DUST Season 6, Episode 120: Deus Otiosus (The Idle God)

High Score

In a post-apocalyptic world, a man takes refuge in an arcade.

3 min

This is a Test

A man from another dimension loops through time in search of the ultimate answer, accompanied only by his unusual pets.

16 min

Pinki

On a back street, a scrap monster makes a sudden lunge at a man. A pink-haired girl helps him, and their future is down to whether he remembers her.

11 min

Here Comes Frieda

As yet another superstorm bears down on a desperate, weary city in the year 2040, a young woman seeks to redeem her winning sweepstakes ticket for a better life in a low Earth orbit paradise.

7 min

BYGONE

An old man, with a receding memory, pays to view synthetic recreations of his mother and childhood.

4 min

PIA

Can an android have feelings? Can true love be resurrected through technology after death? When a family in mourning encounters a mysterious wandering service android, the family is forced to redefine its conceptions of humanity, relationships, and family.

16 min

This Time Away

Nigel is an elderly man living as a recluse, haunted by his past and memory of the family he once had, until an unexpected visitor arrives and disrupts his lonely routine.

13 min

McPherson's Toys

Two anxious space couriers have to deliver an ominous package to an unfamiliar planet with unexpected results.

2 min

Protocole Sandwich

In a wild an inhabited desert, a team of rangers is in charge of rescuing people who got lost there.

5 min

Flyby

When a passing asteroid begins to affect how people perceive time, one man struggles to keep up with a life that is quickly disappearing into the future.

13 min

River

After disappearing for over a week, River tries to put her fragmented memory back together, while teetering on the brink of insanity and questioning what's real vs a dream.

16 min

A Robot is a Robot

A disabled robot war veteran finds its home among humans in the tender care of an old lady, and her hair salon for cats.

5 min

Kinetic

When Aunt Drea solicits her help with criminal activities, young Jess's emotions spin out of control, releasing powers she'd rather keep hidden.

5 min

LUVSIK

A man has a medical procedure done to experience love for the first time.

5 min

Unregistered

In a future world, restrictions on families create tension between lovers.

14 min

Real Connection

A self-conscious man tries to make a connection on a new dating app.

9 min

Best Friend

In a near future, a lonely man is addicted to a product called Best Friend which offers him perfect virtual friends.

5 min

Science+

When Matt accidentally shrinks himself and is captured by the ants whom he has unwittingly been squashing, he must find a way to escape their clutches and his impending death sentence.

11 min

I DREAM

In the future, dreams have been privatized. Carlos will risk anything to have one last dream to see his missing family.

14 min

Don't Forget To Remember

WARNING: Contains Flashing Lights

14 min

Burn Out

S​tella,​ ​a​ ​space​ ​mechanician,​ ​has​ ​broken​ ​down​ ​and​ ​ended​ ​on​ ​a​ ​desert​ ​planet.​ ​While​ ​she​ ​is​ ​in​ ​despair,​ ​a​ ​little​ ​girl appears​ ​out​ ​of​ ​nowhere.​ ​Following​ ​the​ ​child​ ​into​ ​a​ ​tunnel,​ ​in​ ​the​ ​depths​ ​of​ ​the​ ​planet,​ ​she​ ​discovers​ ​a​ ​big​ ​cave​ ​full​ ​of objects​ ​that​ ​belonged​ ​to​ ​her,​ ​reminding​ ​her​ ​the​ ​dreams​ ​she​ ​has​ ​left​ ​behind.

4 min

CARONTE

A self-absorbed teenager somehow contacts another universe after she's injured in a car accident.

14 min

The Big Nothing

When the captain of an isolated mining station near Saturn is murdered, Detective Lennox is sent to investigate the three remaining crew members. Centered around a series of interrogations and flashback, Lennox discovers that everyone has a motive to kill. With otherworldly threats approaching and the killer amongst them, will everybody make it off the station?

37 min

Camgirl

CONTENT WARNING: This film contains graphic depictions of self harm and suicide which may be extra sensitive for some viewers.

14 min

System Error

George works at a convenience store, desperately hoping for a friend. But George is a robotic service unit, and robotic service units do not have friends. Not yet, anyway.

