About SFL 8
SCI-FI-LONDON, is NOT a convention or collector's fair - we are a strictly non-geeky, serious look at science fiction and fantastic film! (tho' we are all geeks at heart ;)
Festival background:
SCI-FI-LONDON is the UK's only film festival dedicated to the science fiction and fantasy genres.
OKTOBERFEST 2008
The first of our mid-festival festivals, and a chance to see more SFL goodness in an autumn weekend.
Premieres of DARK FLOORS, starring Eurovision winners Lordi, and the animated TERRA, were in addition to all-nighters that included the ever-popular anime and MST3K along with our first zombie all-nighter, which featured films from the UK, USA and Japan that had a whole new slant on the genre.
There was also a free screening of the new JJ Abrams paranormal show, FRINGE.
2008 - SFL7
Our first year of partnership with EA Games, who did a fantastic job of dressing the cinema, opened with Marc Caro's DANTE 01.
It was also the first year of our 48 Hour Film Challenge, which resulted in 70 short films being made in a weekend. The winner of the competition has since gone on to direct a major feature film.
We also introduced a free kids' screening on the Sunday morning with THE WIZARD OF OZ.
Other highlights were zombie comedy WASTING AWAY (with talent in attendance), and DAI-NIPPONJIN. The all-nighters continued to be as popular as ever, as was the pub quiz, and the expanded filmmaking workshops. The festival closed with CHEMICAL WEDDING co-written by rock legend Bruce Dickinson, with a stunning lead performance from Simon Callow, both of whom attended for a lengthy Q&A, and gave away a signed Xbox 360.
2007 - SFL6
This year we teamed up with Brunel University for the initial Cine Excess cult film conference, which saw guests Stuart Gordon (Reanimator) and the legendary John Landis attending the festival.
We had the world premieres of the director's cut of the 1936 classic THINGS TO COME; Simon DaVison's homage to B movies CAPTAIN EAGER AND THE MARK OF VOTH, with cast and crew in attendance; and Anglo-Indian film EXITZ starring Malcolm McDowell.
There was an extremely strong shorts programme, many of which can be seen on www.sci-fi-london.tv. We had a film school and the pub quiz returned for more beer-soaked geekiness. Our closing night film was the first public screening of 28 WEEKS LATER, which left everyone with an adrenaline-fuelled high.
2006 - SFL5
In 2006 we made a few changes - well it was our fifth birthday after all! We became the official host for the ARTHUR C CLARKE AWARD FOR LITERATURE, the award party and ceremony saw the likes of Kazuo Ishiguro and Harry Harrison visit the festival. We also moved to our new home, the APOLLO WEST END cinema. Oh, and we moved the dates from February to May...
2005 - SFL4
Our 2005 festival was a great success, with two World Premieres, a UK tour and new awards added to the line-up.
2003 - SFL2
In 2003 we had the world premiere of Malice Doll, the UK premieres of Cube 2: Hypercube, Ever since the world ended and The Inside Story. We also introduced our documentary strand "stranger than fiction" and had the first ever UK screenings of The Gospel According to Philip K Dick and Life, the Universe and Douglas Adams.
With an average attendance to every screening in excess of 80% and fantastic media coverage, SCI-FI-LONDON is truly established as a serious film festival.
The aim was to attract an audience that was susceptible to science fiction, rather than hardened fans of a specific franchise. In our first year we purposely avoided typical and obvious choices; No Star Wars or Star Trek. Instead, we looked for unique and visually stunning new product for an eager UK audience, balanced against some rarely seen movie classics. Although in our fourth year we gave in and screened Star Trek First Contact and the excellent documentary Trekkies II - so I guess the geek is starting to show through.
In the last few years we have screened some amazing and very rare classic movies. These included Tarkovsky's Stalker, and the original Solaris recently remade with George Clooney, George Lucas' first feature, THX 1138, the ever-relevant, Soylent Green and John Carpenter's scifi/horror crossover, The Thing.
We devised an international sci-fi short film programme, rounding-up the best sci-fi shorts from the UK and around the world. The full programme is screened in our sold-out ‘Shorts @ Six’ slots and each feature we show is preceded by one of these shorts.
SCI-FI-LONDON re-introduced the all-nighter to London. In 2002 we had a sold out all-nighter programme at the Curzon SOHO. With free uce cream, Red Bull and breakfast - the audience got to experience all 4 of the Alien series movies back-to-back and 4 John Carpenter classics, including his first feature Dark Star. In 2003 it was a manga fest hosted by the Other Cinema. Premieres of Spriggan showed alongside classics like Akira and Perfect Blue. Today, our all-nighters are infamous and sell-out ahead of any other screening. Whether ANIME or MST3K, spending the night in the cinema with a load of like-minded individuals is a truly enlightening experience.
In line with our aim of attracting new audiences, 2002 saw us hold events at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts): After being granted permission from his estate, The Douglas Adams Memorial Debate saw our distinguished panel of writers, commentators and filmmakers look at how science fiction transfers from book to screen and Newtype Animé, an encyclopaedic overview of the history of Japanimation and the increasingly popular Manga genre.
2003 also saw us run the SCI-FI-LONDON Trailer Challenge. Make a trailer for a non-existant sci-fi film... in a week! The response was fantastic and we had 37 trailers completed.
2002 - SFL1
It began life in 2002 and in our first year we managed to screen 12 UK/European premieres, including the first showing of The Mothman Prophecies and the world premiere of Ken Russell's The Fall of the Louse of Usher.
We refuse to charge submission fees and encourage filmmakers of all backgrounds, interests and obsessions to submit their work.