Lifeline

Animator and storyboard artist Andres Salaff won the Bronze Medal last month at the Student Academy Awards for his short film, Lifeline.

If you're interested in seeing more of Andres' animations, he has a handful of other videos available on his Vimeo account.

Primer

When Shane Carruth unleashed Primer on the world, he arguably gave us the greatest time travel film of all time. Now it's available on Vimeo.

If you enjoyed Primer and you're wondering what Shane is up to now, you're definitely not alone. Many have cited the comments of Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom): "to all who asked: Shane is alive and well and has a mind-blowing sci-fi script. Let's all pray to the movie-gods that he gets it made soon" (via Twitter). While those are encouraging words from one of new favorite directors, those comments were made almost a year ago.

Within the last month, however, a movie blog called The Playlist acquired a copy of the script for A Topiary. The Playlist bloggers seem to think Shane's new project will live up to the hype, so here's hoping it finds the funding it needs to hit theaters.

Reign of Death

Matthew Savage has offered up a compelling short, Reign of Death, featuring Noel Clarke of Doctor Who fame. Although Reign of Death features elements of both scifi and noir, I think it shares more in common with steampunk than tech noir in that the technological advancements serve better as anachronistic icing on a 1940s cake rather than indications of a possible future. In this regard, the film reminds me of Penny Arcade's Automata which also debuted last summer (continued in pages two, three, four, five, and six).

If you're interested in making your own short film, there are two great behind-the-scenes videos on Vimeo: Jonathan Dunn's Making of Reign of Death and Linus Hofmann's Reign Of Death VFX Breakdowns.

The Raven

Ricardo de Montreuil has made a splash with his $5,000 scifi short, The Raven. The film has already drawn comparisons to Alive in Joburg which later became District 9. Who knows... perhaps we'll be seeing a 2-hour version of this in the years to come.

Predators

Forget all your frustration and/or disinterest with the AvP movies. Robert Rodriguez is the producer for the new Predators, due out later this year.

If that doesn't persuade you by itself, check out an interview with Rodriguez at SXSW's Horror Panel.

Time and Time Again

Moral of the story: invent an invisibility cloak before you invent a time machine.

Or, you know, just don't kill anyone. We wouldn't want to have to redefine murder-suicide.

Sci-Fri Death Slot

Surprise, surprise... FOX put yet another Sci-Fi show on the Friday night chopping block. Virtuality didn't lack for pedigree either; the pilot movie was written by Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore and scribe Michael Taylor.

There's no doubt that Sci-Fi fans have a love-hate relationship with FOX. Well, maybe more on the hate side. Love-hate-hate? Love-hate²? The Firefly debacle still burns brightly in the minds of Whedonites as they ponder the future of Dollhouse. The senseless cancellation of The Sarah Connor Chronicles continues to baffle me. You Hollywood numbskulls had a Terminator movie come out this summer, and you don't think anyone was gonna watch a Terminator TV show in the fall?

Anyway, the funniest part about Virtuality's debut, for me, is that they didn't even have faith enough in this one to let it complete a season, let alone a story arc.

I've got one thing to say to all you geeky, visionary writer/director/producers out there: go to the SciFi channel. You're more likely to get the go ahead.

As for the rest of you, there's always xkcd.

Alive in Joburg becomes District 9

Alive In Joburg - Neill Blomkamp from Spy Films on Vimeo.

So maybe you've googled "aliens in africa" and maybe you haven't. Either way, I command you to worship at the altar of Neill Blomkamp. Worship!

How many people do you know that made a short film, posted it on YouTube, and then got to make a feature film with Peter Jackson? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Star Trek vs. Star Wars

The rivalry between Star Wars fans and Trekkies has been churning for so long that no Force powers or warp drives can escape it. Personally, I've been a fan of Star Wars AND Star Trek for a long time... probably since middle school back in the early 90s. Aside from the fact that Star Wars had much better toys - I've always considered the original, unmolested trilogy to stand head and shoulders above every Trek film. Let's face it, Star Trek was made for the weekly discoveries you shared with the crew of the Enterprise. That's where all of the important character development happened, week in and week out on the boob tube.

That time is over. A new era has arrived with J.J. Abrams. I dare say that I might end up liking a Star Trek film better than the original Star Wars. With the advent of the Star Wars prequels, one can't help but feel that some part of the original trilogy is tainted. Even as I watch my completely "unspecial" edition of Return of the Jedi on VHS, I cringe at the thought of George Lucas editing Hayden Christensen into the final scene. So much nostalgia coupled with so many mixed feelings is bound to make a lot of geeks jump starships.

Somebody must want to dethrone the "benevolent despot" Lucas at this point and prove me wrong. How about you Abrams? Please?

Escape From City 17

"Directed by The Purchase Brothers.

The Escape From City 17 short film series is an adaptation based on the Half Life computer game saga by Valve Corporation. Originally envisioned as a project to test out numerous post production techniques, as well as a spec commercial, it ballooned into a multi part series. Filmed guerilla style with no money, no time, no crew, no script, the first two episodes were made from beginning to end on a budget of $500."