Virtual worlds on the big screen vary from the most escapist to the increasingly relevant and in this episode of Sci-Fi London’s podcast we look at two very different representations of these on screen. Alex Fitch talks to Nicolas Alberny and Jean Mach, the directors of 8th Wonderland, a film about a virtual community declaring themselves to be a new country with rights and influence on the rest of the world, and the agit-prop antics of the members of this virtual country on film proved prophetic compared to recent events in the Middle East and demonstrations on the streets of London. Also, we have an extract from the Tron: Legacy press conference in which director Joseph Kosinski, stars Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde and others talk about their sequel to a VR film classic.
(Tron: Legacy is released on DVD 18/04/11 and 8th Wonderland in June)

Robert Bradford in 8th Wonderland / Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com

Links: Official 8th Wonderland and Tron: Legacy websites
Download 8th Wonderland from iTunes

Recommended events:

25 years of John Constantine: Hellblazer at SCI-FI-LONDON

To belatedly celebrate the 25th anniversary of the start of the ongoing Hellblazer comic, for the inaugural event of this year’s London International Science-Fiction and Fantastic Film Festival, Sci-Fi London is proud to present a panel of Constantine creators – Jamie Delano, David Lloyd, Andy Diggle and Peter Milligan – in an on stage Q and A about their experiences of working on the comic and related graphic novels.
The panel is followed by a screening of the movie Constantine (2005).
5pm, Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street, London.

Tickets / more info: www.sci-fi-london.com/festival

With more and more people wanting to download movies off the internet, a new company has come along to help people do this legally with a wide range of films that include British gems and cult classics. Alex Fitch talks to James Rowley-Ashwood about indiemoviesonline.com: how the collection of films on the site were curated – from Evil Aliens to the site’s one playing movie A Serbian Film, short films by Lotte Reiniger and the Brothers Quay and back catalogue titles from Peter Greenaway and Alex Cox, some of which are out of print on DVD – and how the site’s funding and distribution are achieved.

Links: indiemoviesonline.com
Watch A Serbian Film

Read Virginie Selavy’s article about the censorship of A Serbian Film and interview with the director
Recent articles by Alex Fitch at Electric Sheep: the Halloween franchise / Source Code review

In the third Electric Sheep Podcast of 2011, to coincide with the Birds Eye View Film Festival’s focus on women in horror, Electric Sheep editor Virginie Sélavy leads a discussion with three women filmmakers working in this traditionally male-dominated genre. Her guests are: Melanie Light, director of Switch, Kate Shenton, director of Bon Appetit, and Jennifer Eiss, co-director of Short Lease. All three shorts screened as part of the Horror Shorts programme of B.E.V. on Saturday 12 March at the ICA.

Still from Switch by Melanie Light

More info: www.birds-eye-view.co.uk

Read Eleanor McKeown’s rarticle about new female horror directors.

For more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org

In association with

The latest issue of Electric Sheep Magazine looks at women in horror with articles on Ingrid Pitt, Amber Heard, Alien‘s Ripley and emerging UK female horror directors. Clouzot’s noir masterpiece Les diaboliques and intriguing Korean revenge tale Bedevilled are on cinema screens. Comedian Jessica Fostekew explores the horror genre and we have a Reel Sounds column on Delia Derbyshire’s score for The Legend of Hell House while writer Sarah Pinborough tells us why her horror alter ego would have to be Ripley.

To mark the Nic Roeg season at the BFI we have a feature on the Venice of Don’t Look Now. Also on cinema screens this month are Haruki Murakami adaptation Norwegian Wood and controversial Japanese corruption saga Confessions of a Dog – read the interview with director Gen Takahashi.

New DVDs include Czech 60s political satire Larks on a String and Lucio Fulci’s surreal zombie shocker The Beyond. We look at 70s British filmmaker Richard Woolley and we have an interview with Clio Barnard about The Arbor. Our Online Movie column looks at paper theatre and spirited indie five-piece combo Pete and the Pirates pick their favourite films in the Film Jukebox. In the Blog, we report on the Rotterdam Festival. ?

In the second Electric Sheep Podcast of 2011, Alex Fitch talks to director Ivo van Hove about his innovative theatrical production The Antonioni Project, being staged at The Barbican, City of London, a play that combines elements of cinema and theatre as it blends three screenplays by Michelangelo Antonioni with the latest technological achievements.

