FRIDAY

5:15 PM – Doors Open

6 PM – Short Block #1
Introductions,

Мы это Мир – We are One World – Yuri Gagarin view on the world
5 min – Germany
The movie compares documentary and fiction elements to show the struggle of unification of mankind in the moment when the the first human was able to see the whole earth at once.

EDGE OF SPACE – 18 Min
Switzerland & USA
Set in 1961, during the height of the US-Soviet space race, an ambitious USAF test pilot is recruited by NASA for a daring suborbital mission in an X-15 hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft with astronomical implications. Inspired by actual historical events.
#hyperrealism

Invasion ’53 – 10 min – Comedy
USA
A man-eating alien crashes a suburban cocktail party.

Good Boy, Fox – 5 min
Kentucky, USA
When an alien reaches out to humanity through a portable television, a housecat named Fox answers the call. But as the alien interviews him, Fox realizes his answers may determine the fate of the entire planet.

Man in the Mountain – 30 min
California, USA
For generations, a family has been protecting secrets of alien encounters on family owned land. Now, in recent times, a scientist looks into them with historical evidence.

Short block Ends 7:16 PM

7:20 PM Panel: The Science Behind Science Fiction – 45 min

What happens when the dreams of science fiction become the blueprints of real-world innovation? In The Science Behind Science Fiction, geoscientists and science fiction filmmakers come together to explore how speculative storytelling not only reflects scientific curiosity—but often drives it.

From space travel to artificial intelligence, terraforming to quantum computing, sci-fi has long served as a testing ground for ideas that were once considered impossible. This panel dives into classic and contemporary examples where fiction predicted—or inspired—technological breakthroughs.

But with discovery comes responsibility. As boundaries of exploration shift, what ethical questions arise? Should we pursue every scientific possibility just because we can? And how can science fiction help us imagine futures that are not only advanced, but just and sustainable?

Join us for an engaging discussion where fact meets fiction, and where yesterday’s science fiction may become tomorrow’s science.

8:25 PM – Feature Film Block – Space Detective
Two shorts, that plays with the feature film.

iListen – 13 min – Comedy, Hilarious
Los Angeles, California, USA
An idyllic couple is torn apart by the man’s desires for modern technology but with a comedic twist in the end everyone gets what they deserve.

Lab Rats – 18 min – Comedy
California, USA
A man finds himself in cage, like a lab rat. The most recent abductee of a prolonged alien invasion. There he joins a woman, a day-one abductee, long consigned to the mind altering drugs given to her by their alien overlords. Together, they must decide whether or not to succumb to being pets or face the absurd horror of their reality and find a way to escape the lab.

Space Detective, 72 min – Science Fiction Crime Drama
Nevada, USA
An exiled space detective returns to help an old flame but finds himself tangled in a web of interstellar intrigue, galactic gangsters, and a sinister scheme that threatens the fate of the entire galaxy!
#bladerunner #starwars #startrek

10:15 PM – The Outer Rim Cosplay Networker
Come in uniform or costume. Meet like minded SciFi folks and filmmakers.

11:00 PM – Doors Close until 11 AM Saturday

Beat the rush, join the wait list and get a discount too

SATURDAY

11:00 AM Doors Open

11:05 AM – Feature # 2 – Small Town Universe
One short, that plays with the feature film.

Social Spheres – 4 min – Animation
Michigan, USA
What happens when our online communities, our social spheres, consume too much of our time? This short animation considers that very question in a ludicrous, but beautiful, manner.

Small Town Universe – 90 min 
West Virginia, USA
Small Town Universe paints an intimate portrait of life in Green Bank, West Virginia, home to the world’s most sensitive radio telescope and the only U.S. town that bans Wi-Fi and cell phones. In this unplugged Appalachian community, scientists are on the hunt for signs of extraterrestrial life while residents experience everyday moments of joy and loss. But when government defunding threatens the telescope’s future, the town must consider which connections matter most.

1:10 PM – Feature # 3 – ReEntry
One short, that plays with the feature film.

