While aliens didn’t appear in the skies above downtown Chehalis last weekend, they did appear on the big screen at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater during the third annual Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest on Friday night.
A total of 20 short films were selected from entrants who submitted them and screened on Sept. 12 to kick off the fifth annual Chehalis Flying Saucer Party. The film fest saw its highest attendance so far, with a record 160 tickets sold, according to Lewis County Historical Museum Executive Director Jason Mattson, who also helped organize the Flying Saucer Party.
While some of the films screened Friday are available to watch online, not all are as they may be currently entered in other film festivals.
Of the 20 short films, “The Curse of the Were-Alien” took home the coveted Audience Choice award, along with the $300 cash prize that came with it.
Directed by and produced by Grant Marshall and Katie Wallen as their first film made after graduating from Eastern Washington University, “The Curse of the Were-Alien” tells the story of a pair of friends, Shawn and Grant, who encounter a were-alien while exploring the woods one day and have to deal with removing its curse.
The winners of the rest of the awards, known as the Orbies, included:
• “FRIEND,” which won the Orbies for best film and best first-time filmmaker. Directed by Tarik Cruz of Director T Films, the short film tells the story of a lonely streamer dealing with loss but discovering a new unearthly friend in the process. Cruz can be contacted on his Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/directortfilms/.
• “Psychedelic in the Sky,” which won the Orbie for best documentary. Directed by Matthew Salton, this documentary explores how people process experiences which can’t be easily explained, and why humanity still seems to be drawn to stories of the unknown in the first place.
• “One Giant Waddle,” which won the Orbie for best animation. Directed by Kevin Jones, this stop-motion animation tells the story of a group of penguins deciding to embark on their own voyage into space after watching the astronauts walk on the moon and getting jealous of the giant bounds they took during moonwalks as they were stuck waddling on Earth. “One Giant Waddle” can be seen online at https://vimeo.com/1101075065.
• “Lovely Lola Jean,” which won the Orbie for best music video. Directed by Matt McKee, the music video features the talents of country music artist Andrew Wiscombe singing about an extraterrestrial high school crush who visited him in his youth. “Lovely Lola Jean” can be seen online at https://tinyurl.com/ur9avae4.
• “Basement Alien,” which won the Orbie for best alien. Directed by Jake Thiessen, this short film tells the story of a man discovering an alien’s head in a jar in his friend’s basement, and the two of them suddenly discovering they’re not alone in the basement either. “Basement Alien” can be seen online at https://themakeofjake.com/basementalien.
• “U.F.O. (Unidentified Funky Occurance),” which won the Orbie for best UFO. Directed by Ellis Arthur Deister, the short film tells the story of a farmer being interrogated by government agents after being abducted, and the agents then confronting the alien threat on the farmer’s property still — only to discover the extraterrestrial visitors are obsessed with Chuck Berry’s music after it was sent into deep space on NASA’s Voyager probes. “U.F.O. (Unidentified Funky Occurance)” can be seen online at https://tinyurl.com/3tpzp8ct.
The Orbies are custom trophies made from Mountlake Terrace artist Max Reinhart.
The remaining 13 films which were screened included:
• “Stargazer,” a short film about an astronomer looking to the stars for comfort during dark times, directed by Justin Robert Vinall. While not yet available, Vinall’s other short films can be found on his Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/vinall.
• “The Voice of God,” a short film about a graduate student discovering a new nebula with strange radioactivity readings and deciding to send signals toward it, before realizing there may be someone — or something — listening in the nebula, directed by David Zuckerman. “The Voice of God” can be seen online at https://tinyurl.com/57jzbvff.
• “Friends of the Alien Kind,” a short film about a pair of unlikely friends trying to document proof of alien visitors, directed by Lucas Olson. “Friends of the Alien Kind” can be seen online at https://tinyurl.com/4rr79mcs.
• “Parthenogenesis,” a short film about a trio of crew members aboard an interstellar space ship who suddenly receive a distress call from a mysterious freighter and face tough choices in deciding whether to respond or not, directed by John Longenbaugh. While not yet available, Longenbaugh’s other work can be found on his website at https://battlegroundproductions.org/.
• “Before the Sky Took Him,” a short film about a down-on-his-luck man named Jack trying to reconnect with his daughter when he encounters a pair of extraterrestrial visitors the night before her birthday, directed by David Over. “Before the Sky Took Him” can be seen online at https://tinyurl.com/mtzwt43z.
• “Welcome to Earth,” an animation about an alien travelling a long distance to our planet only to be shocked by the first species they encounter, which isn’t human, directed by Cliff Hansen. “Welcome to Earth” can be seen online at https://tinyurl.com/4hmrwrrp.
• “Above the Skies of Monolith,” a short film about a man named Father Sydol recalling seeing a strange UFO above the skies of the fictional rural town of Monolith, Washington, in 1959, directed by William Stancik.
• “First Wave,” a documentary film looking closer at the military coverup which followed the first reported modern-day UFO, The Maury Island Incident in Puget Sound back in 1947, directed by Wes Skotko.
• “Steed Wars: Atheist Arabian Horses from Mars,” an animation and sci-fi parody about the ancient Atheist Arabian Horses who used to rule the Red Planet, directed by Gus Frederick.
• “Facsimile,” a short film about a pair of investigators discovering cosmic horrors while exploring a strange cave on a farmer’s property, directed by Zac McMaster.
• “Halloween Visitation,” an animation about spooky aliens who are up to no good during the Halloween holiday, directed by Daniel Paul Driscoll.
• “Exoplanet Magentasia,” an animation about a group of aliens finding themselves immersed in the funky vibes, memories and planetary matter of their travels, directed by Isaias Zai Gallardo.
• “The Unwelcomed,” a short film about aliens entering a man’s home, abducting him and then eating him, directed by Jared Andrew Escudero.
To see some of the films entered in the first two Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fests, read The Chronicle’s coverage at https://tinyurl.com/bdhx2mdy and https://tinyurl.com/4pacnc36.
For more information on the Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest, follow the event on Facebook at https://bit.ly/3Xx7ai0. To learn more about the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party, visit https://www.flyingsaucerparty.org/.
