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Things to Do: Film Fests

Sci-Fi London is holding their Oktoberfest Film Festival this weekend! It kicks off on Friday with the Royal Observatory Greenwich (home of Greenwich Mean Time) unveiling the Sci-Fi Universe planetarium program for the first time anywhere. There will also be Aliens, Anime, and MST3K all-night film marathons and much more. Of course, the 53rd BFI London Film Festival continues until the 29th, so the UK looks to be the place for movies in October.

In Melbourne, Au, the Atom Awards Presentation will take place Friday, and while the films are more Science than SciFi, there are some interesting entries.

Also this weekend, the South Asian International Film Festival will be taking place, with entries like ALADIN for the Disney-entranced, and BUBONIC FILMS GONZO TRAILER EXTRAVAGANZA for the terminally warped (pretty much the Hindi version of Troma Studios TrailerFest).

In the US, the Austin Film Festival runs from the 22nd to the 29th, and it is the first time I have heard of Caprica showing on the big screen at a festival (probably because I wasn’t paying attention the last time). Other Sci-Fi like films include 31 Minutes, The Ballad of Friday and June, and The Bake Shop Ghost, for the first few letters of the alphabet. Many of the movies are oriented around Art and Music, the main two driving forces that define Austin (yes, it is the state capital of Texas, but that is a small part of what happens there). Other films worth paying attention to for this fest include Give The Dog A Bone, the Incredible Story Of My Great Grandmother Olive, followed by Leonardo, and then Lo. Other offerings include NASA and the Space Pen, The Mouse That Soared, Mighty Mutant Mollusks, Missy and the Maxinator, and about 20 more. This is my kind of Film Fest!

Opening on the 23rd and running to November 11th in Florida, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival kicks off with a Sci-Fi romantic comedy called Timer in an opening night gala event. Other draws include the live stage presentation of Repo: The Genetic Opera and the film Seventh Moon.

Things to Watch

There are a few good DVD’s being released this week. On the Movie front, I have to give the top spot to the live-action release of Blood: The Last Vampire. I really wanted to see that one on the big screen, but it just wasn’t close enough to make. Then we have Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, a frenetic non-stop action ride for those times you just need some mindless fun. If you missed getting the first Transformers, they are releasing a 2-pack of both movies as well. Also being released is a BlueRay version of Waterworld.

For TV series, Numbers: the complete 5th season is hitting the shelves, and yes, I know it isn’t Sci-Fi, but it is at least Nerdy, and I didn’t see any actual SF/F TV shows on offer this week. I am a bit annoyed that Red Dwarf: Back to Earth was released in the US on October 6th, but I haven’t found it on a single store shelf. Guess I am going to have to order it online.

There are a good assortment of Anime titles coming out this week, not counting the previously mentioned Blood, The Last Vampire (being a live action version it doesn’t count), but there is Blood+, part 2 for those who want more Vamp action. If you prefer blood viruses that cause men to fuse with machines and go on cybernetic rampages, try out Blassreiter part 1. If you want a paranormal tale of boys traumatized so years later they can travel between dimensions and help fight a ghost invasion, and want excellent production values in the animation, then Shirow Masamune’s (Ghost in the Shell) Ghost Hound – Collection 1 is the DVD box set to look for. For a spiritual battle against demons with a noticeable amount of fan service, the choice is Ah My Buddha volume 5.

There are also re-releases of a number of classic Sci-Fi anime’s this week, including My-Otome – Complete Collection Anime Legends, Toward the Terra – Complete Collection Anime Legends, and Vision of Escaflowne – Complete Collection Super Legends. And one re-released Otaku favorite, Comic Party: Revolution – Complete Set, for some serious fun.

New Sci-Fi Party Line, Oscar query

There is a new Sci-Fi Party Line over at Fancy Fembot’s site for your listening pleasure, containing both spoilers and the undead. While I am only interested in Science Fiction/Fantasy/Anime movies, a lot of the best ones come from other countries. Which means I have to agree when the Euro-Indi-Festival Teams complain that the Academy Awards process unfairly limits foreign competition. The result being that most Americans have no clue that some award-caliber movies the rest of the world has seen and enjoyed even exist. As an American, I feel that I deserve better, and should be allowed to view and vote for (and against) these films. What is your opinion?

Things to Do: Film Festivals

The number of Film Festivals grew this week, or perhaps I am just getting better at finding them. So for at least this week, I am breaking them out of the Wednesday post and giving them a night of their own.

The 53rd BFI London Film Festival runs from October 14th to the 29th, and includes presentation of the Southerland Trophy. I’m cheering on Cold Souls for that prize, but Metropia looks interesting as well. Other films of note include the Fantastic Mr. Fox, the non-stop MICMACS, the star-studded and based on a real military organization The Men Who Stare at Goats, and the long-delayed and heavily re-edited The Road.

Also in the UK, the Festival of Fantastic Films takes place in Manchester from the 16th to the 18th, covering Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror films of all kinds. Timed to take advantage of the larger British Film Association festival (as is next weeks Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest), it does a good job of including works you won’t be seeing on the bigger venue.

In the US, the 45th Chicago Film Festival continues to run until the 22nd (it started on the 8th of October). While there are a few SF/F films tucked away in this event, like The Rapture of Fe and Astro Boy, the movie I feel compelled to mention is The Castle; read the review to discover why.

October 15th to the 25th brings the Hawaii International Film Festival, which will feature their very own day-long Lost celebration. Movies of interest include Air Doll, the French sequel District 13 Ultimatum, anime Evangelion 2.0, You Can Not Advance, and the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus by Terry Gilliam. There is also the live-action Gokusen The Movie, the animated FIRST SQUAD: THE MOMENT OF TRUTH and the silly-sounding Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl which may be the perfect Halloween movie this year.

From the 17th to the 25th is the TIFF, or Tokyo International Film Festival, one of the major fests each year. The usual large number of prizes will be handed out, which have categories non-native to Western Fests. Films of note include Go Find A Psychic, Yona Yona Penguin, and the Avatar Special Presentation. There is also Kung Fu Cyborg : Metallic Attraction, a comedic love story, and Chengdu, I Love You, a story of time-traveling rock-n-roll and romance (OK, it’s got a BIT of kung-fu in it).

And then there is the Rome Cinemafest, for yet another touch of the world, including some TwiLight references.

This news is interesting; at the 20th Stockholm International Film Festival this November they will be screening a movie on ice. They haven’t decided which movie they will be projecting onto the 11 ton slab of ice yet, but I recommend that you bundle up if you plan to attend.

A Fest I missed last week was Indie Memphis, but visit the Memphis Flyer site to see what they will be serving up in this weekends encore presentation. Likewise I missed mentioning the Takoma Film Festival (possibly because it ended the same day as the first Fest post), but if you are VERY quick you still have a chance to see at least a few of them, including Otis v. Monster.