Preview: Sci-Fi London Film Festival 2022
The 22nd annual Sci-Fi London Film Festival will run from 19-22 May this year. Four days of films with three World premières and three UK premières!
Opening the festival is The Innocents from director Eskil Vogt. Vogt previously directed Blind and The Worst Person in the World and his new film has already received nothing but positive reviews… During a bright Nordic summer, a group of children reveal their dark and mysterious powers when the adults aren’t looking. In this original and gripping thriller, playtime takes a dangerous turn.
Closing night features the World Première of Deus, directed by Steve Stone. Earth is on the brink of an environmental disaster. The population has risen to more than 20 billion and huge areas of the planet are uninhabitable. Against this backdrop, a massive black sphere is discovered in the orbit of Mars. The Sphere begins to transmit a single word in each of Earth‘s languages: Deus (God). Commercial spaceship, The Achilles is sent to investigate but, on approaching the red planet, it becomes damaged by a strange beam of light emanating from the sphere. Will the crew survive and discover the origin of the sphere and its purpose?
Another World Premiere comes in the form of Doctor Who Am I. Documentary filmmaker, Vanessa Yuille (in her début feature) follows friend and co-director, Matthew Jacobs (British writer of the 1996 TV movie Doctor Who) as he is reluctantly pulled back into the fandom that rejected his work 25 years earlier.
The journey not only becomes hilarious and emotionally perilous for the duo but also reveals a touching and quirky face-off between the American Doctor Who fans and Matthew himself. As they explore the fandom, Matthew unexpectedly finds himself a kindred part of this close-knit, yet vast, family of fans. The documentary deals with the desire to belong to a community, and how people can become nourished and enriched by the experience.
Sci-Fi London are also screening the World Premiere of a new dystopian science fiction thriller, The Deal, directed by Orsi Nagypal.
After a pandemic has left the planet devastated with insufficient resources to maintain the human population, the totalitarian governing body, The Bureau, has set up ‘The Deal’. The terms are simple: accept The Deal, and you’ll have work, a home and medical care for the next twenty years. At the end of the time period, you must sacrifice your life for the greater good.
Tala took The Deal when she was pregnant. and has spent the ensuing nineteen years selflessly raising her daughter, Analyn so that she would never have to take The Deal herself. Just five days before Tala is scheduled to die, Analyn becomes very ill. A life-saving procedure with Tala as donor is beyond their financial means and so begins their adventure to find a way to avoid The Bureau and keep them both alive.
There’s a UK premiere of Rani Rani Rani, a really interesting sounding from Rajaram Rajendram, as well Chinese sci-fi Annular Eclipse – described as a Hong Kong mash-up of Blade Runner and Memento.
On top of all this are a great selection of short films in five different ‘categories’ – Strain in the Brain, Our Robot Overlords!, All You Can Eat Buffet, Artificial Insolence and The Futures ‘Orrid.
For the full line up visit the website: sci-fi-london.com #SFL2022
