![THE NUN, gets into the habit of scaring viewers [REVIEW]](https://watchplayread.com/wp-content/themes/_patterns/timthumb.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwatchplayread.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2018%2F09%2FTHE-NUN.jpg&q=90&w=60&h=55&zc=1 "THE NUN, gets into the habit of scaring viewers [REVIEW]")
![The Shape of Water is Brilliant and Beautiful [Review]](https://watchplayread.com/wp-content/themes/_patterns/timthumb.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwatchplayread.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2017%2F12%2Fthe-shape-of-water-SOW_Embrace_1Sheet_27x40_Sepia_FIN2_ONLINE_4R_HalfSize210_rgb.jpg&q=90&w=60&h=55&zc=1 "The Shape of Water is Brilliant and Beautiful [Review]")
The Ninth Annual Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Film Festival
Once again, SFFSFF was amazing! Saturday, January 11, 2014 was the Ninth Annual Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Film Festival presented by EMP Museum and SIFF. “SFFSFF,” as it is commonly referred to, draws a sold-out crowd to the Cinerama every year. The film festival is so popular that SIFF has added an encore showing of the festival winners for those unable nab a ticket for the event.
The festival is a juried competition and three films are selected for a prizes. One film is selected for the Douglas Trumbull Award for best special effects. The audience also gets to do a popular vote for Audience Favorite award. (Tip to future entrants, this audience likes to laugh. You make that crowd laugh repeatedly and you get the votes.)
You can see the full list of entries, find out more about the films, and see filmmaker info on the EMP Museum website. Here is the list of this year’s the winners with the trailer or film:
3rd Place Louder, Please from Lena Tsodykovskaya, USA
2nd Place Night Giant from Aaron Beckum, Canada
Grand Prize Sleepworking from Gavin Williams, UK
Select Shorts:
This year the Douglas Trumbull Award for Best Special Effects winner was Voice Over from Martin Rosete of Spain.
And the Audience Favorite was RPG OKC from Emily Carmichael of the USA. This link will take to the entire film. It is a hilarious look at dating in the 8-bit world and well worth your time.
My pick for the audience favorite was Honeymoon Suite from Zao Wang (USA). It is a tender tale of a hotel concierge and a regular guest that requires some very specific care and feeding.
All the filmmakers deserve loads of applause for the tremendous effort that went into producing such high quality films. Night Giant with it’s nods to classic films and the Twilight Zone was one of my favorites, but I want to call out a few others that made an impression on me.
The Magic Salmon from Andrew Struthers (Canada) was awesome, hilarious, and bizarre. It features a talking salmon and many, many skeletons. Genius! I so wish this was available on the web. Not only do I want to share it, but I just want to watch again and again and again.
Shift from Juan Carlos Zaldivar (USA) was so poetic and beautiful. Plus, I am a sucker for any film with a dog—even when it steals a character’s face.
Emit from JS Mayank (USA) made my head hurt it a good way. Time flows backwards with some interesting and disturbing results.
Red Summer from Vanessa McMeekin (USA) presented a tale of two brothers and a family trying to maintain a normal existence as long as they can in the English countryside.
The SFFSFF never fails to disappoint in quality and variety of films. If you live in the Seattle metro area and love sci-fi or are into film, you can’t afford to miss this event or the encore show in 2015. It is just that good. Reply in the comments if you have something similar in your town. I might start traveling for these events.
