SyrFilmFest, Red House present ‘Science and Magic in Film’ series

Monday, January 9, 2012, By KC Duggan

SYRFILM INC. and The Red House Arts Center continue their collaboration on the series “Science and Magic in Film.” This four-part series takes place at the Red House Arts Center beginning this month, on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Each screening includes a discussion. Program passes are now available for $25 and can be purchased at the Red House Arts Center. Single screening tickets are also available at the door for $8. Programs begin at 7 p.m.; doors open at 6:30 p.m. at the Red House Arts Center, located at 201 South West St. Free parking is available.

  • Jan. 24, “Forbidden Planet” (1956); guest Douglas Quin (sound designer, naturalist, public radio commentator and music composer)
    “Forbidden Planet” was the first science fiction film that was set entirely in deep space, away from the planet Earth. It is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s, a precursor of what was to come for the science fiction film genre in the decades that followed. “Forbidden Planet” features the groundbreaking use of an all-electronic music musical score. It also featured Robby the Robot, one of the first film robots that was more than just a mechanical tin can on legs. Directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. Starring Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon and Anne Francis.
  • Feb. 28, “Fellini Satyricon” (1969); guest Jeffrey Gorney (writer, photographer and actor)
    This Oscar-nominated film, directed by Federico Fellini, is loosely based on Petronius’ work “Satyricon,” a series of bawdy and satirical episodes written during the reign of the emperor Nero and set in imperial Rome. Fellini has described this film as “science fiction of the past,” as though the Romans of that decadent age were being observed by the astounded inhabitants of a flying saucer. “Satyricon” is a journey through a fairytale for adults.
  • March 27, “The Last Wave” (1977); guest Owen Shapiro (professor and filmmaker in the Department of Transmedia in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University)
    “What if someone with a very pragmatic approach to life experienced a premonition?” Directed by Peter Weir, “The Last Wave” is about a white Australian lawyer whose seemingly normal life is disrupted after he takes on a murder case for Aborigine defendants. He discovers that he shares a strange and unexplained mystical connection to the small group of local Australian Aborigines accused of the crime.
  • April 24, “Blade Runner” (1982); guest Jim Loperfido (Syracuse International Film Festival CEO, Auburn Cinefile Society founder)
    “Blade Runner” depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019, in which genetically engineered organic robots called replicants—visually indistinguishable from adult humans—are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corp. Their use on Earth is banned. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and “retired” by police special operatives known as “Blade Runners.” Directed by Ridley Scott, starring Harrison Ford.

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