To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Alien franchise, which started with Ridley Scott’s Alien that was first released in May 1979, 20th Century Fox partnered up with crowdsourced studio Tongal to hold a competition for fans who were interested in making their own short film set in the Alien universe. They received 550 submissions in total and from there, only six lucky filmmakers had their submissions chosen.
While the short films are not released yet, there is a trailer that has been released on Alien Anthology’s official YouTube page and from what we can see, the shorts are all most definitely leagues more polished than an average fan-made film.
The title and description of each short can be found below,
Alien: Alone — Hope, an abandoned crew member aboard the derelict chemical hauler Otranto, has spent a year trying to keep her ship and herself alive as both slowly fall apart. After discovering hidden cargo, she risks it all to power up the broken ship in search of human life. Written and directed by Noah Miller.
Alien: Containment — Four survivors find themselves stranded aboard a small escape pod in deep space. Trying to piece together the details around the outbreak that led to their ship’s destruction, they find themselves unsure to trust whether or not one of them might be infected. Written and directed by Chris Reading.
Alien: Harvest— The surviving crew of a damaged deep-space harvester have minutes to reach the emergency evacuation shuttle. A motion sensor is their only navigation tool leading them to safety while a creature in the shadows terrorizes the crew. However, the greatest threat might have been hiding in plain sight all along. directed by Benjamin Howdeshell.
Alien: Night Shift — When a missing space trucker is discovered hungover and disoriented, his co-worker suggests a nightcap as a remedy. Near closing time, they are reluctantly allowed inside the colony supply depot where the trucker’s condition worsens, leaving a young supply worker alone to take matters into her own hands. Written and directed by Aidan Breznick.
Alien: Ore— As a hard-working miner of a planet mining colony, Lorraine longs to make a better life for her daughter and grandchildren. When her shift uncovers the death of a fellow miner under mysterious circumstances, Lorraine is forced to choose between escape or defying management orders and facing her fears to fight for the safety of her family. Written and directed by the Spear Sisters.
Alien: Specimen— It’s the night shift in a colony greenhouse, and Julie, a botanist, does her best to contain suspicious soil samples that have triggered her sensitive lab dog. Despite her best efforts the lab unexpectedly goes into full shutdown and she is trapped inside. Little does she know, an Alien specimen has escaped the mysterious cargo, and a game of cat and mouse ensues as the creature searches for a host. Written and directed by Kelsey Taylor.
These short films will be premiering on IGN (again) from March 29 as part of their 40th-anniversary festivities but four of the six films will be making their debut at the Emerald City Comic Con, happening from March 14 to 17. The shorts will be available on the official Alien website, along with other exclusive content from May 3.
Germaine is a fun-sized introvert who loves nothing better than sleeping in on rainy days. She can be found reading fanfiction and manga while still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter. It’ll come eventually.
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