Suddenly it feels like autumn, which means that
London is about to be inundated with film festivals... all good
training for SCI-FI-LONDON of course!
First up is Raindance, which
runs from September 29 to October 11, and this year it will be held at
SCI-FI-LONDON's favourite cinema and home for the last three years, the
Apollo Piccadilly Circus. Raindance is London's big indie festival and
is showing a few genre films that may be of interest including COLIN (which we showed last year) and EXAM, Stuart Hazeldine's film that we sneaked a peek at this year - certainly one to catch.
Later in the month is the big one, The Times BFI London Film Festival,
which takes over Leicester Square from 14 – 29 October, but has a real
dearth of genre films apart from a couple of Scandinavian films,
including VALHALLA RISING, METROPIA and a CGI remake of the classic anime ASTRO BOY (- see sci-fi-london.com for our selection from the programme). So it is down to us to bring you some autumnal sci-fi cheer with our second Oktoberfest, which will be held on 23-24 October.
Real science:
Following on from the success of our Labs
at the festival in May we are bringing you something quite unique on
the Friday night: an evening at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. There will be two sittings of our new Planetarium show called SCI-FI-UNIVERSE which is a chance to see fabled destinations as you have never seen them before.
This will be followed by a variety of panel discussions on an assortment of subjects from science and literature. We will also be having a special free screening of JJ Abrams' recent STAR TREK movie to celebrate the DVD and Blu-Ray release (16th November). This will be a truly unique experience. Full details are on the website and tickets are on sale now from the Observatory's website.
All-night long:
Saturday is back at the familiar comfort of the Apollo for the all-nighters. For anime fans we have a great line-up that includes, SKY CRAWLERS, EVANGELION 1.0, KING OF THORN and TIME OF EVE, with more titles to be confirmed.
For comedy fans we will be having some more classic MST3K movies with TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE and a repeat showing of the classic SPACE MUTINY
already announced, and a couple of surprises we aren't telling you
about just yet. You know they are going to be good, so get your tickets
early for that one because it always sells out quickly.
With Halloween just around the corner we
thought we'd throw in some horror films in the form of one of the
scariest sci-fi movies made, ALIEN followed by ALIENS, ALIEN3, PREDATOR and AVP, and we have 35mm prints too.
With the nights getting longer, what better way to spend them than with
us, and of course there will be all the usual trimmings – goodie bags,
Red Bull, ice cream and plenty of coffee and tea. Don't forget too, it
is ALIEN's 30th birthday - let's see if we can get a cake sorted ;)
There will be a DJ beforehand and giveaways
(courtesy of our sponsors EA Games and Manga). Full details of timings
and tickets are on the website www.sci-fi-london.com
And, if you want to get into training for our all-nighter, the BFI are holding a TERMINATOR all-nighter at the IMAX
on October 3 starting at 23.30. So you get Cameron and Arnie in their
heyday, which is just what you need to prep you for our ALIEN/PREDATOR
session. The first three films will be shown off 35mm and 70mm prints
(which won't fill the whole IMAX screen), and the final film will be a
digital projection. With the IMAX sound system it is still going to be
a great experience. Free tea and coffee will be served during the
breaks.
On the web:
If you want to find out about other similar events, we have added a monthly What's On
column to the website, so you can find all the geeky goodness that is
happening around London (after all, we are SCI-FI-LONDON), but if you
have events anywhere else that you want to add then drop Tom an e-mail
at tom@sci-fi-london.com.
There are also reviews of the latest cinema, DVD and book releases. To celebrate the release of the complete series of Battlestar Galactica
on DVD and Blu-ray we have a box set of the final series, signed by
Jamie Bamber, to give away. We also have DVD and Blu-ray copies to give
away of OUTLANDER, the aliens vs Vikings epic (which isn't nearly as bad as it sounds). And don't forget that the fabulous STINGRAY SAM
is available to buy now. You can watch the first episode on our
homepage, where you can also download free songs from the soundtrack.
Volunteer:
If you want to be part of the SFL team (why wouldn't you?), apart from volunteering at the
festivals, we are also looking for a volunteer to help us set up and
coordinate a regular film club to run throughout the year. E-mail your
interest to info@sci-fi-london.com for more details, but ideally you
should be London/Home Counties based.
Finally:
Our friends over at Film & Festivals
magazine have a special horror edition out at the moment, featuring
interviews with Dario Argento and Jake West, and an article by SFL
regular Neil Oseman. Available as either an interactive, rich media
digital version (£1.50) or a print-on-demand version (US$10) from www.filmandfestivals.com.
More news on events in the next update... and as always, check the website.
See you in October!
Thanks again
The SFL team