Photo of The Antonioni Project, directed by Ivo van Hove

The Barbican are also showing all three of the films which inspired The Antonioni Project:
L’Avventura (The Adventure) / 5 Feb 2011 / 15:45 / Cinema 1
La Notte (The Night) / 13 Feb 2011 / 13:30 / Cinema 1
L’eclisse (The Eclipse) / 20 Feb 2011 / 16:00 / Cinema 1

More info: www.barbican.org.uk

More for more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org

In association with

Links: Info about The Antonioni Project at The Barbican
Review round-up of the production on current.com
Toneelgroep Amsterdam website
Wikipedia page on Michelangelo Antonioni

The latest issue of Electric Sheep Magazine is now online, and is concerned with confessions -
Tricky revelations, poetic admissions and Catholic guilt – inspired by the brilliant, devilishly twisted revenge tale Confessions – read our interview with director Tetsuya Nakashima, who also made Kamikaze Girls and Memories of Matsuko, and watch the trailer. Also on cinema screens this month, Howl explores Allen Ginsberg’s revolutionary confessional poem and the obscenity trial against its publisher. We also have articles on nunsploitation, and on faith and guilt in William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, The Ninth Configuration and Exorcist III, as well as a Reel Sounds column on I Walked with a Zombie.

Other cinema releases include elegant nightmare Never Let Me Go, adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro by Alex Garland, intense Australian crime drama Animal Kingdom and Mohamed Al-Daradji’s Son of Babylon. In the DVDs, we review eerie French psycho-thriller In Their Sleep, Miloš Forman’s 60s Czech New Wave classic A Blonde in Love and Fritz Lang’s 1941 espionage thriller Man Hunt, and we have a Comic Strip Review by Hannah Berry of The Last Lovecraft.

Excerpt from The Last Lovecraft review by Hannah Berry

In Short Cuts, we report on the music programme of the London Short Film Festival while writer Mary Horlock chooses an animated furry creature as her filmic alter ego. In the blog, you can read about Diana Thater’s video installation Chernobyl, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure, which is part of the Japan Foundation Touring Programme, and the Berlinale

In the first Electric Sheep Podcast of 2011, Alex Fitch presents a Q and A conducted by Jasper Sharp with director Tetsuaki Matsue recorded at the Zipangu festival at London University School of Oriental and African Studies, November 2010. Jasper and Tetsuaki discuss the director’s work in independent documentary cinema, focussing on his two most recent films – Annyong Yumika (2009), a documentary portrait of the adult performer Yumika Hayashi following the discovery after her death of an obscure low-budget Korean oddity in which she starred, Junko the Tokyo Housewife, and Live Tape (2009), the one guitar, one camera, one tape and one take live concert film of Kenta Maeno’s street performance that won the 2009 ‘Japanese Eyes’ Best Picture Award at Tokyo International Film Festival.

Left to right, film director Tetsuaki Matsue, actress Yumika Hayashi in the film Annyong Yumika and musician Kenta Maeno in the film Live Tape

More for more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org

In association with

Links: Zipangu Festival website +
pages on Tetsuaki Matsue, Annyong Yumika and Live Tape
SOAS (London University School of Oriental and African Studies) website

The latest issue of Electric Sheep Magazine is now online, and is concerned with Fallen women, sour love and toxic memories …
Dreamy Belgian neo-giallo Amer leads us to ponder cinematic bitterness with articles on Mizoguchi’s Street of Shame and Michael Haneke’s anatomy of hatred.

In cinemas, we review the extravagant ballet melodrama Black Swan and you can read our interview with director Darren Aronofsky while John Carpenter perfects his B-movie recipe with The Ward .

Extract of Breakfast at Tiffanys review by Francesca Cassavetti

Susannha York in The Battle of Britain

Recommended events:

Screenings at The Alibi

The fun ‘Film Club’ at The Alibi in Dalston continues with more free, classic movies on the big screen in January. Now with an earlier start time of 8pm.

24th Jan // Vengeance of the Zombies (1973)
31st Jan // American Movie (1999)

Free Every Monday from 7pm (film at 8pm)
The Alibi, 91 Kingsland High St

More info: www.thealibilondon.co.uk/filmclub

Call for Mechanical Elephant strips

As part of their ‘First Fridays’ events, Marine Studios in Margate are putting together an exhibition that looks at comics, graphic novels and sequential art.

