Skip to main content

Sci-Fi-London · 2023

Sci-Fi-London 2023

Features

Programme

14 films · 3 reviews

Jump to a film

The Bystanders

Review preview for The Bystanders

A small scale triumph.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Invisible immortals watch over their human subjects and intervene in (or interfere with) their lives.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Gabriel Foster Prior; Writer: Gabriel Foster Prior, Jack Hughes; Stars: Seann Walsh, Andi Jashy, Georgia Mabel Clarke, Scott Haran, Lucy Pinder, Frank Harper, Emily Wyatt, David Schaal)

Full review See: Interview with Gabriel Foster Prior about The Bystanders

Cade: The Tortured Crossing

An identical twin brother restores an old, mysterious mental asylum. He takes it upon himself to mystically train the patients as warriors for humanity and justice.

(Year: 2023; Director: Neil Breen; Writer: Neil Breen; Stars: Neil Breen, Gwendolyn Brown, Nicole Butler, Jeremy Chavez)

Deep Astronomy And The Romantic Sciences

Grace is a robot incognito whose primary function is to represent humanity based on a generalisation created from all social media and wireless communications. Rudy is her final test.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Cory McAbee; Writer: Cory McAbee; Stars: Rudy Dejesus, Meredith Adelaide, Michi Muzyka, Cory McAbee, Craig Anton, Sebastian Galasso, Matt Roper, Casey Edwards)

The Elderly (Viejos)

Review preview for The Elderly

Cerezo and Gómez remind us that we are living through some of the strangest days our world has known right now.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
An octogenarian, who enters into a state of dementia after the sudden suicide of his wife, sparks a series of paranormal events that will put his family's lives at risk.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Raúl Cerezo, Fernando González Gómez; Writer: Raúl Cerezo, Rubén Sánchez Trigos, Javier Trigales; Stars: Irene Anula, Zorion Eguileor, Josele Román, Gustavo Salmerón, Paula Gallego)

Full review

The Eye And The Wall

A totalitarian regime, The Eye, runs the city of Gabhán. Shut off from the world by a soaring wall it has a brutal and militaristic police force. A secret aid worker finds herself tricked into participating in a daring escape.

(Country: Guatemala; Year: 2021; Director: Javier del Cid)

The Great Glitch/Children Of Paradise (Det Store Glitch/Paradisets Børn)

Summer in Copenhagen. Best friends Ronja and Serb are restless souls in their mid-twenties struggling to navigate life. As one joins a secret activist network, and the other falls in love with a mysterious girl, a series of increasingly unlikely events unfold, and the line between reality and fiction begins to erode.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2023; Director: Søren Peter Langkjær Bojsen; Writer: Søren Peter Langkjær Bojsen; Stars: Joos Rohrberg Sanden Støvelbæk, Lukas Gregory, Leonora Saabye, Simon Bennebjerg, Jonas Bergen Rahmanzadeh, Skjold Rambow)

Once Upon A Time In The Future: 2121 (Bir Zamanlar Gelecek: 2121)

In the future, the earth becomes uninhabitable due to climate crisis and famine. The few survivors from colonies and start to live in underground blocks. According to the Scarcity Laws of the Young Administration which controls the system, old generations must be destroyed in exchange for new lives.

(Country: Turkey; Year: 2020; Director: Serpil Altın; Writer: Korhan Ugur, Srpil Altin; Stars: Selen Ozturk, Çagdas Onur Ozturk, Aysenil Samlioglu)

Ozma

One night after another restless sleep Jeff, an insomniac haunted by the loss of his wife, discovers an alien jellyfish-like creature in the alley by his house. The creature communicates telepathically and persuades the reluctant Jeff to help it hide from the hostile forces on its trail.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Keith John Adams; Writer: Keith John Adams; Stars: Jun Noh, Éva Magyar, Ferdy Roberts, Victoria Moseley, Alice Margaroli, Gemma Saunders)

Phi 1.618

In a dystopian future, a nation of asexual immortal men has been built to fit the golden ratio. As they bid to leave the planet, they plan to take only one female but a calligrapher makes a surprise discovery that could change the course of events.

(Country: Bulgaria, Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Theodore Ushev; Writer: Vladislav Todorov, Vladislav Todorov; Stars: Martina Apostolova, Irmena Chichikova, Ivo Dimchev, Deyan Donkov, Vassil Duev, Gerasim Georgiev, Vladimir Lyutzkanov, Nikolay Nikolaev, Nikolay Stanoev, Kitodar Todorov)

Remote

Follows the daily routines of a quarantined woman in her sealed-off, ultra-modern apartment, where she falls down a rabbit hole playing an inexplicable interactive game with a community of women from around the world.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Mika Rottenberg and Mahyad Tousi)

UFO Sweden

A rebellious teen placed in foster care suspects her father is not dead but has been abducted. She is determined to find out the truth with help from a UFO association.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2022; Director: Victor Danell; Writer: Victor Danell, Jimmy Nivrén Olsson; Stars: Inez Dahl Torhaug, Jesper Barkselius, Eva Melander, Sara Shirpey)

The War Game

Review preview for The War Game

There is nothing subtle about this documentary, no place for irony just shocking image after image to bring home the terror of war.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
What would happen if a nuclear bomb hit Kent?

(Country: UK; Year: 1965; Director: Peter Watkins; Writer: Peter Watkins; Stars: Michael Aspel, the people of Kent)

Full review See: Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival preview

The Warm Season

A woman's purpose is redefined when a space alien she encountered as a child returns to reclaim what was left behind.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Janet Grillo; Writer: Adam Seidel; Stars: Gregory Jbara, Cynthia Mace, Nicholas Wagner, Daniel Dorr, Manny Rubio)

Wintertide

A volunteer watchperson in an isolated northern city battles a plague of depression that transforms the few remaining residents into empty, zombie-like automatons.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: John Barnard; Writer: John Barnard, Carrie-May Siggins; Stars: Niamh Carolan, John B Lowe, Josh Strait, Jeremy Walmsley, Onalee Ames, Darcy Fehr)