Science Fiction has been a very popular genre for a very long time; the ability to explore new worlds and go on great adventures with no limit to the imagination whatsoever, it’s lent itself to some of history’s greatest works. The end of this month sees the beginning of the Sci-Fi London Film Festival, 10 dedicates to nothing but Sci-Fi. Let’s take a look at the great films you can check out there.
Kicking us off on the 27th is Caught, a Brit Sci-Fi about a young journalistic couple who find themselves fighting for a survival following an interview gone wrong. Following that on the next day are Space Detective, a weird and wonderful intergalactic crime film with amazing visuals and a great soundtrack, and Sublimate, an intriguing film about two addicts who attempt to bring about the next stage of evolution. There’s four great films to see on the 29th; Domain, an enclosed drama about the survivors of a viral threat, trapped together when mystery occurs; The Fitzroy, about a man who must choose his business and the woman he loves in a post-apocalyptic 1950s; Diverge (Not Divergent, thankfully), the story of a man desperate to cure his wife following a virus outbreak; and Flora, following a group of Botanists forced to fight nature itself after unearthing a deadly organism.
Sunday the 30th kicks off with a film that sounds incredibly interesting, a docu-drama called Unspeakable Horrors: The Plan 9 Conspiracy, shedding some light on the intentions Ed Wood had when he made what would later be known as the worst film ever made. Following that, you can check out The End of the Lonely Island, following humanity’s first attempt at Interstellar exploration following a deadly plague, plus a screening of the last year’s hit zombie film The Girl with all The Gifts.
May 1st has three great films debuting; Love and Saucers, a documentary about a man who claims to have had a life time of extra terrestrial experiences (Screened with a Is Anyone Listening: A Podcast Story); Occupants, focusing on a couple of documentarians setting up cameras around their house to record the effects of their new diet, but they aren’t quite what they expected; and Magellan, about an astronaut sent on multi year mission that will challenge what we understand about science and our place in the universe. On May 2nd, you can check out Yesterday Last Year, a time travel film that focuses on the mistakes of the past, and Immigration Game, where the world’s borders are closed except Germany’s, and those who enter must compete in a deadly TV show to earn their citizenship. With the current state of politics, a film like this could very easily hit home for a lot of people.
Only two debuts for the 3rd and 4th: The Last Scout, an adventurous film that sees a crew fighting for survival on a deep space mission, and The Kaos Brief, a found footage style film that makes excellent commentary on new video stars and social media, combined with classic Sci-Fi tropes. On the 5th May, you can check Neil Stryker and the Tyrant of Time, a throwback to classic low budget Sci-Fi, and Blue World Order, an action film centered around the last surviving on child on Earth, with Billy Zane as the villain. That alone should sell you on it. But the real goldmine of this day is the double bill of Steven Spielberg’s divisive A.I. Artifical Intelligence, and Alex Garland’s modern masterpiece Ex Machina, an astonishing recent film with great themes, even better performances, and some fabulous dance moves It’s one of the best films of recent years and absolutely must not be missed.
Finally, the festival ends with The Rizen, a British drama set in 1955 when the Army unleashes an unexpected horror, and one women must lead the survivors against something even the military can’t handle. But there’s so much more going on on this final day, including a live game show event and a special screening of Anti-Matter, a Sci-Fi noir take on Alice in Wonderland.
All of these films sound completely terrific, and if that’s not motivation enough to go, you can see the full list of events right here.
The Sci-Fi London Film Festival runs from the 27th April to the 6th May, and definitely should not be missed.