Featuring work from a range of local and international artists and writers, live talk from guest speaker Paul Gravett, more comics than you can stand, and the chance to discuss your work and ideas.

To kick start proceedings prior to the show they are inviting submissions for a two page comic under the title: ‘Mechanical Elephant’. All ideas are welcome to inspire, amuse, terrify and entertain. There are no limits other than sticking to the two page rule (206 x 280 mm each, in either portrait or landscape), and of course, don’t forget the Mechanical Elephant!
Send your entries (jpeg, pdf, tif, eps or mov format) with the subject ‘Mechanical Elephant’ to: Kam [at] hkd.uk.com or Rick [at] hkd.uk.com

The deadline for entries is 21st January 2011. Marine Studios will display the finished artwork and as much of the preparatory work as possible in their show beginning 4th February 2011 at Marine Studios, Margate.

More info at www.marinestudios.co.uk/gallery/events/

Laydeez do Comics January meeting

Guest Speakers:

Corinne Pearlman: Cartoonist, designer and illustrator.
Co-coordinator of Cartoon County, the Sussex Association of Cartoonists and Comic Strip Artists.
Creative Director of Comic Company, and Myriad Editions

Erica Smith: Editor and Creator of Girl Frenzy, the UK’s only underground girl zine. First Published in ’91.

Ilya: British comic book writer and artist.
Creator of Bic who appeared in a self-published series of comics (now collected as Skidmarks). His first (not graphic) novel The Clay Dreaming was published in 2010.

Monday 24 January 2011, 6.30-9.30pm, The Rag Factory, Henage Street (off Brick Lane), London E1 5LJ

More info at: www.laydeezdocomics.com

In a Q and A recorded live at this year’s Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest, Alex Fitch talks to British director Gareth Edwards about his genre crossing feature film Monsters, which features a photo journalist escorting a spoilt rich girl across Mexico following an alien invasion.
Alex and Gareth discuss the latter’s use of special effects that vary from the obvious – creating bio-luminescent floating giant squid – to the invisible – distressed posters advertising the quarantine zone – and the pros and cons of shooting guerrilla style with a small cast and crew South of the Border.

Scoot McNairy in Monsters

To download / stream this radio interview in a variety of formats, please visit www.archive.org

Links: IMDb page on Monsters
Official website
Watch Gareth Edwards’ 48 hour film challenge short Factory Farmed
More info about Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest

Listen to Chris Patmore’s interview with Gareth concentrating on the Special Effects of Monsters

Recommended events:

Christmas screenings at The Alibi

Elf (2003) on 13th December
Die Hard (1988) on 20th December
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) 27th December

Free screenings of some classic movies at a friendly bar – The Alibi, 91 Kingsland High Street, Dalston – at 8pm every Monday!

More info: www.thealibilondon.co.uk/filmclub

Help the Comic Book Alliance raise money for charity

The Comic Book Alliance (CBA) are offering comic fans some very special Christmas treats this week with their very first fundraising auction — including the chance to star alongside Batman in his new comic, Batman Inc!

Grant Morrison will write the winning bidder into an issue of Batman Inc. featuring their name and likeness, courtesy of DC Comics.

Not only that, but Frank Quitely, winner of four 2010 Eagle Awards and one of the hottest artists in comics (All Star Superman, Batman & Robin) will draw a personalised portrait of a winning bidder!

Plus, there are dozens of signed books, comics and graphic novels from high profile creators like Alan Moore (Watchmen), Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys), Charles Vess (Stardust), and John Wagner (Judge Dredd).

And there’s original comic art and signed limited prints by the cream of British artists including zombie art work by Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), Bryan Talbot (Grandville), Sean Phillips (Criminal), John McCrea (Hitman), David Lloyd (V for Vendetta), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Rufus Dayglo (Tank Girl) and Garen Ewing (The Rainbow Orchid).

The auction starts at 19:00 on Thursday 2 December and runs until at 19:00 on Saturday 11 December on www.ebay.co.uk

To compliment this month’s online theme of dangerous and desperate women in the online print magazine, we’re happy to present in the podcast a pair of Q&As recorded at Electric Sheep film club screenings. Alex Fitch talks to Zoe Baxter, the presenter of Resonance FM’s radio show about Asian culture in the UK and discuss the epic ‘wuxia’ film Hero which featured memorable roles for female action heroes Maggie Cheung and Ziyi Zhang, and in the main interview, Electric Sheep magazine editor Virginie Selavy talks to Brixton based film maker Rebecca Johnson about the classic ‘blaxploitation’ film Foxy Brown starring Pam Grier and the various themes and depictions of race and gender that are present in the film.

