3500+ Films - 2.5 million words – 1 million viewers! Founder and Curator Carmela selects the most entertaining, powerful and inspiring Other Worlds films at We Are Moving Stories. These include documentary, drama and animation about utopias, dystopias - and Other Worlds.

Total length of this section: 24 films.

<UTOPIA>

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A Universal Love Story - In a world where people have forgotten how to connect with another human being, an unexpected visitor is about to start a revolution. Length: 9minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Natalie MacMahon:

In this film it is actually more a universal theme as it is about a revolution in a world where people have forgotten how to connect to each other and how to show their emotions. A small change can lead to a big movement if people are open and don’t lose hope. That’s what makes all of these characters very strong and human, although the scenes are a bit abstract. What they all have in common is a strong desire and a spark of hope that the world can change.

<DYSTOPIAS>

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The Hunt - Set in a dystopian world where women kill men in the name of equality, five female hunters must choose loyalty or the law. Length: 9 minutes. Writers/Directors/Producers Catherine Mack and Holly Hargreaves:

CATHERINE: It’s great to further the discussion around the themes presented and highlight Aussie female directors.
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Blue Games - A story about a group of women who’ve inherited the wasteland of rural Australia as the coastline went to rot, and about the soldiers who visit them for sex. Length: 30 minutes. Password protected. Writer/Director Eugénie Muggleton and Producer Stephanie Westwood:

Eugenie: Blue Games is a weird ballad of emotional, material and sexual dependency, dysfunctional masculinity and femininity, finding your family – all through one woman’s path to wholeness and healing. They’re all very, very personal to us, and we hope to the audience as well.
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Brolga - In a ravaged future-Australia, a solitary hermit guarding a priceless treasure is forced to offer sanctuary to a young girl who is fleeing murderous scavengers. With danger around every corner, can they learn to survive together? Length: 15.43 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Adrian Powers:

With ‘Brolga’, I wanted to present a film set in a post-apocalyptic Australia that speaks specifically to the power of Aboriginal storytelling and highlights the importance of acknowledging the insights and experiences of Indigenous culture. The world of the film has destroyed itself, yet still possesses a few determined souls who are still intent on preserving what remains. In this place, no longer is the Aboriginal voice fighting to be heard — it is one of the last voices fighting to stay alive. However, even in this bleak dystopia, ancient stories prove to be just as powerful and meaningful as ever.
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Waltzing Tilda - When Tilda wakes up to find herself the last human on earth she goes on a journey along with her bunny rabbit Shane, experiencing both the immense joy and crippling loneliness of a world without humans. Length: 15 minutes. Writer/Director Jonathan Wilhelmsson:

I decided on the post-apocalyptic setting in part for my love of dystopian/end of the world stories and also because I wanted to see if we with limited means would be able to create a world usually reserved for Hollywood productions.

Matta and Matto - In a dystopian world where touch is forbidden, Matta and Matto offer refuge to the lonely at Hotel Vaip. In the deceptive labyrinth of mind-bending rooms at their transient hotel, deepest desires are fulfilled and surpassed, but this comes at a price. Length: 10:16 minutes. Writer/Director/Animator Bianca Caderas and Writer/Director/Animator Kerstin Zemp:

The main focus of our film is the topic of positive physical human touch. Something everybody experiences differently but everybody needs to survive.
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Man Under Table - Set in the backdrop of a dystopian Los Angeles, Guy tries to write a movie, but instead gets pulled into everyone else's as he hallucinates his way through the surreal and bizarre indie film world. Length: 1 hour 21 minutes. Writer/Director Noel David Taylor:

It’s a weird time to make art, it’s a weird time to be alive, so hopefully, you can watch this and laugh as me and yourself.
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Swipe Left - Tinder meets The Hunger Games when a group of singles download a new dating app. Length: 9 minutes. Password protected. Writer/Director Caroline McQuade:

I was fascinated by how the advent of dating apps has created a dating dystopia of sorts; a world where there is an illusion of limitless choice, superficial rejection, and an increasing disposability of people.

