Other Worlds Film Fest Returns For Ninth and Final Festival

Austin’s Other Worlds Film Festival’s newly announced lineup of feature films will shine brighter than ever in December in a final supernova for its ninth and final film festival.

The kugelblitz of a fest opens with the world premiere of The Tomorrow Job, director Bruce Wemple’s feature about a drug-induced, consciousness-bending heist to steal the future’s secrets.

If you smell a whiff of specialty track Under World’s scent wafting off the first wave of programming, it’s not just you: Several titles announced today can be filed under horror sci-fi, including the U.S. premiere of Dark Nature, a film about a therapy group’s hike full of monster and emotional attacks.

The festival runs at longtime home, the Galaxy Highland, Dec. 1-4, and will include a diverse group of sci-fi films themed from family to thriller. Badges are available for purchase online and jump from $145 to $175 after Nov. 1.

In an Oct. 12 press release, Other Worlds Creative and Executive Director Bears Rebecca Fonte shed light on the decision to retire the festival after this year.

“The last two years of pandemic have been very difficult on smaller organizations, especially those with little to no city support,” the founder said in the release. “And now that people are going out again, they seem to have very different priorities than they did in 2019, and we don’t have the budget to get their attention back.”

Not every atom of Other Worlds will blast off lightyears away – in 2021, Fonte became Artistic Director at the All Genders, Lifestyles and Identities Film Festival, aka aGLIFF, Austin’s long-running LGBTQ+ festival (in fact, the oldest film festival in Austin).

“Other Worlds has always been a tenuous endeavor,” said Fonte, “an all-volunteer dream team I was lucky enough to convince to climb aboard our starship headed for the skies with nothing but the joy of festival attendees to fuel the throttle. I do think this lineup is looking like one of the strongest we’ve ever had, and a fitting final edition.”

See below for Other Worlds’ description of announced programming.

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THE TOMORROW JOB
Director: Bruce Wemple
A team of thieves use a drug that allows them to trade consciousnesses with their future-selves in order to steal tomorrow's secrets.

BEYOND TOMORROW
Director: Brett Ryan Bonowicz
In 1964, a GE space artist illustrated a book called Beyond Tomorrow: The Next 50 Years in Space. The unforgettable images in that book shaped how Americans imagined their own futures in space, inspired generations of space artists, and influenced films from Future Shock (1972) to Interstellar (2014).

BRIGHTWOOD
Director: Dane Elcar
A couple find themselves trapped while on a run around a pond.

DARK NATURE
Director: Berkley Brady
The story of a therapy group that is forced to confront the monsters of their past when an isolated weekend retreat tests their emotional resilience and ability to survive.

ECHELON
Director: Crash Buist
When infected terrorists from Earth aim to dismantle a space-faring corporate empire, a hacker-for-hire must rescue the CEO's daughter who's caught in the crossfire.

GIVE ME AN A
Directors:
Hannah Alline (segment "Hold Please")
Avital Ash (segment "God's Plan")
Bonnie Discepolo (segment "DTF")
Loren Escandon (segment "The Last Store")
Valerie Finkel (segment "Crucible Island")
Natasha Halevi (segment "Abigail, The Cheerleaders")
Caitlin Josephine Hargraves (segment "Sweetie")
Danin Jacquay (segment "Good Girl")
Sarah Kopkin (segment "The Walk")
Francesca Maldonado (segment "Traditional")
Kelly Nygaard (segment "Vasectopia")
Megan Rosati (segment "Plan C")
Mary C. Russell (segment "Crone")
Monica Suriyage (segment "mediEVIL")
Megan Swertlow (segment "The Voiceless")
Erica Mary Wright (segment "Our Precious Babies")
Expands the importance of bodily autonomy and addresses the issues of a democracy that does not protect the needs of the majority of the population.

HAVE HOLD TAKE
Director: D.C. Hamilton
On their wedding night, Vincent brings his wife Erica to the home he built for them, tailored to perfection for the couple and ideal to begin a new life together. However, Erica quickly learns that the husband she thinks she married is not who he seems and has a different definition of "A perfect life together."

POLARIS
Director: Kirsten Carthew
A young girl raised by a polar bear pursues her destiny after escaping capture by brutal warriors intent on killing her mother.

SCARE PACKAGE 2: RAD CHAD’S REVENGE
Directors:
Aaron B. Koontz (segment "We're So Dead")
Alexandra Barreto (segment "Welcome to the 90s")
Anthony Cousins (segment "The Night He Came Back Again! Part VI: The Night She Came Back")
Jed Shepherd (segment "Special Edition")
Rachele Wiggins (segment "We're So Dead")
When horror guru Rad Chad Buckley's funeral turns into an elaborate series of hilarious death traps, the guests must band together and use the rules of horror to survive the bloody game.

TIMESCAPE
DIRECTOR: ARISTOMENIS TSIRBAS
Two young strangers discover a mysterious spacecraft that catapults them millions of years into the past.