Pam Grier in Foxy Brown, Ziyi Zhang in Hero

More for more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org

In association with

Links: IMDb pages on Foxy Brown and Hero

Wikipedia pages on ‘wuxia’ and ‘blaxploitation’

Zoe’s website: http://luckykitty.blogspot.com
More info about Rebecca Johnson’s film Top Girl

Recommended events:

Panel Borders at Comica:

Nov 6th: Charlie Adlard and The Walking Dead

Alex Fitch hosts an hour long talk with British artist Charlie Adlard about drawing various strips for 2000AD including Savage, Nikolai Dante and Judge Dredd plus his ongoing commitment to the monthly American survival horror comic The Walking Dead which he has been drawing since 2004 and has just been turned into a new TV series produced by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption). Followed by a signing with the artist.

Saturday, November 6th, 4.30pm
London Print Studio, 425 Harrow Rd, London W10 4RE
(nearest tube: Warwick Avenue / Westbourne Park)

Nov 10th: Comic Cuts – controversial comic books and banned periodicals

Alex Fitch discusses examples of banned and censored comic books in the last quarter of the 20th Century with publisher Tony Bennett and (via speaker phone) writer / artist Rick Veitch.

Tony’s publishing company Knockabout has seen its titles seized by British Customs, has been taken to court for publishing “drug related titles”, and for promoting the work of Robert Crumb. Knockabout have also commissioned comic book adaptations of previously banned novels such as Lady Chatterly’s Lover.
Rick is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, including the drawing of an issue of Moore’s Miracleman comic in the 1980s which was withdrawn from many shops due to its “graphic depictions of childbirth” and then when he took over as writer on another Moore comic – Swamp Thing – left the periodical when the publisher refused to print a certain issue.

Wednesday, November 10, 6pm
Whitechapel Idea Store, 321 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1BU
(nearest tube: Whitechapel / Bethnal Green)

Nov 5th: Transitions Conference at Birkbeck College

Alex Fitch will be chairing a session on comics and academia at the Transitions multi-disciplinary research conference on comics and graphic novels with Laydeez do Comics’ Sarah Lightman and Nicola Streeten

Friday, November 5th, 1.30pm (TBC) / conference starts at 9.30am
Birkbeck College, Clore Centre, 25-27 Torrington Square, London WC1E 7JL
(nearest tube: Russell Square / Goodge Street)

Also:

Nov 6th: Frames of Mind: Brick and Darryl Cunningham

What role can comics play in mental illness? A conversation between Brick, author of Depresso, and Darryl Cunningham, author of Psychiatric Tales, about their moving (semi) autobiographical graphic novels dealing with depression and other issues and how creating these comics has helped both themselves and others.

Saturday, November 6th, 2.30pm
London Print Studio, 425 Harrow Rd, London W10 4RE
(nearest tube: Warwick Avenue / Westbourne Park)

Nov 7th: Comica Comiket: Independent Comics Fair

Comica Comiket, the independent comics fair, teams up with the popular, long-running National Collectors Marketplace at the Royal National Hotel, Russell Square, and taking over its own dedicated space, the plush Ellis Room from 12-5pm. The legendary Fast Fiction Table was started by Paul Gravett at the Westminster Central Hall Comic Marts in 1981 and grew into the regular hub of the UK small press scene of the 1980s and birthplace of Escape Magazine. A limited number of exhibitor tables for the Comiket will be available at affordable prices and Charlie Adlard, Darryl Cunningham, Paul Duffield, Hunt Emerson, Garen Ewing, Paul Grist, Roger Langridge, Ellen Lindner, Woodrow Phoenix and others will draw live and sign books during the afternoon. The public are admitted free.

Sunday, November 7, 2010 – Noon to 5pm
Royal National Hotel, 38-51 Bedford Way, London WC1H ODG
(Nearest tube: Euston / St. Pancras)

Alex Fitch talks to film-makers Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith (a.k.a. Hammer and Tongs) about their promotion of the new Belgian feature length animation A Town called Panic which shows stop frame animated toys going on a wild adventure that involves mermen, mad scientists and a giant robot penguin. Alex also talks to Garth and Nick about the aesthetic of their films Son of Rambow and The Hitch-hiker’s guide to the Galaxy and how the demise of the UK Film Council is affecting their work and promotion of European films in the UK.