Erasing someone from your life has become effortlessly easy; just swipe/press a button. My film, Swipe Left explores how far people are willing to go when they are given the option to easily and permanently eradicate their date.
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Lord of the Toys - follows YouTube creator Max “Adlersson” Herzberg and his gang over the course of a summer and leaves a dystopian impression of the first generation of young adults, who never knew the world without the internet. A story about the West in general and East Germany in particular. Length: 1 hour 35 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer/Editor Pablo Ben Yakov:

We discovered Max by chance. His videos are a bit like an accident - it’s hard to watch but it’s even harder to look away. Then we saw his click numbers and subscribers and realized he’s a real internet celebrity. We couldn’t believe you can have this kind of success with that sort of offensive content. The deeper we looked into it, the more questions we had and eventually decided to look for answers.
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Squirrel Island - Sci-fi action thriller following Dot, a renegade grey squirrel trapped on a hostile and mysterious red squirrel island. Teaming up with a reluctant acorn, they uncover a horrifying red squirrel plot...can Dot and Mr Acorn survive Squirrel Island? Length: 21.11 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Astrid Goldsmith:

I’m constantly surprised by audience reactions - I think because it’s language-free it allows people to read it in different ways, so I’m finding audiences laughing at different things each screening. The biggest surprise has been children’s reactions to the film - kids have sent me their own drawings of the characters, or photos of them dressed up as the squirrels. The film is quite dark in places, so I never really considered it as a children’s film!

<OTHER WORLDS>

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Fiebre En La Disco - During a Cosmic Disco contest, abducted Disco girls compete on an alien Disco ship. PaLength: 5.33 minutes. Writer/Director Jean-Marie Marbach:

This project was an opportunity to play with Cosmic Disco (a short-lived mix of classic Disco and Science Fiction) and 1960’s Sci-Fi references. Given how rare such an opportunity is in this day and age, I couldn’t let it pass.
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Malacostraca - A failing writer looses his grip on reality as his wife grows pregnant with their child. 'Malacostraca' was shot by DP Ava Benjamin Shorr. Length: 15.36 minutes. Writer/Director Charles Pieper:

Why do so many people, in particular men, feel that they are owed what they want – their ‘dreams’ so to say – even when it may be very evident that they shouldn’t have it and most certainly don’t deserve it?
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La Sirena - A psychosexual fairy tale about a woman who surrenders to her own inner monster to avenge her broken heart. Length: 24 minutes. Writer/director Rosita Lama Muvdi:

LA SIRENA is a psychosexual fairy tale that speaks to that monster that lives inside of us. It shows us that not all women are perfect lovers, wives, or mothers. It’s not always the man who is bad, because women can be devious, too, especially when it comes from a place of truth we can identify with. It teaches us that the fairy tale ending’s “kiss of true love” should not come from others, but from embracing the truest form of who you are, even if it’s monstrous.
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Defective - Set in the near future where Rhett Murphy and his estranged sister Jean are forced to flee from a militant police state after witnessing the dark secrets of a nefarious corporation. Feature length. Writer, director Reese Eveneshen:

On a universal level, I think we’re all living in fear of our future, of what the political landscape is going to look like over the next few years, over the course of our life. We have parts of our world that are being run by a dictatorship, we have parts of the world that are damn close to being police states.
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The Fare - A cabbie picks up a young woman, only to have her completely disappear from his back seat. In a panic, he resets his meter and is brought back to the moment she climbs into his cab. The two are stuck together in a seemingly endless cab ride that will change their lives forever. Length: 82 minutes. Director/Producer D.C. Hamilton and Screenwriter/Producer/Actor Brinna Kelly:

Our hope is that the film’s lack of cynicism will resonate with audiences, and that people can find strong, reaffirming notions about fate and true love at the center of the movie.
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OMG, I’m a Robot! - An overly emotional guy finds out he's a - Robot. Length: 75 minutes. Directors Tal Goldberg and Gal Zelezniak:

We wanted to create a smart, feel-good, creative movie that will inspire viewers to think about their sexuality, their emotions, their relationships. We also wanted to remind the viewers that deep down we are all not men or women, but just kids, so we created a homage to our favorite old movies, that we loved as kids, such as “Terminator 2”, “Back To The Future” and the original “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”.