13 min

Red Rover

CONTENT WARNING: This film contains depictions of suicide and may be sensitive for some viewers.

13 min

Ryoko's Qubit Summer

On the day of the apocalypse when the experimental world is about to be deleted, two girls, a human and an AI, fall in love.

16 min

How Is This The World

A mother befriends a burnt-out hacker to help search for her son in virtual reality.

13 min

FLOATERS

Even in the future, people are idiots, they're just in spaceships now.

4 min

New Mars

Earth is no more. A new generation lives underground on Mars preparing to begin a new life as the colonists of a planet which is being terraformed into a new habitable world.

19 min

The Workplace

You are very qualifiied.

9 min

The Beach House on Morro Lane

On a lazy Saturday morning, a young couple discusses their future, as one inexplicably tells the other that this is the moment that leads to their breakup.

10 min

LIMBO

One man's search for his kidnapped daughter causes his reality to unravel.

24 min

Muse

An artist turns to his android muse for help when trying to sell his newest paintings, but events take a dark and disturbing turn when the android learns what has inspired the work.

12 min

SEECHERS

Heavy dreamer, Aris Fletcher, has been initiated into the Seechers. After reading a forbidden text on how to enter the Subconscious World, Aris dabbles in his own powers, which puts his life in great danger.

17 min

EVA

In a future where climate change and pollution have caused humanity to adapt, a father plans a heist to steal a prototype water filtration device from a tech company founder to help his ailing daughter.

18 min

The Unboxing Video

Isolation is a tough time.

12 min

ADAM 2.0

Two friends take a high tech risk for the chance to talk to their best friend one more time.

11 min

Kālewa

In the future, a Hawaiian astronaut makes the next great leap for his planet, his family, and himself. Tonight is his last chance.

14 min

A Week With Rebecca

A robotics company executive pushes for the development of an android companionship model and unexpectedly spends a week with her.

28 min

No Guarantee

A couple living in the ruins of London 2056 must decide whether they should upload their consciousnesses into the mysterious Cloud 9.

5 min

Fenestra

A heartbroken woman must contend with a cheating boyfriend - and an incoming alien invasion.

3 min

The Bargain

Hired by a man who buys and sells time, a young bodyguard is torn between serving her master and fighting for the people he ruins with his power.

10 min

EDEN

A scavenger discovers a valuable artifact deep within an abandoned facility on a desolate planet. Hoping for a big payout, he ventures inside, only to find something much more sinister.

11 min

The Shipment

An ex-slave trader struggles to live a reformed life as a lowly interplanetary cargo hauler. Stranded and broke, he faces his dark past and difficult ethical choices in a desperate attempt to provide a better life for his daughter.

31 min

Dominant Species

10 aliens in human host bodies learn how to be men.

18 min

It's Okay

In this Black Mirror-esque tale, a couple revisit key moments of their past, only for their memories to take an unexpected turn.

8 min

ARK

Captain Mira Bernhard is finally home after a lengthy mission to the new planet, GAIA - humanity’s last hope. But what’s only been a 5-year trip for her, has been 45-year wait for her husband.

8 min

The Final Moments of Karl Brant

Set in the near future where experimental technology allows two detectives to bring a murder victim back to life in a digital state in order to question him about his final moments.

15 min

Boléro

In a future where telepaths are used by the government to monitor the public and root out insurgents, a non-speaking teen seeks to avenge her father by hunting down and killing the man responsible for his death.

17 min

Origin

An astronaut from an interstellar colony returns to Earth to determine why they lost contact.

12 min

ZOE

Zoe and her father have lived in space all their lives. The space station they call home is about to explode. Their only chance of survival is an old escape pod but there's only room for one.

4 min

Happy Hunting

Content Warning: This film contains depictions of suicide that may be disturbing for some viewers.

8 min

AUTONOMOUS

An animated cyberpunk thriller centered around a motorcycle gang of traffickers in a world of autonomous vehicles.Yuri and her brother Nyx face off against the Metro Task Force as they transport an important package to a client.

4 min

Speak Only Good of the Dead

A military supercomputer learns about poetry, love and fate.