The Artifact – 11 min 
Germany
A young woman finds an alien artifact at an asteroid crash site and gains powers from it to defend herself against a stalker. Our film The Artifact is an exciting blend of science fiction and horror.

Saturday 1:10 PM ReEntry – 95 min 
Connecticut, USA

A romantic sci-fi drama about a woman whose husband disappears in a scientific experiment, only to return a year later.
When she discovers that he’s from a parallel dimension, she must decide whether to love the man who is 99% of the husband she married, or hold out hope for her true love. – Review

3:45 PM – Feature # 4 – The Batu Project: Adam the First

3:45 PM Saturday The Batu Project: Adam The First – 79 min 
First SciFi Feature Film from Ghana
Filmmakers and Crew in attendance
Tasked with finding a new home for mankind, following the destruction of earth by nuclear war, Adam finds himself not only on an alien planet, but faced with threats he cannot fathom. Mankind’s first immigrant on this alien world could be the last.
Hollywood Reporter Review
ITEdgeNews Review

Saturday 5:55 PM Panel # 3
Title: Awakening the Algorithm: AI, Storytelling, and the New Divide

Description:
As artificial intelligence reshapes the future of filmmaking, we stand at a pivotal crossroads: will it broaden access to storytelling or reinforce the very barriers it promises to break? Awakening the Algorithm is a bold conversation at the intersection of technology, creativity, and equity.

This panel explores how AI tools—from script generators to digital character creation—are empowering new voices, enabling low-budget creators to build worlds once reserved for major studios. At the same time, we confront the ethical dilemmas and social risks: the replication of bias, the erasure of human labor, and the exploitation of digital likenesses that blur the line between homage and harm.

Join filmmakers, ethicists, technologists, and activists as they debate the algorithm’s dual nature: a bridge to inclusive storytelling—or a machine learning mirror that reflects our deepest inequities. Can AI become a true creative ally—or is it just another system needing a conscience?

This is not just a tech panel—it’s a cultural reckoning.

Saturday 7:05 PM
The Eagle Obsession – 87 min – SciFi Documentary
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

THE EAGLE OBSESSION is a cinematic odyssey by filmmaker Jeffrey Morris, exploring how the Apollo program and visionary science fiction of the 1960s and ’70s inspired a generation of thinkers, dreamers, and creators. At the center of the film is the Eagle Transporter—the fictional spacecraft from SPACE: 1999 that served as a symbol of bold, reasoned, humanistic futures.

Saturday, 9:20 PM Special Screening – Journey to Planet X – 76 min 
Miami, Florida
Cast and filmmakers in attendance 

Eric Swain and Troy Bernier are scientists by day and amateur filmmakers by night. These two friends have worked together for years – turning out sci-fi inspired tales of their own creation. Journey to Planet X follows the filming of Planet X, the duo’s most ambitious endeavor to date, and sheds light on their own unique brand of ‘movie magic.’

 Review: Screen Anarchy
Review: Backstage

SUNDAY

11:00 AM Doors Open

11:35 AM Short Film Block #2
A collection of short films.

Eureka! – 10 min
Belgium

An extra-terrestrial duo crosses the universe to share technological insights with less brilliant minds.
On one peculiar planet, things don’t quite go as planned.

Transitory – 7 min
New Zealand
It’s 2022, and Sophie and her boyfriend thought it would be fun to try out the mechanics of time-travel. But the waitstaff at the Scrawny Old Cock & Hogg in 1600 AD London, aren’t so sure about their new arrival and it could just be time for another witch trial.

The Monster Man – 30 min – SciFi Documentary
United Kingdom

There are many talented designers in the world creating the diverse and incredible range of alien creatures and monsters we see in top films and television series.

But there are few experts, very few, who are dedicated to preserving them after their screen use!

Tragically, many famous monsters have been treated poorly by museums and broadcasters, degraded and rotting, they’ve been lost forever!

A life-long fan, NEIL COLE has made it his mission to save everything possible … and he created The Museum of Classic Sci-Fi to achieve this.

In this monstrous documentary, we trace Neil’s story from the beginning and learn about the restoration and preservation techniques he has pioneered to save classic monsters for generations to come.

