New England's largest and most diverse science fiction and fantasy convention
Films
Printer-friendly versionFriday
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- In this Toho classic, Earth is attacked by Venusian forces, but
are saved
by a Japanese scientist, his beautiful daughter, and his prototype
spaceship.
Derivative in some ways (the spaceship is a reworked version of the
model
from Atragon), and with a future that looks remarkably like 1970s
Tokyo, but
very much in the classic Japanese space opera tradition.
1 hr, 29 min., in 16mm
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The Golem (Silent Film) |
10:00pm |
- In 16th century Prague, a rabbi creates a creature from clay and
using proprietary source code, brings it to life in order to protect
the Jewish community there. Unfortunately some bugs remain. This
classic German silent is still creepy after ninety years. Gary McGath's
live organ accompaniment makes it creepier.
1 hr. 5 min., in 16mm
Preceded By: Home Movies from Arisia 2008 A couple years ago we carried
a hand-cranked newsreel camera around the
convention and shot film of actual fans doing actual fannish things.
You
can see them in this exciting short. See children misbehaving! See
adults
being silly!
6 min, In 35mm Kludgecolor
Preceded By: Newsreel 2147 A view into the world of Robert Charles
Wilson's "Julian Comstock",
this newsreel details how the war against the Dutch is going and the
bright future for the new American dictatorship.
In 35mm B&W -- length unknown
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Richard III Midnight Callback |
Midnight |
- Inspired by a scene in Jasper Fforde's "THE EYRE AFFAIR," come
see a
showing of RICHARD III (1955), with audience participation, a la ROCKY
HORROR.
No prior knowledge of Shakespeare required, merely a sense of humor.
2 hrs. 41 min., In 16mm, Color by Technicolor
SATURDAY
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Rocky And His Friends |
7:00am |
- An original network print, with the original commercials, of this
fine
moose and squirrel oriented cartoon.
20 min, In 16mm B&W
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Space Angel: Project Hero |
7:30am |
- A curious product of the early 1960s, this is an animated
children's television show employing Synchro-Vox, a process in which
live action lips were rotoscoped onto still drawings. The plotlines and
the artwork both owed a lot to the pulp SF styles of the day and were
quite advanced for a kid's show of that era. Project Hero is the story
of a robot learning to adapt to his life.
25 min, In 16mm
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Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot |
8:00am |
- The earth is invaded by a terrorist group called Gargoyle,
controlled
by the
Emperor Gillotine. What can be done? Why, Johnny Sokko can use his
enormous
robot, using a remote control disguised as a wristwatch to help save
the earth.
This is classic Japanese tokusatsu (``special effects'') television,
now
unavailable in the US.
25 min., in 16mm
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- TO BE ANNOUNCED -- CEREAL AND SERIALS
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The Thing vs. Godzilla |
9:00am |
- When this film was first released in the US in 1964, there was a
huge
campaign asking "What Is The Thing?" and theatre posters with the Thing
blacked out. In fact, The Thing is just Mothra, and this film was
originally
presented in Japan as Godzilla vs. Mothra. My mother says, ``This is
just more
of that Godzilla Gorilla crap that will rot your brains out.'' This
classic
Japanese monster film is fun for the whole family except my mom.
American International Pictures edit
1 hr. 29 min., In 16mm Cinemascope
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Rocky Jones: Space Ranger |
11:00am |
- Rocky Jones, Vena Ray, and ten-year-old
Bobby cruise the galaxy in their space ship in this typical television
space opera, complete with
space piracy, hijacking, and everything else a kid in the fifties
would want to see in a serial. We're actually running a complete set of
four episodes back to back because the LAST time we ran a single
episode and
people had to wait until next Arisia to see how it came out.
1 hr. 30 min, 16mm
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- This is a break to allow the film room staff to have lunch.
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Two Short Films by Robert Houllahan |
1:00pm |
- Experimental Garde filmmaker Robert Houllahan will show two of
his recent short
films, Psychic Alchemist" and "Iron Guild." Each of these will be
followed
by a short discussion period where he will talk about the films and
about
filmmaking as art and its relationship to the science fiction
tradition.
1 hr., In 16mm
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In Search of Ancient Mysteries |
2:00pm |
- Pseudoscience? Absolutely! But wouldn't it be great if the Mayan
civilization actually had been created by aliens? Rod Serling narrates
this amusing if unbelievable documentary which briefly summarizes all
the
crazy UFO theories of the 1970s.
60 min, 16mm
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- HALF HOUR SLOT FREE
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Jonny Quest: Pursuit of the Po-Ho |
3:30pm |
- We have the original network print of this Jonny Quest episode.
Not only
does it have the original commercials, but it also has all of the
phrases
that were censored in the DVD version.
Introduced by special guest Renee Walling.
20 min., In 16mm B&W
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The Host (Gwoemul) |
4:00pm |
- This is the scariest movie I have ever seen, and it's scary in
the same way
that Alien is scary. Sure, it's another Asian monster movie, but this
is
so much better than anything you've seen in years. A mutant monster,
created
by improper toxic waste disposal on an American military base, leaves
the water
and begins terrorizing Seoul. This film tells the story of a family
during
that terrible time.
In Korean with subtitles or dubbing?
2 hrs, in 35mm
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- This USIA-produced film details the launch and almost-docking of
Gemini 6
and Gemini 7 spacecraft.
15 min, 16mm. Color by Eastman Reversal Process (red)
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- The Apollo 7 mission was a major milestone on the road to the
moon. This
film details how and why with some great images from space.