19 min

H.appiness

An app designed to bring its users happiness helps a man build the perfect life, which he ends up destroying when he learns the app is faulty.

12 min

Alpha Squadron

A fighter pilot tries to keep his squad together.

9 min

Intelligentia

Lisa receives a butler A.I. to Turing test, and over the course of the procedure, she discovers the A.I. is not what it seems and her entire world disrupted.

11 min

Epoch

An astronaut faces his mortality and what defines him as a son, a father, a husband and a human being.

6 min

Ripple Effect

In a not so distant future- a coalition of the old earth’s nations have sought and claimed the discovery of a new planet “Gaia” as the human race’s last hope for survival. However, when the human settlements rolled in, what awaited them was neither discovery nor pioneering but colonization and war against the planet’s original inhabitants. With an increasingly militaristic government that demands the settlers’ sacrifice for the good of all, one family is torn apart when the eldest daughter, Ara, questions who the real bad guys are. At a time where mass think seems to be the safest option, Ripple Effect asks us if we’re brave enough to go against the grain, and at what cost?

7 min

Perfect Man

Set in the very near future, a virtual reality addicted girl must follow a government mandate to remove her VR headset for 3 hours. When her dismal reality sets in, she goes online and orders Perfect Man: a robotic humanoid love companion.

8 min

Dispel

Young Lizzie must battle the monster that has possessed her mother, using the wisdom of her TV hero, Celeste Skygoode.

12 min

Liminal

A scientist on a secret experiment to teleport humans grapples with a dire mistake.

6 min

Laura & Vineta

A potato farmer connects with the injured alien that crash-landed in his field, much to the chagrin of the local authorities.

19 min

Floreana

On a remote island in the future, people are training for an important mission. Take a look at the mechanics of this training facility and the creatures within.

4 min

2 Bullet Solution

3 Test Subjects, 2 Bullets, 1 Solution.

3 min

STUCK

In a large space mining colony, Eve has to pass the most difficult test of all. With only one free hand and unable to use her emergency thrusters, she will have to do everything possible to survive.

14 min

The Shaman

The dark year 2204, in a world that has seen 73 years of continuous war. A Shaman is sent on a mission to convert the soul of a giant battle colossus.

16 min

E-X-T

200 years after humanity has abandoned the real world for a digital one, the system's most talented security agent is forced out of retirement to recruit and lead a team of talented warriors to eliminate a threat from a world no one has seen for centuries. The real world.

7 min

MUFFIN

Willing to pay the price for a new, fancy life, a man stops his car in the middle of nowhere and forces his father out, leaving him all alone in the woods, Haunted by his regrets, he then tries to cancel the agreement and bring his father back.

15 min

Tales from the Multiverse

God is a single parent and amateur programmer. He's working on project 'Earth' but never seems to get a break from the kids. One day though, he finally gets a breakthrough.

7 min

Extent

Time stands still as two old friends attempt to grapple with a question that defines their very existence. If you could live forever, would you?

12 min

Merv

After the end of the world, Merv's life in the lonely wastes is comfortably boring until an unexpected signal heralds the coming of a stranger.

13 min

Rocket Roaches

When the diligent cockroaches build a rocket to fly to the moon, they accidentally wake up one of the last humans from his virtual dreams.

9 min

OUTCAST

A former super soldier with chronic asthma fights to prove his worth.

12 min

ROAM: Rider Of Another Mortal

In a world where the wealthy are inhabiting the bodies of the young, a teenager raises an underground resistance to fight back and reclaim what's hers.

16 min

Flotando

A Russian astronaut wakes up after an accident to discover he's stranded on a space station module, but when a strange visitor arrives he begins to wonder if he's losing his mind.

7 min

Imaginary Friend

Helen, a lonely and isolated woman, is given the opportunity to connect with people from her past using a new augmented reality device.

15 min

Kernel

When the world has been pushed past breaking point, an aging neurobotanist collects and preserves what little of value remains.

5 min

Better Than Neil Armstrong

Four kids start their journey to the moon with the mission of finding a mysterious place called The Redland but the gates of Redland are being guarded by a mischievous snake.

