SCIENCE FRONTIERS: Your Guide to Festival Films

Incredible scientific discoveries have long been featured, and sometimes embellished, in the cinema; eventually spawning the Science-Fiction genre.

Screening at QAGOMA, the World Science Festival Brisbane 2017 will offer a film program filled with some of the best Sci-Fi flicks from recent decades.

Nine films that demonstrate the stunning cinematography and dramatic tension this genre has to offer will inspire festival attendees with intrigue and wonder.

Gattaca, 22 March 6pm

1997 M

Set in a near future in which DNA determines a person’s professional and social status, Vincent (Ethan Hawke) is desperately trying to break out of his prescribed menial work and prove he’s capable of becoming an astronaut.

Alien, 22 March 8pm

1979 M

A visionary thriller, Alien follows the crew of a space cargo ship who take on board more than they bargained for. The film introduced the iconic and highly influential character Ellen Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver.

Particle fever, 23 March 6pm

2013 M

Particle Fever follows the lead up to the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s biggest science experiment, with white-knuckle suspense.

Voyage of Time, 24 March 6pm and 26 March 11am

2016 Ages 12+

Epic in scale, Voyage of Time further explores Director Terrence Malick’s interest in understanding humanity’s place in the world. In this film, he uses breathtaking imagery that catalogues the universe from the birth of the stars to single cell organisms.

Sepideh, 25 March 12:30pm

2013 All ages

Sepideh, an Iranian teenager, must overcome the constraints placed on her gender in order to follow her passion to study astronomy and become an astronaut. Filmed over several years, Sepideh is an unusually intimate portrait of scientific dreams and family politics – highlighted most intensely in an incredible conversation between Sepideh and her uncle in which he threatens to kill her if she does anything dishonourable.

Primer, 25 March 6pm

2004 M

Two friends invent a time travel device and things spiral out of control faster than either thought possible. Produced on a tiny budget of US$7000 and much loved for its clever approach to time travel logistics, Primer went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

Interstellar, 25 March 7:30pm

2014 M

Starring Mathew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine, Interstellar is set in future in which earth is running out of food.  McConaughey embarks on a radical mission to save humanity, piloting a spacecraft through a wormhole in search of habitable planets.

Moon, 26 March 1pm

2009 M

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is solo caretaker of an automated mining base on the moon and is living out the last few days of his lonely three year contract. He can almost taste how sweet it will be to return to earth when a discovery of a body throws his world into disarray.

The Man Who Fell to Earth, 26 March 3pm

1976 R

David Bowie is mesmerising as Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien who has crash landed on earth in search of water to take back to his drought-stricken planet. As the complexities of living on earth unfold, Newton’s desperate cause is diverted.

In addition, a special screening of the harrowing 2016 release, Hidden Figures, will be shown at QAGOMA on 25 March at 2:30pm with a panel discussion to follow. See more information here.