Sci-Fi-London Film Festival has just revealed its cosmic lineup for its 23 edition, which takes place from Wednesday May 31 through to Tuesday June 6. This year’s festival will play host fo a galactic lineup, including 2 World Premieres, 10 UK Premieres, 6 World Short Premieres and 13 UK Short Premieres. The festival will also feature a classic screening of Peter Watkins’ The War Game which will be accompanied with a live score.
This year’s festival opener is the UK premiere of the exciting Swedish blockbuster UFO Sweden from Victor Danell (The Unthinkable); a film that’s being dubbed the love child of “The X-Files” and Stranger Things which boasts impressive effects with a brilliantly realised ’90s blockbuster feel.
The festival will culminate with the UK premiere of Gabriel Foster Prior’s The Bystanders on Tuesday 6 June at Rich Mix in Shoreditch. Led by comedian Seann Walsh and featuring a brilliant cast of up-and-coming comedians and actors including Scott Haran and Georgia Mabel Clarke, The Bystanders is a brilliant sci-fi satire of contemporary life.
Other major Premiere Galas this year include the World Premiere of Keith John Adam’s sui generis creature feature Ozma, Danish filmmaker Søren Peter Langkjær Bojsen’s otherworldly The Great Glitch/Children of Paradise, and Theodore Ushev’s dystopian, steam punk debut feature PHI 1.618. Director Cory McAbee (The American Astronaut, Stingray Sam) will also be attending the festival for the UK Premiere of his latest project, and all-out assault on the senses, Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences.
The line-up continues to showcase fascinating new titles including Serpil Altin’s witty take on Orwell’s “1984”, Once Upon a Time in the Future: 2121, Janet Grillo’s (Jack of the Red Hearts, Fly Away) haunting sci-fi drama The Warm Season, Raúl Cerezo Fernando and González Gómez’ creepily twisted The Elderly, John Barnard’s (Menorca) commentary on an overmedicated society, Wintertide, Javier del Cid’s dystopian nightmare The Eye and the Wall, and Mika Rottenberg and Mahyad Tousi’s visually stunning Remote which explores what it means to live in a ‘hyperconnected’ future populated by isolated individuals who find new ways to maintain human relationships.
The festival will also feature a stellar array of international short films at Rich Mix in Shoreditch. The festival’s short film programmes are supported by Adobe and new genre label Action Xtreme, both of whom are helping the festival develop new talent through the 48-hour film challenge.
This year also sees the return of the festival’s celebration of technology and art, HACKSTOCK. Curated in association with Playla.BZ and Mondo 2000, this three-day event will feature Kevin Mack’s latest VR project, the recycled Alien Choir, a Lego Tower of Babel and a comic book fair and workshops.
Full programme details are available on the festival’s official website here.