With Love and a Major Organ - In an alternate world where hearts are made of objects and suppressing emotions is self-care, a lonely woman rips out her own heart for the man she loves, only to discover that he has run away with it. Length: 1 hour 32 minutes. Director Kim Albright

With Love and a Major Organ looks at the value of human connection and how we connect with one another. Sometimes technology helps this process (think Zoom, Instagram or Facebook!) but it can also hinder this process and make us feel isolated, insecure and lonely.
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Regulation - In the near future, a young social worker (Sunita Mani, Glow) travels to a small community to administer behavior-modifying "patches" that guarantee happiness for the wearers. She must decide what to do when a precocious girl (Audrey Bennett, Frozen on Broadway) refuses to accept the patch. Length: 12.5 minutes. Writer/Director Ryan Patch and Producer Joanne Vo:

RYAN: As someone with a close family member who struggles with severe mental health issues, the way that we understand and help people with these challenges is always on my mind. So, when I stumbled across a Harvard bioethicist’s blog about the idea of always-on, perfectly-administered drip dosage of antidepressants, an entire world began to form in my head where this technology was a part of everyday life.
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Paleonaut - A scientist studying the first human time traveller falls in love with her subject. But if her research succeeds they will become separated by eons of history. She must find a way to connect with him across the ages or lose him forever. Length: 16 minutes. Writer/Director Eric McEver:

With the exception of H. G. Welles’ The Time Machine, virtually all time travel stories focus on the concept of changing the past to either save or sabotage the present. Paleonaut instead presents time travel as a tool for exploration, and as a spiritual link between two human beings. It asks questions that are both fresh and universally relevant.
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This Dark Thought - While babysitting her newborn sister, a young astronomer struggles with a dark thought after encountering something eerie in the night sky. Length: 16 minutes. Writer Nik Theorin, Directors Kris Theorin and Kurtis Theorin and Producer Amy Theorin:

Many people loved the script and we were looking for a cool project that would be memorable and have an interesting visual style. It was a pretty unique idea with and we were all fans of the psychological horror genre. We also liked the idea of it being unclear whether the events of the film are supernatural or not.
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Encounter - A group of friends uncover an otherworldly object in a rural field, which they soon discover holds greater secrets than they could imagine. Length: 6.55 minutes. Writer/Director Paul J. Salamoff:

I hope that if you watch ENCOUNTER that you have an open mind and give it a chance. It’s the science-fiction of ideas and is influenced by movies like SOLARIS, STALKER, ARRIVAL and ANOTHER EARTH. It’s meant to be an intimate story and if I’ve done my job right, it’ll emotionally resonate with you. It might even make you cry.
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The Silver - The long ride home from Vegas becomes a nightmare for a group of twenty-somethings when they run into silver-eyed 'strangers' invading the desert, their only hope of escape. Length: 6.19 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer David Yohe:

THE SILVER was based on the idea that when a traumatic, unexplainable event happens, you won’t have answers, solutions, information or saviors. You will be at your worst mental and physical state when it occurs. Now you have to survive.
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Scanners - Alan’s new job as a member of a security scan team requires him to do nothing but attend a mysteriously non-functioning scanner under the watchful eye of a paranoid boss, until he fixes the machine and unwittingly opens a portal into the unknown. Length: 14.31 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Natalie Jenison:

If you like stuff that’s like a nightmare fairy tale about the TSA you would like this.
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Prodigy - A psychologist engages a dangerous, young genius in a battle of wits -- unaware of the supernatural power the girl possesses, or that her life hangs in the balance. Length: 80 minutes. Director/Producer Alex Haughey:

Prodigy is a rousing Science Fiction film that seamlessly combines the intimacy of a personal drama with the excitement and mystery of a psychological thriller. The tension rises in every scene before boiling over into a thrilling, action-packed finale.