20 min

Code_Switch

Content Warning: This film contains depictions of gun violence that may be disturbing for some viewers.

16 min

Down To Earth

Three young misfits venture into the Australian outback to find what they believe is a meteorite that has crash landed near their country town, only to discover it's something far more mysterious.

9 min

Afterimages

12 min

Lifeline

A nervous job candidate is forced to show much more than a positive attitude to save the life of her competitor.

7 min

Shehr e Tabassum

In 2071 Pakistan, citizens are mandated by law to smile at all times, holding together a tenuous peace after three decades of civil war. But at what cost?

7 min

Untitled Earth Sim 64

A woman is faced with existential crisis after learning that the universe is an untitled simulation.

6 min

Beachworld

Federation Officer Shapiro crash-lands on a desert planet with no sign of water, life, or a way off. Her crew-mate Rand is no help, resigned to his fate on the hypnotic alien dunes. Locating the ship's emergency beacon is their only hope, but when a salvage crew answers their distress signal, it's already too late.

14 min

Bliss is Orange

Claire's world is turned upside down when the chip implanted in her wrist notifies her that the love of her life is a nearby stranger.

6 min

Robu

On a quest to find the comic book he’s been searching for his entire life, an adventurous 17 year-old travels to Tokyo and discovers a world in which Japanese comics are real and that he’s one of the main characters.

18 min

Robert

A humble domestic servant awaits the return of his loved ones...

3 min

Soulmate

Set in the near future, a thirteen-year-old girl plays a deadly game of cat and mouse in a world where overpopulation has caused for a desperate law that forces citizens to kill their designated 'Soulmate'.

15 min

Burnt Grass

A couple's relationship takes an unexpected turn when a strange phenomenon in their backyard allows cloning to take place.

9 min

VOYAGER

A shooting star falls down over the Arctic island of Svalbard and The Global Seed Vault gets an unexpected visitor.

7 min

Satisfaction Guaranteed

A lonely 50s housewife undertakes radical atomic surgery to win back her husband's wandering eyes and to become the perfect wife in the process.

12 min

L'homme est le seul oiseau qui porte sa cage

A cold world. Individuals whose head is replaced by cages with a balloon pass by each other in the streets of an immense city. All these individuals look alike and live in a standardized way.

12 min

Hey, It's Me.

A selfish man tries to alter his destiny when he receives an ominous phone call from his future self.

11 min

Disembodies

A lovelorn underdog buys a novelty meteorite as part of a romantic gesture to win his ex back, but when the mysterious gift proves to have a mind of its own, he must purge himself of the parasitic entity before it consumes him.

7 min

The Mailbox

An American Chinese immigrant makes contact with his grandson in the future via a mailbox. Together they have to deal with their mutual enemies.

17 min

The Edge

In a near future, in the heart of a forest in the North where anarchy reigns, a young girl Hawa and her father live as refugees along with other survivors.

14 min

Cera

An 11-year old girl’s loyalty to her parents is tested after an attack by her caregiver hints to a greater violent upheaval beyond their rural surroundings.

7 min

The Indigo Child: Prologue: Cycle 8

Moments before her son Satv'k's retrieval by the state, Parser makes one last attempt at bolstering his faith in the fabled Indigo Child."

14 min

My House

A family game night turns ugly when a protective mother, desperate to keep her turn in the game a secret, is forced to commit a heinous act that holds a troubling, family-shattering secret.

9 min

Time Enforcer

A Time Enforcer must stop illegal time travel at any cost.

10 min

Cosmo

Jane Montana, a rough and tough law-woman, is in a pickle. A gang of outlaws led by a man named Buford has kidnapped a helpless damsel. Worse, Jane has two bullets and three bad guys to confront.

6 min

CYBOLICA

Three inmates awaken in a subterranean prison and must set aside their differences in order to escape, but things become complicated when a genetically modified creature breaches containment.

10 min

Ava In The End

After tripping over her dog and dying, a young woman wakes up in a virtual purgatory and waits for her mind to be downloaded into a new body.

9 min

Oblivio

An accidental encounter with an uninvited guest disrupts Alice's life. As her husband Tom's hidden secret gradually surfaces, Alice finds herself one of the bio-mechanical substitutes of his deceased wife.