Nick Goldsmith and Garth Jennings at the cinema, Cowboy and Indian at the North Pole

To download / stream this radio interview in a variety of formats, please visit www.archive.org

Links: Wikipedia pages on Hammer and Tongs and
Watch A Town called Panic shorts and movie trailer
Hammer and Tongs’ website
Listen to Alex’s previous interview with Garth Jennings about Son of Rambow

Recommended events:

Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest

Friday 15th October

Rise of the Machines at The Royal Society, London

THE ROYAL SOCIETY plays host to an unashamedly robotic evening of discussion, demonstrations and drama. Tom Hunter is joined by Tony Ballantyne, author of Twisted Metal and Prof. Dr. Kerstin Dautenhahn, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Hertfordshire.
Kerstin is a pioneering researcher in robot social learning and imitation whose research interests include Human-Robot Interaction, Social Robotics, Socially Intelligent Agents and Artificial Life. Kerstin and her colleagues will also introduce us to two KASPAR robots (Kinesics and Synchronisation in Personal Assistant Robotics).

Following the discussion: We will be treated to a rehearsed reading of extracts from Karel Capek’s 1921 play R.U.R. (ROSSUM’S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS), which is noted for introducing the term, ‘ROBOT’.
SCI-FI-LONDON has commissioned a modernisation of the work for the 10th annual festival in April 2011. This will be the first public preview of the work-in-progress.
This fabulous evening is in collaboration with the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary celebrations in 2010.

6:30PM The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG (FREE!)

Technotise: Edit and I

Serbia’s first animated feature film – an eye-popping cyberpunk ride that’s calibrated to knock your socks off. Think GHOST IN THE SHELL meets WALTZ WITH BASHIR.

7:30PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

Dougal and the Blue Cat

We are delighted to screen a newly-restored cult classic of a spin-off from the children’s television series, THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT, but this feature is an altogether darker affair (+ FREE BEER!)

9:30PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

Saturday 16th October

Robots

Saturday morning kids screening of the popular CGI cartoon.

10:30AM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

Alien Encounters: Superior Fan Power Since 1979

Documentary about Ridley Scott’s classic Alien film and its contiuning legacy

1:00PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Live action version of the brilliant anime time travel film.

3:00PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

Monsters

Preview of the new British Sci-Fi film by Sci-FI London shorts alumni Gareth Edwards followed by a director’s masterclass hosted by Alex Fitch.

6:00PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

TRON

Screening of the Disney SF classic with a special 8 min preview of the forthcoming Tron: Legacy in 3D, plus special video introductions, short film and an accompanying exhibtion…

9:00PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

SFL All-Nighters

For many people the highlight of our twice yearly festival – all night screenings of your favourite genre films with as much ice cream and energy drinks as you can consume…
Choose from:
Anime / MST3K / the best of Guillemo Del Toro / Studio Ghibli All Nighter

11.30PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

More info at www.sci-fi-london.com

In this edition of the Sci-Fi London Podcast, SFL web editor Chris Patmore guest hosts to bring interviews with two people working and different ends of the special effects budgetary scale. First we speak to Paul Franklin, visual effects supervisor on Chris Nolan’s Inception, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, as well as on the two latest Harry Potter movies.

Then we speak with Gareth Edwards about his debut feature Monsters, and how he got to make it, and doing special effects on his home computer. Gareth was the winner of the first SCI-FI-LONDON 48 Hour Film Challenge, and his feature film is garnering rave reviews around the world. Gareth will be holding a director’s masterclass after the screening of Monsters at Oktoberfest 2010 (see below).

Paul Franklin contemplates the VFX of Inception, Gareth Edwards prepares to shoot Monsters

Links: Interviews with Paul Franklin about Batman Begins and Inception
Pre-order a special Limited Edition of Inception on DVD/Blu-ray (December 6) from Play.com

Read an interview with Gareth Edwards about Monsters

Recommended events:

Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest

Sunday 10th October

Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (42 day) screening

To those of us who got beyond banging the rocks together, 42 is represented in binary as 101010. And so, just in case nothing remarkable happens on the tenth of October 2010, SCI-FI-LONDON will be showing the film.

