This past week, Writer Director Patrick Kalyn’s short film Somnolence was released on YouTube, courtesy of the Dust channel. Somnolence is a short film set in an undefined dystopian future, where, facing some kind of crisis, a soldier is chosen to undergo an experimental procedure in an attempt to seek answers.

Soldier David Canterra is sent into the future via a dangerous scientific technique, in a desperate attempt to gather information about an impending singularity. He successfully returns, but in a somnolent state, and it falls to scientists, with assistance from Canterra’s wife, to extract the memories of his mission.

For a low budget short film, Somnolence has some fantastic looking effects shots, including an imposing battle robot. At around ten minutes long, there isn’t time to hang around, so we’re thrust straight into the story, and the film doesn’t let up from there. The experimental time travelling technique is very interesting, and it’s easy to see it being extended into a feature film. Whilst there is thrilling action, though, the heart of the story is the moral quandary of weighing the well-being of one person against the potential annihilation of the human race.

You can watch Somnolence on YouTube, for free, below, and you can see more from talented writer director Patrick Kalyn here – https://www.youtube.com/patrickkalyn

Dust is a curated Youtube channel of independent short films, all in the science fiction genre, and they have a wide selection of well produced, thought provoking sci-fi films, all available to watch for free. We highly recommend checking them out.

https://www.youtube.com/@watchdust/featured