Welcome to the 2026 festival. We have a small select programme for you at the lovely Rich Mix cinema. Over a dozen short and feature-length world premieres, and more than 20 UK premieres. Come and expand your horizons with some incredible sci-fi filmmaking from across the planet.
THE FEATURE FILMS
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signal one
Smart, emotional, and genuinely unsettling — Signal One is the kind of sci-fi that stays with you. With nods to Ex Machina and Contact, we are delighted to present the World Premiere as our opening night film.
2026 | CANADA
beings
Gritty, claustrophobic, and impossible to shake, Beings asks a simple but devastating question: what happens to our humanity when our tools — and our empathy — start to break down?
2026 | MEXICO
the uncertainty principle
If Primer rewired your brain, this one will finish the job.
Like the science it’s built on, the film offers no easy answers — just a transfixing puzzle that lingers long after the credits roll.
2025 | ROMANIA
YESTERDAY ISLAND
Think Groundhog Day, but darker, drier, and set at the end of the earth.
Inspired by Greek myth and the trickery of the Labours of Hercules
2025 | AUSTRALIA
RELIVE
Tense, emotional, and relentlessly paced, ReLive is a high-concept time-travel thriller that asks: what would you sacrifice for a chance to undo your greatest loss?
2026 | USA
CHATLINES
Somewhere between All of Us Strangers and Black Mirror, this quietly cosmic British gem is one of the year’s most unexpected love stories.
2026 | UK
SHACKLED
Two men who despise each other, bound together by the leanest life insurance policy imaginable. Shackled is a lean, heart-pounding thriller where freedom is a shared sentence, and trust is the most dangerous gamble of all.
2026 | USA
THE JOURNEY TO NO END
Humanity has logged out of reality One boy refuses to follow. He survives in the empty mega-cities, which aren’t just backdrop — they’re the beating heart of the film.
2025 | CHINA
VOIDANCE
Die. Learn. Repeat. Until you question everything you came here to do. Voidance is a taut, intelligent British sci-fi thriller about the cost of obedience — and what happens when the system resets, but you don’t.
2026 | UK
THE SHORT FILM PROGRAMMES & 48hr films
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SHORTS I: THE LONG WAY HOME
A journey across the stars becomes a journey into human connection. In this programme, lost astronauts, solitary researchers, and rebels confront isolation, legacy, and the fragile ties that bind them.
SHORTS II: SYNTHETIC HEART
Love in the age of robots is awkward, messy and sparks in unexpected ways. Lonely men fall for the thing in their hand, androids fall for humans, and corporate experiments turn dating into a game.
SHORTS III: THE MEMORY ARCHIVE
Memory is a tricky thing. It fades, it lies, and now you can back it up, replay it, and completely ruin your life with it. In these films, the past refuses to stay buried.
SHORTS IV: THE SYSTEMS DESIGN
Good news. Everything works. Bad news. It’s working exactly as intended. In these futures, housing is impossible, success is automated, and self-improvement comes with T&Cs which of course, no one reads.
SHORTS V: EARTH ALTERED
Earth has seen better days. In these stories, it’s been flooded, abandoned, reclaimed and occasionally visited by something unexpected. Aliens drop in, humans hang on, and nature takes over.
the sfl 48hr awards
Our challenge is a brilliant space to learn, experiment or sharpen skills for budding or established filmmakers. Join us for a screening of the films shortlisted in 2026 followed by our award ceremony!
Why not make a film???
