightening condition. The simple short follows a documentary crew as they interview various figures in her life.

5 min

Telescope

Earth as we know and love it may become a thing of the past. That’s the starting premise of Collin Davis’s “Telescope.” This thoughtfully crafted short film follows a brave cosmic archaeologist as he travels back in time to capture photos of the once vibrant planet.

9 min

9 Minutes

9 Minutes is a tense science fiction thriller set in the middle of the desert. As this darkly atmospheric short progresses, this man and his dog are paid by a visit by unwelcome extraterrestrial guests. The encounter is sudden and terrifying. When the man comes to, he is unnerved by the footage captured by his phone.

13 min

Lost Memories

Paris, 2020. A beautiful couple, a city over-saturated by holograms and digital stream. A polaroid camera. Tomorrow will never be the same.

3 min

Lost Memories 2.0

The "Cloud" collapsed and destroyed all the digital data in the world a few years ago in an electromagnetic storm. Since that moment, the world has been slowly recovering. A.D. is now A.C. ("After Cloud.") In an ultra-connected world filled with hyper connected people, how do you find your one true love, who remains off-line?

14 min

Wire Cutters

A chance encounter proves fateful for 2 robots mining on a desolate planet.

9 min

Never Happened

When colleagues Laura and Grady have an impulsive fling on a business trip, they decide it might be for the best if it all just never happened.

9 min

Strings

Strings is an action short about a captive woman who is kept sedated for a very good reason. She is extremely valuable, and the battle to free her will determine her fate.

5 min

ANA

A film based in a world where the singularity is near through the development of ANA, a management software, used to increase productivity. ANA follows the sole worker in a futuristic car manufacturing plant, as ANA tricks him into giving her total control.

5 min

XVOID

DUST is celebrating Halloween by presenting three horror sci-fi short films this week! The first film is "xVoid" from Writer / Producer / Director Meny Hilsenrad. A stunning experiment with setting and creature effects.

3 min

CLICK

DUST is celebrating Halloween by presenting three horror sci-fi short films this week! The second film is "CLICK" from Writer / Direcor William Prince, Producer Catherine Jeffrey, and Executive Producers Tony Dixon & Kate O'Hara. A group of kids goofing off begin disappearing one by one from a locked room.

13 min

THE CLOUD

DUST is celebrating Halloween by presenting three horror sci-fi short films this week! Our final film in the series is “THE CLOUD” from Director Alfonso Garcia, Writer Vincent Blonde, and Starring Martjin Kuiper. This intense short will have you wondering how much power you should give the technology you use to help run your life.

6 min

Hyper-Reality

Keiichi Matsuda's "Hyper-Reality" takes a look at what life could be like for people in a world altered by augmented reality. Does the technology help your life or trap you in a lonely virtual prison full of clutter and confusion?

7 min

Glow

In the middle of nowhere in a small motel a mysterious trio's arrival comes with strange electrical phenomena. What are they waiting for, and what will the suspicious motel owner do about it?

15 min

Falling Apart

2nd place winner at the 2013 Sci-Fi London 48 Hour Film Challenge. Written, shot, edited and scored in less than 48 hours.The filmmakers were given a random title ("FALLING APART"), a random line of dialogue ("Fame is fleeting, baby, but legends live forever") and a random prop/action (A mug of steaming liquid - a character sniffs the hot liquid and pours it away), and then had 48 hours to write a script with those elements, shoot it, edit it, grade it, score it, sound design it, export it and deliver it in person at the London BFI. A stunning result that DUST is honored to present here.

5 min

Where the Shadows Fall

In a sparse post-apocalyptic world a man's grief leads him on a path towards danger and disappointment.

13 min

The Fisherman

In a diverse eco-system of mollusc like creatures, a late devoted scientist of these life forms has passed his life’s work on to his daughter, along with his most prized discovery.

5 min

Urbance

In a future where sex kills and interaction between men and women is strictly regulated what will people risk to feel the pleasure of real intimate human contact?

7 min

Grounded

An astronaut survives falling to an unknown planet after a nearly fatal crash but he's not the only one there. Is he in some sort of crazy halucination or did he really awaken next to his own dead body?

7 min

The Gate

As a spiritual war is brewing one woman must fight to save her sister's soul.

9 min

Time

If time travel became possible and you could go back to leave yourself a message, what would that message be?

7 min

The Brain Hack

Two film students set out to document their attempt to use science to communicate with god. Have their experiments made them crazy or have they truly found the answer?

18 min

Blood Ties

Some fears are too close to home. A young girl must find the strength to face the demon that haunts her.

4 min