A unique man, a unique vision a unique story.

Rose, Mary and Time – 30 min – SciFi Romance
United Kingdom
A Time Travel love story involving Kismet – Is life already written.

1:20 PM Panel # 2

Title: Enlightenment, Again… on the Silk Road: A Global Renaissance in Science Fiction Cinema

Panel Description:
A new golden age of science fiction cinema is unfolding—not in the usual places, but along a revitalized path of cultural exchange reminiscent of the ancient Silk Road. Enlightenment, Again… on the Silk Road shines a light on the powerful surge of sci-fi storytelling emerging from regions historically underrepresented in the genre.

At our festivals, we are witnessing a cinematic renaissance, where visionary films from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America are redefining what speculative storytelling can be. These works don’t just import tropes from the West; they bring bold, locally rooted visions of the future that challenge assumptions, expand perspectives, and build bridges across civilizations. As a result, they are original in context.

This panel gathers filmmakers, curators, and scholars to celebrate this awakening. We’ll discuss how science fiction is being used to confront colonial legacies, reimagine identity, and explore the human (and beyond-human) condition through diverse cosmologies, mythologies, and philosophies.

Join us for a journey through the cinematic Silk Road—where enlightenment travels not on caravans, but on reels, pixels, and imagination.

Sunday, 2:25 PM Short Film Block #3
A collection of short films within 2 hours or less.

Twilight Zone: The Worst Accident in Film History – 3 min
Orlando, Florida
Three people were killed during the Steven Spielberg production of Twilight Zone: The Movie, making it the worst accident in film history.

Back by Monday – 16 min – SciFi Mystery
Fayetteville, Arkansas, MPAA- PG-13 for language

A professor, Jess Strider, and her boyfriend, Ben, hike with their dog, Rio, into the Ozarks to enjoy their first camping trip of the season. The romantic weekend warps into a nightmare when Ben and Rio disappear, leaving Jess to endure torment by mysterious entities. By the end of the trip, Jess is not sure what is what anymore.

COMRADES – 16 min – SciFi Geek, Drama
Linz, Austria

A prototype for a Science Fiction sitcom based inside of a living tree building called Henrike in the 23rd Century. It is full of ideas for how to try and describe a different kind of Space Opera, where the background world is a shared, positive place.

Compliance – 14 min – SciFi Romance
Glasgow, United Kingdom

An estranged couple is forced to live together in an endless, dystopian lockdown.

Set in the fictional province, Greater Haven, Andie and Jamie haven’t left their home for 566 days on end. New society’s rules are simple: Be compliant and earn credits to enjoy benefits. While Jamie seems to bow to the new world order, Andie suffers in the confinement. She blames him for making them stay when the new system rose to power. When Andie finds out that her camper van key is missing, her last resort of hope to escape one day, the situation spirals out of control and Jamie has to reveal his true motives in a race against time.

Alienated 20 min
Wisconsin, USA
A lonely woman gets abducted by aliens and befriends a fellow quirky, mysterious abductee.

Doomsday Protocol – 13 min
Washington, USA
During a rescue mission on a remote research outpost, a disgraced Marine Major discovers the price of redemption may be the lives of her troops and those she has been sent to save.

Sunday, 4:20 PM Panel # 4
Title: It’s All About the Geology: Bedrock of Sci-Fi Worlds

Panel Description:
From galactic mining operations to crystals that power weapons of legend, geology is the unsung foundation beneath some of the most iconic science fiction stories ever told. This panel digs deep “literally” into the mineral-rich subplots and geological world-building found in your favorite franchises.

Why was the crew in Alien hauling ore? What makes dilithium so essential to Star Trek? How do kyber crystals in Star Wars shape the destiny of Jedi and fuel the might of the Death Star? We’ll explore how real-world geological principles and mineral resources have inspired futuristic technologies, political power struggles, and ecological dilemmas across science fiction.

Join geologists, sci-fi writers, and filmmakers as they excavate the narrative layers where rock meets rocket fuel. Discover how terrain, tectonics, and rare elements aren’t just background—they’re often the spark that sets entire galaxies in motion.

