Cult Projections: You used to be programmer for the SciFi Film Festival, now you’re the Festival Director for the inaugural Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival. This endeavour feels like it’s been a long time coming. Just how special is science fiction to you as a dedicated cinephile?
Simon Foster: I didn’t realise how important science fiction was to me until I had matured into my movie-watching, both personally and professionally. I’ve spent the last thirty years as a film reviewer, watching all sorts of films from all around the world, which for a long time was what I thought being a serious movie-watcher was meant to be. But as I’ve aged it’s become clearer to me what elements of cinema I really love and react to on a deeper level, and that is the cinema of the fantastic – science fiction, of course, and also horror. I’ve learned to understand that genre cinema can offer both visual and intellectual engagement like no other kind of filmmaking.
CP: If you had to pluck five science fiction movies, one from each of the past five decades (70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s), what would they be?
Simon: Oh, man, this is going to get me into trouble. For most of my teens, I would’ve said the biggest influence from the ‘70s was Star Wars, but Close Encounters of the Third Kind has proven more enduring. In the ‘80s, I was just a black hole for sci-fi films, soaking up everything, so to pick one… Aliens, of course, but also E.T., Buckeroo Bonzai, Lifeforce, The Thing, Blade Runner and a million VHS rentals with names like Zone Troopers or Def-Con 4. Jurassic Park is the standard bearer in the ‘90s, although Men in Black and the Verhoeven double-shot, Total Recall and Starship Troopers are favourites. Minority Report in the ‘00s, by a mile; I think it’s one of Spielberg’s unheralded masterpieces. Also Will Smith’s I Am Legend from 2007. And I’m going to vote Brad Pitt’s Ad Astra, the Chinese epic Wandering Earth and two smaller scale pics – Prospect and Vast of Night – as the best of the 2010s. [Ed: Well, I asked for it.]
CP: What elements of the Festival were most crucial to you as Director? Did anyone help you with the programming, if so, how?
Simon: The festival has an organising committee made up of film journalists and academics and they all weighed in at different points, but the final say on the program was mine. I wanted to position this festival from Day 1 as a truly international event, one that reflected the diverse community that is its hometown. This led to a line-up that features works from twenty countries, including rarely represented genre filmmakers from nations like Iran, Poland and Tunisia, with 23% of the films directed by women. And as an Australian capital-city event, I wanted to make sure the local industry was front-and-centre, especially independently produced science fiction. We have the World Premiere of four Australian films – the features Monsters of Man and Strangeville; and, the shorts Starspawn: An Overture and A Blaster In the Right Hands.
CP: The science fiction genre is constantly pushing the boundaries in thematic content and design. What are some interesting areas in the Festival program that you’d like to highlight?
Simon: With twenty countries represented in the line-up, we are presenting a pretty complete snapshot of how the science fiction genre is being utilised across the planet. What I draw from the line-up is that while key elements remain constant – time travel, A.I. development, the militarization of robotics, the vulnerability of humanity to unchecked tech – it is how they are filtered through the social experience of the filmmakers that fascinates. We have an Iranian mini-feature called The Fabricated that places its protagonists in a Matrix-like simulated world, their minds controlled by the governing military regime. The symbolism is understated but potent.
CP: The horror genre is constantly pushing against taboo boundaries, does science fiction have the same or similar kind of envelope? What do you like seeing filmmakers do within the scope of science fiction?
Simon: I ask from sci-fi filmmakers the same as I ask from any director – originality; a freshness across all aspects of a production. That gets harder, as the medium of film ages and narratives start to seep into each other. And I get older, and see more films than is probably healthy. So it becomes an increasingly harder ask to find new visions. I’d point to movies in the festival program like the Spanish film Queen of the Lizards, the Australian short Extra(terrestrial) and the music-themed feature Fonotune An Electronic Fairytale, directed by EDM star Fint, as selections that are bracingly fresh and challenging.
CP: How accommodating is the program with science fantasy? What about sf-horror? How prevalent is the concept of “nightmare future”?
Simon: On Friday November 20 at 9.00pm, we are presenting a strand called ‘Horrific Futures: SciFi’s Darkest Visions’, the centrepiece of which is the chilling French feature Anonymous Animals. It posits a world in which animals have evolved and treat man as we treat some animals in our world. For many, futurism represents a leap into the unknown and that can be a terrifying prospect. I’d point to one of your favourite films, Alien, as the definitive example of that concept. Our Saturday 21st evening feature, Scales, melds the darkest kind of fairy tale fantasy, in this case the legend of the sirens of the sea, with elements of patriarchal horror. From the UAE and helmed by woman director Shahad Ameen, it is a stunning mix of nightmarish imagery and female empowerment.
CP: Are you predicating a glut of pandemic and isolation features and shorts for next year?
Simon: That’s already started to play out with a few films in our line-up dealing with isolation, introspection and loneliness. From 9.00pm on Thursday 19th we screen It’s Not Safe Outside from the UK, about a high-rise shut-in struggling to connect with her neighbour, followed by the Italian feature Darkness, in which three sisters are convinced by their father the world outside their home is a barren wasteland. End-of-society narratives are not uncommon in science fiction; I’ve already mentioned I Am Legend, which stemmed from The Omega Man, not too mention films like the Mad Max movies or The Road or Book Of Eli, the list goes on. I think, though, that maybe this extended period of isolation and confinement has impacted the filmmakers personally, and that may provide new insights into old ideas.
CP: If you could choose one science fiction movie from yesteryear you’d love to see remade, what would it be?
Simon: One of my favourite films is Doug Trumbull’s Brainstorm, and I think that could be reworked into something amazing. It was such a fascinating idea but clearly wasn’t fully realized, for a number of reasons. I think a fresh vision, utilising real-world tech advancements, could give it new life.
CP: Thanks Simon!