The 2023 Philip K. Dick European Science Fiction Film Festival has announced the award winners for its gathering that took place at the L’Hybride Theater in Lille, France from October 27-28. The event saluted the work and legacy of novelist Philip K. Dick with a slate of independent science fiction, horror, and fantasy films.

BEST PHILIP K. DICK SHORT

• NIGHT
• Director: Frank Sun, US, 20 min

A man arrives at a friend’s apartment and hears sounds from outside his window… but is it real?

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT

• A MIND CANNOT TOUCH
• Director: Geoffrey Prather, US, 15 min

A Mind Cannot Touch is a short film about loss and how one grieving mother will go to any lengths to bring her daughter back from the dead. The film asks, “What if you could bring a loved one back after their physical body has died?” and explores the moral implications of this hypothetical.

BEST NEW MEDIA

• EMILY’S MOUNTAIN
• Director: Tal Somech, Israel, 22 min

Emily celebrates her 6th birthday on a magical trip with her family and is slowly exposed to the horrifying reality that her parents are trying to conceal from her using modern technology and entertainment systems.

BEST HORROR SHORT

• ESCALATION
• Director: Christian Bachini, Italy, 15 min

Chris, a paranoid and self-centered man, is happily avoiding all human contact, preferring to escape from reality in whatever’s on TV. When a friend reaches out to him to confront him about his past promises, Chris must decide what kind of person he is inside, or it may just eat him…alive.