11 min

Call The Sandman

Izumi Ishimoto and Alex Morales were once in love and now cannot forget each other twenty years later. Now 20 years have passed and they have moved on with their lives, but so has the world. Set in a boring and bureaucratic version of NYC, Izumi and Alex go about their mundane existences while quietly refusing to give into mandates of the new dystopian society – namely undergoing a surgical treatment that renders the brain incapable of dreaming. A mysterious company called the Sandman Corp., led by the equally enigmatic Dr. Esperanza Haddid, who boldly claims to have developed a technology to create alternate realities or dreams by scanning people’s’ memories. The opportunity to reconnect with each other is a temptation the two haven’t felt in years.

13 min

The Lonely Orbit

Leaving for his dream job, a satellite technician keeps solitude at bay by constantly texting with his old friends. After neglecting his duties a satellite leaves its orbit which causes the worlds network to collapse.

9 min

SKIP

Tonight, Paul pops the question to Amanda. Everything is perfect, then suddenly - chaos. Now the couple find themselves stuck between two worlds. Desperate to be free, they try everything they can to escape... Will they succeed?

11 min

Life Support

A seeker finds himself distressed by his dependencies and is constantly searching for a way to survive without his life support.

6 min

Instant Doctor

Did you ever wonder what will the future of health-care hold? How will advances in medical A.I. change our lives? Will algorithms eclipse doctors entirely? We hope not. Instant Doctor is a short film to show appreciation for doctors and health-care human workers everywhere.

6 min

Infinity 7

An astronaut travels through space alone and may be stranded in orbit forever due to his spacecraft malfunctioning.

11 min

Résistance

Dominated by an Insect's totalitarian regime, the staff of a restaurant organizes a plot to knock down the established order.

6 min

Jeff Drives You

A lonely gay man falls in love with an artificially intelligent car over the course of a road trip.

16 min

Tethers

A woman travels in time to save another woman's life but the risk could be far reaching for her own reality.

5 min

Penumbra

When Dori's sister Fae returns from a recovery center, Dori begins to suspect someone is stalking her. But what's coming for them is not of this world.

14 min

Vessel

Two lonely romantics go to absurd lengths to be anyone but themselves.

8 min

Swipe Up, Vivian!

Two agoraphobic women find love via a virtual dating app.

13 min

Zelos

A competitive mother orders a clone to outshine her flawless friend, but soon realizes she purchased an unbeatable rival.

13 min

Kepler X-47

A woman struggles to adjust to her new life in a human zoo exhibit on an alien planet.

11 min

The Trap

A man tries to convince his skeptical friend that he has invented a trap for catching extraterrestrials.

5 min

The Chef

In the near future, when all workers are replaced by humanoids, a Chinese chef, Pu, is ordered to pass on his cooking skills to a humanoid robot, William, and teach him Chinese cooking.

18 min

Tabula Rasa

Desperate to escape from the mysterious house she's trapped in, a young woman learns that her only way out is by feeding a young, innocent girl to the house.

8 min

Ikarus

After her brother is fatally wounded, a naïve but ambitious scavenger, must learn to shoot down a futuristic military drone while avoiding a vicious group of hunters, in order to obtain life saving antibiotics before her brother succumbs to infection.

19 min

Like Us

A lonely woman who takes care of her paralyzed husband saves an alien who cannot experience emotions. As she tries to teach it what it’s like to be human, she discovers that feelings can be misleading.

17 min

Critical Component

A short film about a young robot with a defective part, trying to find their way in the world.

6 min

Human Resources of Ugago

Dave is annoyed the annoyingly exuberant team spirit of his robot colleagues

10 min

Aftermath

A desperately seeking outlander stumbles across a mysterious, reclusive hermit who may hold the secret that could change a lost world.

9 min

RECURSION

Space Vessel Iris and its crew encounter a troubling discovery as they embark to what they believe to be an uninhabited planet.

9 min

The Emissary

Liv Laika embarks on a solitary mission to a distant planet in search of her ancestors who fled the earth nearly a century prior. After days of radio silence, Liv begins to question whether or not they even want to be found.

20 min