2026 Official Selection: Short Film – SciFi

When a middle-aged UberEats driver convinces a documentary crew to film his reunion with his long lost extraterrestrial family, a decades old conspiracy theory is put to the test.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Cesar Cervantes
• Writer(s): Haohan Ding, Cesar Cervantes
• Producer(s): Zoe Tamara
• Key Cast: Ron Song, Luke Barnett
• Editor(s): Abbi Jutkowitz
• Cinematographer(s): Henry Yin
• Production Designer(s): Rixi Xinrui Liu
• Sound Designer(s): Deanna Fielding
• Composer(s): Joe Chris

Language: English

Runtime: 16m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Kevin Chen has spent his life convinced he’s an alien stranded on Earth. When he receives an email from his supposed “family” promising to pick him up in a flying Honda Odyssey, Kevin invites a documentary crew to film the reunion.

Despite everyone’s suspicion that he’s being scammed, Kevin leads the crew into the Angeles National Forest with $3,000 already sent for "space gas."

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Source: SOFF

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

Two strangers imagine their lives together upon seeing each other at a party.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Steven Soria
• Writer(s): Steven Soria
• Producer(s): Rachel Leyco, Shea William Vanderpoort, Alpha Faye
• Key Cast: Rachel Leyco, Yssamei, Matt Groove

Language: English

Runtime: 11m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Two strangers imagine their lives together upon seeing each other at a party.

Click here to watch the trailer →

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Source: SOFF

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Arthouse/Experimental

Two women in mirrored routines find within the rhythm of repetition a moment of unspoken connection.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Tina Salmassi, Erica Scandariato
• Writer(s): Tina Salmassi, Erica Scandariato
• Producer(s): Erick Samayoa, Jennifer Blair, Tina Salmassi, Erica Scandariato
• Key Cast: Julia Wilde, Tanya Raisa, Patrick McDermott, Marcus Khachikian
• Editor(s): Lilit Aloyan
• Cinematographer(s): Guy Pooles
• Production Designer(s): Kenneth Cran
• Sound Designer(s): Matt Harting
• Composer(s): Matt Harting

Language: English

Runtime: 9m

Country: United States

Synopsis: One woman folds paper; the other folds towels. The Phenomenal Nothing explores the unlikely connection between two women on seemingly opposite life paths. A meditation on time, its repetition, rhythm, and quiet grip on our daily lives, the film asks whether time is a straight line or an endless cycle. Rinse and repeat. As routine slowly blurs individuality, these mirrored, meditative gestures open a space for something more: recognition, connection, and perhaps transcendence.

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Source: SOFF

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – SciFi

In judgement, we are whole

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Liam J Collins
• Writer(s): Rosalie Lyons
• Producer(s): Matthew Ciancarelli
• Key Cast: Bill Welden, Crystal Porter Bazemore, Jeff Gendelman, Eric Toms, Bella Edelmann, Theodore Mark Martinez
• Editor(s): Gianni Gibbs
• Cinematographer(s): Jackson Burns
• Production Designer(s): Alanis Rosa
• Sound Designer(s): Tavin McAllister
• Composer(s): Connor Low

Language: English

Runtime: 15m

Country: United States

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: In a world where each dying human must sit on a trial to determine which digital afterlife they will reside in, aging politician Simon Peterson must make a case for his consciousness to be uploaded to the artificial heaven instead of hell.

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Source: SOFF