15 min, 16mm. Color by Eastman Reversal Process (red)
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NASA Highlights 1969 |
6:30pm |
- Sure, you know about the moon landing. But did you know about the
Mariner
visits to Mars, early development of the Space Shuttle, vertical
landing
aircraft or sounding rockets at Wallops Island? Come and find out what
else NASA was doing too.
14 min, 16mm. Color by Eastman Reversal Process (red)
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- This late 1950s Boeing production details the important research
Boeing
is doing to allow men to live in space over the long term.
15 min, 16mm. Color by Eastman Reversal Process (red)
-
- In this Toho classic, Earth is attacked by Venusian forces, but
are saved
by a Japanese scientist, his beautiful daughter, and his prototype
spaceship.
Derivative in some ways (the spaceship is a reworked version of the
model
from Atragon), and with a future that looks remarkably like 1970s
Tokyo, but
very much in the classic Japanese space opera tradition.
Second Showing
1 hr, 29 min., in 16mm
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Trashi: X-Rated Film |
Midnight |
- In keeping with the Arisia theme of Mad Science, we present this
X-rated
classic. In his basement laboratory, Dr. Schtupp completes the latest
in a long
series of sex robots: Trashi (played by Lisa De Leeuw). Previous models
were
not entirely successful but Trashi is perfect. When the chief of police
and
a private inspector come by to investigate rumors, they find even more
than
expected. "Explains some consequences of the First Law," says Karen M.
"`Isn't that a Tektronix 565?" asks Jim W. This film will be introduced
by Cecilia Tan, resident expert in the field of erotica.
You must be 18
years or older and have identification available to enter the
auditorium.
2 hrs., In 16mm. Color by Eastman
SUNDAY
-
- Questor is an android designed by Dr. Vaslovik, assembled by an
international
scientific team according to his plans. But Dr. Vaslovik has
disappeared and
one of the programming tapes is missing, so Questor isn't quite sure
what his
purpose is, only that he needs to find Dr. Vaslovik. He enlists
technician
Jerry Robinson (Mike Farrell) into a road trip.
This will be shown with
English-language closed captioning for the deaf.
1 hr. 40 min, In 16mm. Color by Fuji
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- This was George Lucas' first movie, and many think it is still
his
best.
A slow and thoughtful film, it is a love story that takes place in a
world
of cloned humans where love has been eliminated. You need to see this
film
if only to understand the many references to it made in more recent SF
work.
Because the only film and video versions currently available have been
ruined
by adding distracting and superfluous CGI, we have had to obtain an
older
print of the original version of the film which is not in the best of
condition
but remains the only way you can currently see this film as it was
first shown.
26 min. In 16mm.
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The Host (Gwoemul) |
2:00pm |
- This is the scariest movie I have ever seen, and it's scary in
the
same way
that Alien is scary. Sure, it's another Asian monster movie, but this
is
so much better than anything you've seen in years. A mutant monster,
created
by improper toxic waste disposal on an American military base, leaves
the water
and begins terrorizing Seoul. This film tells the story of a family
during
that terrible time.
Second Show
In Korean with subtitles or dubbing?
2 hrs, in 35mm
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Let The Right One In |
4:00pm |
- This Swedish vampire film is substantially better than the
American
remake
currently making the rounds. It's a story about a young boy who
befriends the
classic "girl next door" except that the girl next door is 200 years
old
and lives off of human blood. This is a lovely story about friendship
and
vampires, and it's one that was written by people who actually know
about
classical vampires and aren't screwing up the rules.
1 hr 55 min, in 35mm Cinemascope
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- Everybody's favorite event! Two hours of trailers for movies you
love,
movies you hate, and movies you've never heard of! Once again we reach
into
the dumpsters behind the movie theatre for the finest trailers
possible,
including, due to special request, the Starlost production trailer.
1 hr. 45 min., In damn near every format made
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Window To Paris (Okhno v'Parizh) |
8:00pm |
- In St. Petersburg in the early 1990s, right after the fall of the
Soviet
Union, some people in a communal apartment discover a wormhole in space
that terminates in Paris. Visiting the west helps them see more of
their
own country. "It's like a Soviet version of Being John Malkovitch"
says
Mary. This beautifully-made comedy will be introduced by Andrey
Fedorov, an actual Russian, who will provide a little background.
In Russian with subtitles.
1 hr. 27 min., in 35mm
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Land (with William Shatner) |
10:00pm |
- After the cancellation of Star Trek: The Original Series, skilled
"actors"
like William Shatner were thrown out into the streets. Unemployed with
no
way to support himself other than a few million dollars in residuals,
what
was a skilled tragedian to do? Why, narrate cheaply-made educational
shorts,
of course. Shatner explains how the growth of America was shaped by the
land
we live on, in this short that is not on his official resume.
30 min., In 16mm
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The Terrornauts: Special Extra-Bad Film |
11:00pm |
- This early British SF film starts with a screenplay by John
Brunner
adapted from a Murray Leinster story, but then it goes all wrong. You'd
think two of the best SF writers of their era would come up with
something
wonderful, but instead we have the stereotypical professor and his
beautiful
daughter, the tea lady, and the rest of the crew at a telescope who
find
themselves taken on board an alien space ship where they have to save
the
world. The effects are just as bad as the character development. This
film
is presented in conjunction with the Institute For Very Bad Cinema.
In 16mm, 1 hr. 15 min.
Monday
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- We will run any of the films listed for this weekend. You
must
arrive at 9 AM in order to cast your vote. Film will begin promptly at
9:15 after setup and preparation.