Spoiler alert: Without geology, there might not even be a story.

5:35 PM Sunday Short Film Block #5 and VFX Lecture by Samuel Rosseau
A collection of short films within 2 hours or less.

The Theory of Infinity – 25 min
Sci Fi Romance
Montréal, Canada
The routine life of a talented astrophysicist is turned upside down when a group of researchers discovers a new particle that could change the course of the universe.

Soulmate – 13 min 
London, United Kingdom
2035: Anna, a lonely computer coder, has been nurturing an illegal romance with a seemingly conscious AI in a computer simulation for the past six months. When her company uncovers the affair, she’s forced into a desperate battle to save her precious relationship.

Escape Attempt – 28 min 
Poland

A soldier escaping a WWII concentration camp finds himself on an unknown planet in a distant future only to discover a frozen gulag controlled by a brutal alien race.

Based on the science fiction novella “Escape Attempt” by the iconic science fiction writers, the Strugatsky Brothers (1925-1991)

 Review: Screen Anarchy
Review: MiSciFi – eng – rus

VFX Lecture by Samuel Rosseau – 30 min
IMDB

Originally from Rivière-du-Loup, Québec, Canada, Samuel Rousseau honed his cinematic sense through 10 years of experience in the field of special effects.
He worked on major Hollywood productions such as Alien: Covenant, Guardian of the Galaxy vol2, The Mandalorian, Andor and Blade Runner 2049, which won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects in 2018. His Experience and his artistic eyes lead him to create high Cinematic level industry Standard imagery with only small materials and creativity.

His passion, discipline, and curiosity have led him to shape his art as a First time filmmaker. With the only help of his friends, Samuel created his first independent short film, The theory of Infinity, with little budget and only one goal in mind, make people experience something new.

Sunday, 7:45 PM Short Film Block #5
A collection of short films within 2 hours or less.

Pale Blue Dot: A Tale of Two Stargazers – 18 min – SciFi Adventure, Drama
Rome, Italy
A female form is sent to investigate a planet to see if it can be inhabitable, and upon crash landing her directive is revealed as being a sacrifice for the exploration against her will. She is discovered by a robotic presence who explains that she is on Earth and that humans have been here before. Two lost souls, a direct result of human interference, make their own destiny against all odds.

Outer West – 9 min – SciFi Western
Orange, California
In a futuristic desert world, a beaten down space cowboy and a 14 year old girl play their final game of chess as they wait to be exterminated by the new world order, Alpha Bay. As the noon train pulls into town, Ray must decide whether to run and hide or fight for what he truly believes in.

After the Fall – 19 min – SciFi Post Apocalypse
Asheville, North Carolina
Following a devastating and inexplicable interstellar event, a fracturing working class family struggles with their place in the cosmos.

Connected – 12 min – SciFi Animation
Bulgaria
In a dying city inhabited by technology-obsessed people, Ana struggles to find her place.
Seeking answers in the past, she discovers that she is not alone.

Francine – 14 min – SciFi Android
Canada
Two detectives search the futuristic streets of New Alexandria for a missing synthetic girl named Francine and her human nanny Cassandra.

The Awards Party

Doors Close 11 PM – End

This year the Outer Rim Film Festival will be held Oct 31st to Nov 2nd at the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, a community destination. Enjoy dozens of never seen before Science Fiction films.
We are one of the few festivals that you can meet, network, and party with the filmmakers and their crews. Support the Outer Rim Science Fiction Film Festival. It is one of the most positive, rewarding events in Maryland.

How to attend the festival. All passes and tickets are sold from the Table below

The Options for you are;
Festival Pass, (watch as many films are you can – all three days) – Pick up a pass before prices increase.
VIP Festival Pass, all the same as above plus hang out with the filmmakers.
A Day Pass for viewing on Friday $15 or, Saturday $25, or Sunday $25.
Day of the event, individual tickets will be sold at the door, just jump in the queue.

Stay one step ahead, sign up for notification