The third annual Astrophobia Science Fiction and Horror Film Festival will be held on Saturday, Oct. 14 and Sunday, Oct. 15 at the Masonic Lodge in Cumberland.

The festival screens some of the best sci-fi and horror films from around the world and close to home. There will be short film blocks in the mornings, and one afternoon feature film each day.

This year the festival had 140 submissions from 24 different countries, and films will be screened from nine of them, including Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Turkey, Norway, Finland, and France.

In terms of features, in honour of its 50th anniversary, this year the festival will be showing the folk-horror classic The Wicker Man at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Then on Sunday afternoon, the Turkish feature film Once a Time in the Future 2121 will be showing. This film has the distinction of being the first Turkish feature-length science fiction movie directed by a woman. Finally, a fun and competitive trivia night is scheduled for Saturday at 8 p.m. So get your team of three to eight people together ($50 per team or $15 per individual) and come out for a night of trivia questions, beer, and prizes.

Tickets for the event are $32 (plus service fees) for the entire weekend or $18 for a day pass, $10 for the short film blocks, or either of the feature films. Event passes do not include registration into the trivia event. Tickets can be purchased online through or at the door.