SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL AND EVENT CINEMAS PRESENT SIX RETRO SCI-FI CLASSICS AT THE ICONIC SKYLINE DRIVE-IN.
The 2024 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will launch its 5th anniversary celebrations with a retrospective season of six retro sci-fi classics, to screen at the iconic Skyline Drive-In in Sydney’s west.
The line-up of beloved genre works is:
APRIL 27 - MAD MAX 45th Anniversary
The ultimate Australian cult classic is back on the big screen for its 45th anniversary. George Miller’s ferocious action epic remains a masterpiece of metal-crunching thrills; a pulsating vision of a dystopian society that remains to this day a genre-defining work and exhilarating moviegoing experience.
MAY 25 - WEIRD SCIENCE
Director John Hughes (The Breakfast Club; Sixteen Candles) melds two very-80s pop culture influences - the bawdy teen comedy and the booming home computer ‘fad’ - for his outrageous party-pic. Two nerds (Ilan Mitchell-Smith and Anthony Michael Hall) conjure the perfect woman (Kelly Le Brock), only to find there’s more to her than pubescent wish-fulfilment.
JUNE 29 - ROBOCOP 4K Remaster
A rare screening of Dutch agitator Paul Verhoeven’s bloody, brilliant satire in its fullest form. Barely surviving a shocking shootout, Detroit cop Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) becomes the ideal candidate for a new urban defence initiative - the part human/part android ‘Robocop’ program. “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me.”
JULY 27 - THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8th DIMENSION 40th Anniversary
Adventurer, brain surgeon, rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil alien invaders from the eighth dimension who are planning to conquer Earth. It’s taken four decades, but cult movie fans the world over are finally discovering the insane magic of director W.D. Richter’s eccentric comedy adventure. With Peter Weller, Jeff Goldblum, Ellen Barkin and an unhinged John Lithgow.
AUGUST 24 - FLATLINERS
Five medical students gamble with their lives to answer the question about what happens when you die in director Joel Schumacher’s speculative thriller. In 1990, most of this extraordinary ensemble were on the cusp of stardom - Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, William Baldwin and a scene-stealing Oliver Platt (Kevin Bacon was the ‘veteran’ in the cast).
SEPTEMBER 28 - THE THING
John Carpenter’s practical effects masterpiece only grows in stature with the passage of time; a work so rich in menace, character and blood-curdling imagery, it stands as a landmark of sci-fi/horror cinema. Starring Kurt Russell as the reluctant anti-hero, stranded at an arctic research site as a viral alien gene takes hold, The Thing stands alongside Alien and Invasion of The Body Snatchers as a profound study of claustrophobic, paranoid terror.
The 2024 retrospective initiative came about after discussions between festival director Simon Foster, who has curated the collection, and EVENT Entertainment Film and Content Executive Callie Hughan, a long-term supporter of the festival. The concept for an extended retrospective roster of titles was first broached after the success of the 2023 drive-in double-feature, The Blob and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
“Sydney needs more than just a handful of sessions every year where the same easy-to-program old films are repeated,” said Foster, who has scheduled such rarely-seen films as The Last Starfighter, Electric Dreams and Brainstorm in past festivals. “Giving big screen space to films like Mad Max, Flatliners, Weird Science and The Thing, allowing audiences to see these films as they should be seen, will hopefully ignite a resurgence in retro movie-going.”
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The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival patron and the organisation's Board Members will preside over the following award categories:
THE RON COBB BEST FEATURE FILM: The feature (over 40 mins) that best exemplifies the vision, values and ambitions of the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival. Named in honour of the late Ron Cobb, an adopted son of Sydney and iconic conceptual artist on such films as Dark Star, Alien, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Conan the Barbarian and The Abyss.
THE ADAM LEE MEMORIAL AWARD: Awarded to a figure in the science fiction/fantasy community who has exhibited a dedication to their life’s work and served the genre and its fanbase with the enthusiasm and passion. Adam Lee was a Melbourne film archivist and genre fan who passed away in July 2021.
BEST LIVE SHORT FILM (INTERNATIONAL) and BEST LIVE SHORT FILM (AUSTRALIA)
BEST ACTOR (Feature Film) and BEST ACTOR (Short Film)
BEST ACTRESS (Feature Film) and BEST ACTRESS (Short Film)
BEST DIRECTOR (Feature Film) and BEST DIRECTOR (Short Film)
BEST ANIMATION SHORT
BEST STUDENT SHORT
BEST UNPRODUCED FEATURE FILM SCREENPLAY
BEST UNPRODUCED SHORT FILM SCREENPLAY
BEST TV/WEB SERIES or EPISODE
ION-SciFi AUDIENCE AWARD: The most popular feature film as voted upon by Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival audiences via the ION Sci-Fi Partnership Page (https://endeavour.tv/blogs/ion-sci-fi/ions-best-of-festival-2618)