Small Budget Film Track
Small budget filming is films done in a non-traditional, non-Hollywood way. Film types in this category include Fan Films and some Independent films. Film makers with small budgets are the most creative, finding ways to change the script filming techniques, sets, and so on to work with what they have. You hardly ever hear about these films because they have no monster marketing machine to get the word out.
The Shore Leave Small Budget film track aims to help you find some of the most creative audiovisual SF works around! To this end, we screen quality examples of these films in the SF&F genre including talks by the film makers and actors when possible. This track typically includes 8 to 12 hours of AV programming in a media room.
Saturday
10 AM
Ambush – A Star Trek Fan Production
This video introduces us to the USS Ambush, set in the Star Trek Universe just after the Star Trek episode Balance of Terror. By focusing on a single away mission to rescue a captured Commander, Ambush will shed some light on how the Federation dealt with the Romulans after the initial incident involving Kirk and the Enterprise. The name of their ship is not the only thing controversial about this crew. The film shows how the crew members of the Ambush form a unique and specialized group who would always be a commander’s first choice to deal with “delicate matters.” Although the crew’s existence is well known to Starfleet, they’re not keen to see their existence publicized.
Interlude – A Star Trek Fan Production
(Winner, Best Actor, Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards; Honorable Mention, Best Director, Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards)
This video is a sequel to the Star Trek fan film Prelude To Axanar. Without warning, two Federation starships are ambushed by three Klingon battlecruisers, leaving an important Starfleet dignitary fighting for his life. Outmatched, there is only one desperate option left for these two brave crews.
Outbreak – A Star Trek Fan Production, from These Are the Voyages – a Star Trek Fan Series
Star Trek fan films remain alive and well “Down Under” thanks to the glorious efforts of Australian fan filmmaker Aaron Vanderkley and his team.
An isolationist planet declares a humanitarian crisis as a virus ravages its population. Starfleet steps in to help with finding a cure and instead uncovers a larger conspiracy more deadly than the virus itself.
11 AM
Line of Duty – A Star Trek Fan Production
(Winner, Best Special and Visual Effects, 2020 Bjo Awards; Winner, Best Hair Styles and Makeup 2020 Bjo Awards; Winner, Best Costuming, 2020 Bjo Awards; Winner, Best Supporting Actor – Paul Walenkamp, 2020 Bjo Awards; Winner, Best Lead Actor – Juliet Godwin, 2020 Bjo Awards; Winner, Best Director, Aaron Vanderkley, 2020 Bjo Awards; Winner, Best Short Form Dramatic Presentation, Aaron Vanderkley, 2020 Bjo Awards)
This 2019 Australian fan film directed by Aaron Vanderkley is set during the Earth-Romulan War. Ensign Wallace is an ambitious young officer aboard the NX-class starship Challenger who has dreamed of traveling to the stars. But she soon discovers that space might not be what she thought or where she wants to be.
A Long Way From Home – A Star Trek Fan Production
This 2021 short film by Power543 Productions follows Lieutenant Anna Keeley as she is pulled into a life and death situation where she must use her skills and teamwork to get out safely. You may see more of this character in One Small Step and The Tholian Gambit – both are scheduled later in the day.
Judgement Day – A Star Trek Fan Production
The fate of a colony of refugees hangs in the balance between the Starship Niantic and the Doomsday Machine.
12 PM
Temporal Anomaly – A Star Trek Fan Production (Parts 1 and 2)
(Finalist in six categories, 2020 Bjo Awards)
This remarkable and unique fan film has been a long time in coming! Filmed in 2013/2014, it was held up with production problems. Just before it was due to be published in 2018, Paramount/CBS issued a cease and desist order due to copyright and Fan Film Guideline violations. With time and modifications, the conflicts were resolved and the film was published in 2019.
In this Star Trek fan film, an anomaly causes all but one of the crew from TNG’s Enterprise to disappear and starships from different time zones to appear in proximity. These other ships out of time also have only one crew member left aboard and are badly damaged. The remaining cross-era personnel must join forces against an unlikely foe as the fate of their ships, their lost crews, and over 200 years of history are threatened.
1 PM
DOOMSDAY – A Star Trek Fan Production
Are you still a captain if you have no crew? Some of the special effects scale issues make this effort look a bit amateurish, but a good romp of a plot and some excellent acting make watching this film a lot of fun.
