#scififilmfestival 2019

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The Final Land

Two men, at odds, facing their ends aboard a spacecraft know that they might each be the last person they ever see. Unable to trust the other and faced with few choices, where they’re hurtling toward is fairly at the forefront of their increasingly troubled minds.

A German-language sci-fi drama/thriller pitting us and our leads against the vast isolation of space much like the opening of Ridley Scott’s Alien (and each sequel to boot), The Final Land too takes inspiration from the flagship saga and it’s like given the vessel’s ramshackle corridors and apparently none too high-end navigational gear.

With shades of Battlestar and indeed ‘Utopia,’ one of the very best modern Doctor Who episodes, we are well situated within an unenviable, unnerving conundrum facing both figures as they deliberate quite literally which direction they should go to find harbour and if either can at all trust their prospective final companion.

A computer screen and some future version of Word is consistently well utilised to build tension, even if it is a blatant conduit for some story/character motivation explanation. The deployment of dust and harsh lighting in an extended, involving sequence rendered this tranche, quite late in the film’s runtime, it’s most memorable.

Otherwise visually darker than the majority of sci-fi fare, there’s very little to illuminate proceedings in any sense as we are proffered precious few details about the duo and key aspects of their circumstance. Confined within such small, dimly lit spaces, that akin to Wolfgang Petersen’s own Das Boot won’t likely go unnoticed, though that classic accentuated the characters’ constraints, idiosyncrasies and indeed the plot’s evolution through a more significant emphasis on the passengers’ movements and physical dynamics.

With The Final Land being dialogue or otherwise emotively driven in segments via a glance or sturdy stare, the lighting choices, lack of interaction and blocking often obscure rather than further or underline what is overwhelmingly intended to be conveyed subtly.

The Final Land screens as part of the SciFi Film Festival on Friday September 6 at 8:30PM

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Film Fight Club S3E30: SciFi Film Festival & The Farewell

Where we chat all things SciFi Film Festival 2019 with Program Director Simon Foster (running Sep 6-8!) and drama that fares well in The Farewell – in cinemas today – Wednesdays 7:30PM on 2SER and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes & Spotify!

See here for Norman & Final Land reviews

Listen here

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SciFi Film Festival Premieres 'Norman' amidst 2019 Slate

“There’s a vastness of vision in the 2019 line-up,” said SciFi Film Festival Director Simon Foster. “It stems partly from the fact that I’ve sourced films from 17 countries, but also because the breadth of mankind’s imaginative powers is so breathtaking.”

One of the many flicks audiences would not get a chance to see but for the Festival is the very deliberately titled Norman. Our eponymous lead (Stephen Birge), out of time in every way, wants desperately to get back to his future.

Stuck in eras and predominantly one distinctly of our own time, our age-hopping all-around relatable technician has to make the jump home without interfering in everywhere he’s not supposed to be and upending any number of possible futures.

Taking the ‘butterfly effect’ (or Simpson’s toaster) approach to events, the detailed exploration of what would practically be involved in any time traveller ensuring they don’t set anything at all on a different course emerges as Norman’s most intriguing attribute. Notably absent technical discussion of what would necessitate the creation of a flux capacitor or it’s like, the academic nature of the approach to this conundrum, distinctly absent from similar fare, is not infrequently engaging.

Set in Richmond, Virginia, this film’s own city on the edge of forever (one for Star Trek fans), Norman too boasts an uncommonly interesting AI iteration. Essential to the overarching narrative in multiple, considered respects, this computer, even if it’s too utilised for a fair few exposition drops, has a wholly more complex and idiosyncratic personality than the many Cortana-lites that pervade science fiction.

Spending too many minutes on Norman’s internal monologues that sometimes tend to the repetitive, on a limited budget the flick deploys it’s special effects sparingly and well. Notably doing so in this film’s own recreation of beckoning epoch-leaping, those more practically-staged moments that we do spend in varied times, all too fleeting, are among this film’s best.

Enjoying it’s Australian premiere at the 2019 SciFi Film Festival and foregoing any Endgame-style exploration of just how time-travel might tick over, Norman settles on the emotional resonance and consequence one could very well experience should they be isolated in some distant, alien land and in these respects it most excels.

“Our films run the gamut from DIY low-budgeters paying homage to 80s adventures, to spectacular vistas that are majestic works of world-building,” said Simon. “Each one, however, is uniquely human, which makes for the best kind of sci-fi, no matter how deep into outer, or inner, space the narrative takes us.”

Norman screens as part of the SciFi Film Festival on Sunday September 8 at 3:30PM with the Festival screening at Event Cinemas George Street from September 6-8. Norman is preceded by the World Premiere of Chris Elena’s Audio Guide

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