Sci-Fi Season, BFI

Opening October 2014,  the British Film Institute's Sci-Fi season opens under the name of Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder. Exploring the genre thematically, the BFI will divide their picks into categories; 'Tomorrow’s World', 'Contact!'  'Afrofuturism', and 'Altered States'.

From these morsels, we can expect films of futuristic visions, extra terrestrial relations, dystopian states and body horror; staples of a genre where the universal 'enjoyment factor' can be sniffed at or explained away as 'guilty pleasure'. This throwaway shaming belies the technical innovation and fantastic storytelling of the best of Science Fiction, that, in its spectacle, is cinema at its most cinematic.

It's the snobs who have been missing out.

The audiences know this (love it or loathe it, Sci-fi blockbusters keep the film industry afloat) and auteurs know it. Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott and of course Stephen Spielberg have found some of their most profound artistic expression in space-exploits. These giants are now kept company by Sci-Fi convert Alfonso Cuarón. 

Gravity's awards 2014 were plentiful , raking in 7 Oscars and 6 BAFTAs. In his ‘Best Director' BAFTA acceptance speech, Cuarón highlighted the industry snobbery that separates 'artists' from 'technicians'. If Gravity proved anything, it is the arbitrariness of this distinction. It is a project that called for the actors to move within millimeter precision, whilst the technical team created a living, breathing outer space that was as psychological as it was physical. 

This deeply contemplative tale, told with the tools of this most technical film-making must certainly be part and parcel of Sci-Fi finally revealing itself as critically fashionable. Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder will include titles from John Carpenter's brilliantly bizarre Dark Star (1974), to Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) to James Cameron's well oiled machine and perfect blockbuster The Terminator (1984). Also featured will be a world premiere of a sonic performance by John Foxx, Steve D'Agostino and Karborn. Screenings will be interspersed with a program of special guests and speakers including Charlie Brooker, William Gibson Keynote and The Space Odyssey's Keir Dullea. 

The BFI's Sci-Fi season 2014 celebrates the genre over a gigantic four month season confirming that Sci-Fi rules. We hope it will encourage skeptics to launch themselves into the unknown and but we hope even more, however, that this event will remain known on your cultural calendar of things to do in London this winter. 

Things to Come: Science Fiction will run from October 2014-January 2015).