10AM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

Thursday 14th October

Evening event at Royal Greenwich Observatory: Life, but as we know it?

A SPECIAL NIGHT investigating Extraterrestrial life in science, fiction and comedy.

We start the evening with a live Planetarium show: Astrobiology – the new science of life in the universe, created in conjunction with astrobiologist Dr Lewis Dartnell, this unique planetarium show will take you on a tour of the planets and moons of our Solar System to ask: are we alone?

On the night we will also be screening a special preview of MONSTERS by Gareth Edward on the planetarium dome. Seats are limited and we will be picking ticket holders to the Astrobiology show at random and offering them a chance to also see the film!

Also: Join some of the activities around the Observatory site. / Touch some real-life visitors from space with a tour of the Observatory’s meteorite collection. / Find out the latest news from NASA’s mission to detect Earth-like worlds and watch a live demo of how we might scan them for signs of life. / Good monster/bad monster – scientists and writers discuss what makes a believable alien lifeform. With Simon Guerrier and Dr Zita Martins / Weather permitting, a chance to see Jupiter’s moon Europa – most likely home of alien life in our Solar System. / Alien Among Us – a real-world game. You’ll need to think, plan, sneak, and escape. It’ll be a blast… REGISTER ON THE NIGHT

6:30PM Royal Greenwich Observatory, Greenwich
More…


Friday 15th October

Rise of the Machines at The Royal Society, London

THE ROYAL SOCIETY plays host to an unashamedly robotic evening of discussion, demonstrations and drama. Tom Hunter is joined by Tony Ballantyne, author of Twisted Metal and Prof. Dr. Kerstin Dautenhahn, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Hertfordshire.
Kerstin is a pioneering researcher in robot social learning and imitation whose research interests include Human-Robot Interaction, Social Robotics, Socially Intelligent Agents and Artificial Life. Kerstin and her colleagues will also introduce us to two KASPAR robots (Kinesics and Synchronisation in Personal Assistant Robotics).

Following the discussion: We will be treated to a rehearsed reading of extracts from Karel Capek’s 1921 play R.U.R. (ROSSUM’S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS), which is noted for introducing the term, ‘ROBOT’.
SCI-FI-LONDON has commissioned a modernisation of the work for the 10th annual festival in April 2011. This will be the first public preview of the work-in-progress.
This fabulous evening is in collaboration with the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary celebrations in 2010.

6:30PM The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG (FREE!)

Technotise: Edit and I

Serbia’s first animated feature film – an eye-popping cyberpunk ride that’s calibrated to knock your socks off. Think GHOST IN THE SHELL meets WALTZ WITH BASHIR.

7:30PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

Dougal and the Blue Cat

We are delighted to screen a newly-restored cult classic of a spin-off from the children’s television series, THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT, but this feature is an altogether darker affair (+ FREE BEER!)

9:30PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

Saturday 16th October

Robots

Saturday morning kids screening of the popular CGI cartoon.

10:30AM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

Alien Encounters: Superior Fan Power Since 1979

Documentary about Ridley Scott’s classic Alien film and its contiuning legacy

1:00PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Live action version of the brilliant anime time travel film.

3:00PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

Monsters

Preview of the new British Sci-Fi film by Sci-FI London shorts alumni Gareth Edwards followed by a director’s masterclass hosted by Alex Fitch.

6:00PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

TRON

Screening of the Disney SF classic with a special 8 min preview of the forthcoming Tron: Legacy in 3D, plus special video introductions, short film and an accompanying exhibtion…

9:00PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

SFL All-Nighters

For many people the highlight of our twice yearly festival – all night screenings of your favourite genre films with as much ice cream and energy drinks as you can consume…
Choose from:
Anime / MST3K / the best of Guillemo Del Toro / Studio Ghibli All Nighter

11.30PM Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street

More info at www.sci-fi-london.com

To coincide with the start of a month of horror film releases in the cinema and on DVD in the run up to Halloween, Alex Fitch interviews two veterans of horror cinema, Joe Dante and Tobe Hooper. Alex and Joe talk about the director’s two latest projects, Splatter, starting on the Horror Channel (Sky / Virgin / Freesat) 24/09/10 and continues over the next two Fridays, and his new 3D film currently in UK cinemas The Hole. Also, in an interview recorded at last month’s Frightfest horror festival in London, Alex talks to Tobe Hooper, following a retrospective screening of his first two films Eggshells and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre which depict the end of the summer of love and the loss of America’s innocence in the 1970s; Eggshells received its UK premiere at Frightfest and will be released on Blu-Ray / DVD towards the end of the year.