Pacific 201 – A Star Trek Fan Production (Parts 1 and 2)
Pacific 201 – A Star Trek Fan Production (Parts 1 and 2)
The year is 2200. Follow the Starship Pacific on a mission outside Federation space. Here, a mysterious anomaly catches the crew off-guard and sparks a deadly controversy. It places Starfleet in a moral quandary between faith and science that is too difficult for one crew member to ignore.
2 PM
One Small Step – A Star Trek Fan Production
This short film goes back to the very start of the career of Anna Keeley, our hero from A Long Way From Home. While serving aboard the USS Challenger, Ensign Keeley’s life is about to change as she learned of an imminent reassignment – helmsman of the brand new USS Defiant. With an academy record that is exactly what Commander Sisko is looking for, she anticipates starting an exciting chapter of her life aboard the Defiant – or so she thinks!
The Tholian Gambit – A Star Trek Fan Production
Set in 2401, this short film features an older and more mature Captain Anna Keeley. After a long and successful career, she is given the opportunity to command her old ship, the USS Horizon. Having already proved her ability on another vessel she happily takes command.
The Tholians are reacting to a new Borg incursion and Captain Keeley must do all she can to maintain galactic peace. This story takes place during the events of Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Episode 1.
Ghost Ship – A Star Trek Fan Production
(Winner, Best Special and Visual Effects, 2019 Bjo Awards; Winner, Best Hair Styles and Makeup 2019 Bjo Awards; Winner, Best Supporting Actor / Actress, Lezlie Sawyer, 2019 Bjo Awards; Winner, Best Dramatic Presentation, 2019 Bjo Awards)
Commander Derek Mason has had a long career full of safe, boring assignments. But that changes when he must take a small away team to salvage a dead Starship
3 PM
Air And Darkness – A Star Trek Fan Production
Commander Beck, Captain Ramirez, and the crew of the USS Excalibur must battle rogue Klingons to discover the secrets of an ancient alien artifact.
Cosmic Stream – A Star Trek Fan Production
(Honorable Mention, Best Actor, Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards)
It is another adventure with the USS Excalibur – Are we dead?
Endosymbiosis – A Star Trek Fan Production
Tales from The Neutral Zone presents Endosymbiosis, the second Star Trek Fan Film from Neutral Zone Studios in Kingsland, GA. What steps would you take if you found most of your crew missing? Would you search for them? Would you find them? Would you abandon them…?
4 PM
Yorktown: A Time to Heal
This fan film holds the record for the longest production delays – 37 years! It was filmed in 1985 to 1987 and features professional actors George Takei (Star Trek franchise, Star Wars: Visions, The Twilight Zone, Big Bang Theory, Heroes, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and many more) reprising his role as LCDR Hikaru Sulu and James Shigeta (Die Hard, Midway, Mulan, The Outer Limits, Mission: Impossible, Babylon 5, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and many more) as Admiral Nogura.
Set in the time between Star Trek and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, this fan film tells the story of a race to salvage a damaged Federation reconnaissance probe that crashed on the planet Pahl III. Admiral Nogura sends Hikaru Sulu, serving as first officer aboard the retrofitted USS Yorktown, on a secret mission to help locate the missing spy drone. To avoid a catastrophic war with the Klingons, the USS Yorktown, commanded by Captain Bradley Frame, races against time to find the lost drone and conceal its existence. At the same time, the S.H.A.R.K. terrorist group discovers the drone’s location and races to steal the device for its own purposes.
The Looking Glass – A Star Trek Fan Production (Parts 1 and 2)
(Finalist in two categories, 2019 Bjo Awards)
There are risks and costs to action, but they are far less than the long-range risks of comfortable inaction…” – John F Kennedy
What does one do when one’s conscience is in conflict with the prime directive? Find out in The Looking Glass, the first episode in the Tales from The Neutral Zone series.
