Hollywood, CA (August 20, 2026). AURORA is a black-and-white science fiction film that brings Punjabi culture, mythology, and contemporary visual effects into a world rarely seen in the genre. Made independently with a skeleton crew and an international team of VFX artists, the film explores just how ambitious and culturally specific modern independent cinema can be.
From award-winning filmmaker Angad Aulakh (THE ATOMIC DREAM, RESURREKTOR), starring Guy Kent (THE PLACE BETWEEN, HELL FOR THE COMPANY), Jennalyn Ponraj (EXORCISTS), Robert Diago DoQui (HATCHET III, QUEEN SUGAR), and Ethan Daniel Corbett (FACES). Aulakh, who is an alum of the Ryan Murphy’s HALF Initiative accelerator for diverse filmmakers, is coming off his and Kent’s recent award-winning, Oscar-Qualified shorts THE ATOMIC DREAM and RESURREKTOR.
When a catastrophic accident leaves Commander Freddie Ballard stranded in the furthest reaches of space, survival becomes only the beginning of his journey. As isolation gives way to revelation, he encounters a mysterious presence that blurs the line between the physical and the spiritual, forcing him to confront the ultimate unknown. What begins as a desperate fight for survival evolves into an intimate journey through grief, renewal, and humanity’s enduring search for meaning amongst the stars.
Produced under the Last Carnival banner by longtime collaborators Angad Aulakh and Guy Kent, AURORA marks the pair’s third short film together following the Oscar-qualified science fiction short THE ATOMIC DREAM and acclaimed festival favorite RESURREKTOR.
Across three films, they have developed a distinctive body of elevated genre work that blends intimate human drama with ambitious cinematic world-building. THE ATOMIC DREAM earned 22 festival awards and 34 nominations, including winner for Best Sci-Fi Short at the 2022 British Short Film Awards. RESURREKTOR earned 11 festival awards and 15 nominations, including Best Horror Short at the New York Shorts International Film Festival.
Behind the camera, the film reunites an award-winning creative team including Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Charlie Wuppermann (KEDI), award-winning composer Tim Despic (FALL), Artios Award-winning casting director Michael Sanford, and production designer Leah Berman (THE ATOMIC DREAM, RESURREKTOR).
AURORA will make its World Premiere at the 2026 HollyShorts Film Festival on Thursday, August 20th at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, CA.
About Angad Aulakh
Angad Aulakh is a Sikh-Punjabi filmmaker and alum of Ryan Murphy Television’s Half Initiative, supporting diverse and minority filmmakers. His most recent short films, RESURREKTOR and THE ATOMIC DREAM, have both earned Oscar and BAFTA qualifications and critical acclaim on the international festival circuit.
THE ATOMIC DREAM won 22 awards with 34 nominations worldwide before being picked up for North American theatrical distribution in Fall 2022. Critics praised its blend of suspense and craftsmanship, with FlickFeast’s Calum Cooper writing “the performances and direction generate magnificent suspense, while the craftsmanship has a playfulness worthy of The Twilight Zone,” while The Independent Critic’s Richard Propes described it as “beautifully and vividly realized,” certifying it Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Unseen Films hailed it as “a film that gets under your skin.”
RESURREKTOR earned 11 festival awards, including Best Horror Short at the New York Shorts International Film Festival, with Film Threat ranking it among their top short films of 2023 and calling it “outstanding.”
Aulakh made his feature directorial debut with AUTUMN LIGHTS, which premiered theatrically in North America as a New York Film Critics Series (NYFCS) Pick by Peter Travers. Produced with Last Carnival partner Guy Kent and the award-winning team behind Netflix’s VALHALLA MURDERS, the film was praised by The Village Voice as “a blast of quiet, chilly melancholy” and by HuffPost as “magnificent.” Its European premiere at Italy’s Riviera International Film Festival earned Aulakh Grand Jury nominations for Best Film and Best Director.
Aulakh received his BFA in Film & Television from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
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