<![CDATA[io9: imagine science film festival]]> http://tags.lifehacker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png <![CDATA[io9: imagine science film festival]]> http://io9.com/tag/imaginesciencefilmfestival http://io9.com/tag/imaginesciencefilmfestival <![CDATA[Love For My Robot Shorties And All That Nazi Zombie Talk Translated]]> This week in Cult Scifi, I'm bringing you a few shorts, including some from the lovely Imagine Science Film Festival. Plus a translated trailer of Dod Sno (Dead Snow) so we'll finally figure out what's going on with the crazy Nazi undead.

The first clip is Automated Assets written by James Dastoli and Robert Datoli. That's the full adorable robot short where you get to see the silver faces of the customer service industry.

Lone:
Lone is so adorable, it could almost be a live action Wall-E origins short. The flick shows at the Imagine Festival and was directed by Andrew Nowrojee principle photography was by Stefan Duscio. The short follows what is seemingly the last man on Earth and his desire to build a new friend.

"LONE" Trailer from Imagine Science Films on Vimeo.

Transgressions:
Far and away my favorite short of the Imagine Festival, this 15 minute journey into our future shows the severe consequences that we'll all have to face even for merely scratching another persons car.

TRANSGRESSIONS from Imagine Science Films on Vimeo.

Apollo 10.5
According to this shoft, before we sent men to the moon, NASA sent a 6-year old boy into space just to check it out. Directed and written by Lance Gambis (and starring his son), it's a sweet little tale about launching kids into outer space.

Apollo 10 1/2 from Imagine Science Films on Vimeo.

Dod Sno:
Fresh off the internet is the Norwegian horror film Dod Sno where the Nazi undead attack a poor group of unsuspecting teens on a snowy holiday.

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<![CDATA[You Have 60 Minutes To Do Complex Math Or Else You're Dead. Go!]]> Mathematics becomes more than the stuff of SAT nightmares in Fermat's Room, a tense thriller screened last night at the Imagine Science Film Festival in New York City. When four skilled mathematicians solve a puzzle and are invited to a secluded conference, they're promised the world's greatest enigma. Instead, they find themselves in a slowly shrinking space, with less than an hour to figure out how they're connected and who wants them dead — or the giant hydraulic presses will finish the job. Only by correctly solving the mathematical mind-twisters delivered via PDA can they buy a little time.

Fermat's Room, from Spanish directors Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo SopeƱa, manages to turn math into a deadly, mysterious game. Everyone assembled in the room has secrets, of course, and motivations they are hiding. But as the walls literally close in on the characters, increasing desperation forces them into confrontation. As they try to unravel who is behind the crime, they must solve various "enigmas" to keep back the walls (though some of the problems are a bit too familiar, like the "Light Switch Puzzle").

Math is presented throughout as almost a magical skill, wielded by experts who treat its pursuit as something worth stealing and dying for. It has already brought some of them fame and fortune. Like superheroes, they've all been given special identities to wear: Pascal, Galois, Oliva, and Hilbert.

At the same time that it is concerned with theorems and numerical traps, the movie looks at the ways technology can be programmed to work independently against us. Only raw mortal reasoning can stave it off. Fermat's Room also explores some very human failings of conscience, and yields a high level of drama between its characters. When there is little room left, paranoia and accusation rage in a way reminiscent of The Twilight Zone's best tension.

It is rare that cinematic heroes get to be pure mathematicians, but here that knowledge is essential for survival, front and center. With the terror of encroaching walls — an effective scene-setter in everything from Star Wars to that other people-in-a-box-with-math thriller, 1997's Cube — the plot is always pushed forward and does its best to keep you guessing, even if the revelations aren't always earth-shaking. This is a fine, fluid production, well-cast and visually appealing. It's definitely the best film you'll see about sexy angst-laden imperiled math geniuses this year.

You can watch the trailer below.

The Imagine Science Film Festival is running a rich and varied program of events until October 25th around New York City. All screenings are gloriously free, and all of the movies find an inspirational spark in science.

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<![CDATA[Dropping The Weird Science, New York Style]]> If you're in New York, then I know what you're going to be doing for the next nine days. The Imagine Science Film Festival kicks off today and runs until the 25th. The highlight is probably Sleep Dealer, the movie about people south of the border doing all our shit work via telepresence. But there's also A Biometric Tale, a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood in a world where biometrics are ubiquitous; The Wormhole, about a boy who tries to find a wormhole so he can travel back in time and save his family; and California King, about a mattress salesman who uses Newtonian physics to pick up girls. Admit it: You've just forgotten whatever it was you had planned this weekend. [Gothamist]

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