Sunday
10 AM
The Federation Files – Doppelganger – A Star Trek Fan Production
(Winner, Best Makeup / Hair Styling, 2021 Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards; Winner, Most Canon Fan Film, 2021 Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards; Honorable Mention, Best Lighting, 2021 Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards; Honorable Mention, Best In Fest, 2021 Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards)
Another tale from The Federation Files – This story is a first look at the crew aboard the USS Hood. Transporter consoles are being tampered with at many locations throughout Federation space! Captain Clinton Dodge and the crew of the USS Hood are ordered to track down who is responsible for committing these crimes. The trail ends at the Shire, an outpost in space in the remote Andor sector. There, they meet and join forces with the local law, Sheriff Qwee. Can Captain Dodge apprehend those responsible or will the renegades slip through and escape Federation law? What are the moral implications of the crime committed and what happens when you come face to face with a Doppelganger?
11 AM
Renegade: A Tribute to a Galaxy far, far away
Former Jedi Knight Rubera, cheated of her revenge, lives undercover as a bounty hunter. Haunted by memories of her past, she struggles from job to job and does not realize that she is steering directly into the clutches of the dark side. The Force is in all things—and it cannot be suppressed.
The Last Padawan – A Short Star Wars Fan Film
We are repeating this 2016 short film as background and preparation for the next hour’s showing of the exemplary The Last Padawan 2. Tasked by his Jedi master’s dying wish, the Jedi padawan must retrieve the Jedi’s stash of Kyber crystals following the collapse of the Republic while on the run from the Empire. The Australian review site, Watchman.com, says “This one is almost medieval until the lightsabers come out.”
12 PM
The Last Padawan 2 – A Short Star Wars Fan Film
(Winner, Best Director, 2021 Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards; Winner, Best Cinematography, 2021 Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards; Honorable Mention, Best Foreign Film, 2021 Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards)
To escape the planet of Dantooin, a lonely Jedi Padawan is forced to seek the help of an unreliable resistance fighter Isac Talus. With Imperial Stormtroopers everywhere, nowhere is safe for the Padawan – especially with a demonic Imperial Inquisitor still smelling blood after their last encounter.
This top notch fan film is a sequel to the 2016 fan film The Last Padawan, shown in the previous hour.
1 PM
A Blaster In The Right Hands – A Star Wars Story
(Winner, Best Actress, 2021 Fan Film Director’s Choice Awards)
SCUM, VILLAINY, AND A BOUNTY WORTH DYING FOR: On the trail of a crashed Imperial Shuttle, two bounty hunters collide over a valuable cargo only to discover they’re not the only hired guns around.
Forgotten Ones – Defiant Until Time – A Star Wars Fan Series)
A squad of new clones, fresh from Kamino, set out on their first mission – a rescue mission aboard a Republic ghost ship. As they venture further into it, the ship’s secrets and horrors unfold….
2 PM
Kenobi – A Star Wars Fan Film (This is a fan film, not the Disney+ offering, and has no official affiliation with Lucasfilm/Disney.)
This fan film has been termed a “love letter to Star Wars.” It was in the works long before the Disney+ offering by the same name that is currently showing. Disney+ beat them to airing by only a few weeks. The two are interesting to compare and contrast. See for yourself!
After years in hiding, Obi-Wan Kenobi struggles to reconnect with the Force in order to protect Luke Skywalker from Imperial forces.
The Hunt (Obi-Wan Kenobi) – A Star Wars Story
This foreign film was made in Rome, Italy but features an English script. Set about 15 years after General Order 66, it concentrates on the Empire’s hunt of surviving Jedi. Dark Side adepts Khanor and Wyntu go to the Tatoo system in the Arkanis sector.
3 PM
Star Wars | THE CODE – A Star Wars Fan Film
Set 3,620 years before the fall of the Jedi, the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire signed a treaty after decades of war. The treaty was unfavorable to the Republic and initiated an unprecedented stalemate with the galaxy divided between Darkness and Light. But the ambitions of the Emperor and his Sith warriors grew. Some Sith envisioned their own empire, and some sought the secret powers of the ancient Sith Lords.
Star Wars | CAD BANE – A Star Wars Fan Film
The produce writes as follows: Cad Bane in live action was something Star Wars had never done and was an exciting challenge, especially during the pandemic. It was made with the creators’ family. No crew, no equipment to speak of, just a camera, a tripod, and a shoulder rig (and a lot of post-filming production). The Book of Boba Fett beat this plucky team to release by mere weeks as they put on the finishing touches.
This fan film features a slightly different take on this fan-favorite character that was shown in the Disney+ Mandalorian franchise. The relationships between Bane and the Jawas and droids that work for him are especially interesting. Here is how he operates as he takes on some bounty hunting.