Original poster for Eggshells by Tobe Hooper, Corey Feldman and Tara Leigh discuss their motivation with director Joe Dante on the set of Splatter

More for more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org

In association with

Listen to Alex’s previous interview with Joe Dante about his debut film The Movie Orgy / read a partial transcript of the interview, focussing on Splatter at www.electricsheepmagazine.com

Recommended events:

Laydeez do Comics September 2010

The monthly meeting for female comics creators, fans of female comic creators and female comic book fans (men allowed also!)…

Next Meeting: Monday 27 September, 6.30-9.30pm

VENUE: The Rag Factory

Guest Speakers:

Ellen Lindner (Whores of Mensa) / Patrice Aggs (The DFC) / Steve White (I Drink Coffee and Draw Press LTD) / Charlie Bowden from Pickled Ink Illustration Agency, to discuss a call for entries for The Pickled Award for graduate illustrator.

Recommended Read: Mome Vol 19. Summer 2010, the latest edition of Fantagraphics’ twice yearly anthology…

The Rag Factory
16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ

www.ragfactory.org.uk

Pickled Ink‘s search for a comics artist

Art illustration agency Pickled Ink has launched a new award in a bid to find an artist to draw a new graphic novel by Super Gran creator and writer Jenny McDade.

Working with Jenny, the creator/writer of the TV series Super Gran, who cut her teeth writing strips for the British girls comic Tammy, and comic book author and editor Pat Mills, the agency is searching for an outstanding character-led artist to illustrate Jenny’s first graphic novel script, Party Girls. The winner will be awarded £1000 and a contract of representation at Pickled Ink, whose current artists include Hanako Clulow, Hattie Newman, Hannah Bagshaw and many others.

In brief, they’re asking for: character design of two lead characters; and a 20 frame sample sequence and a front cover design. The winning artist must be an existing or recent graduate from the last 12 months only, able to draw modern fashion, facial expression, great storytelling, and be generally ’2011′.

The deadline for entries is Monday 8th November 2010, more info at www.pickledink.com where you can download a PDF of the full rules and conditions

To coincide with the release of his new zombie novel for young adults, The Dead, Alex Fitch talks to comedian turned novelist, Charlie Higson about his survival horror novels set in London, whose locations take in such notable locations as Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, the Imperial War Museum and Waitrose! Alex and Charlie discuss what led him to write the first book in the series, The Enemy and how that led to a prequel, his disappointment at the cancellation of Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) on TV, the difference in writing novels such as King of the Ants for adults and writing about zombies for younger readers plus his fascination in giving nightmares to children…

Originally broadcast 17th September 2010 as part of a ‘Clear Spot’ on Resonance 104.4 FM

Extracts of the covers from The Enemy and The Dead by Charlie Higson

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com

Links: Wikipedia page on Charlie Higson
Charlie Higson’s website / The Enemy website
Listen to Alex’s interview with director Stuart Gordon, who adapted Charlie’s novel King of the Ants for the screen

Recommended events:

Orbital BECKY CLOONAN EXHIBITION EXTENDED TO SEP. 30th

Due to the big success of Becky Cloonan‘s show at the Orbital Gallery, we have extended the exhibition dates until the end of this month.
The show features original artwork from Demo, Pixu, the upcoming series Wolves and East Coast Rising, as well as limited screenprints, postcard sets and a hand-painted guitar.
The Orbital Gallery is open on our usual shop hours, from 10:30 to 19:00 Monday to Saturday and 11:30 to 17:00 on Sundays.

Orbital comics, 8 Great Newport Street, London WC2H 7JA

Film Screenings:

Free MEGA SHARK vs GIANT OCTOPUS screening @ THE ALIBI

Skill Wizard proudly presents the original, contemporary mockbuster from Asylum – the makers of MEGA PIRANHA – ignore the groan-worthy other oversized beast movies, all you need is MEGA SHARK vs GIANT OCTOPUS (2009).

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa7ck5mcd1o

The Asylum really know how to make an entertainingly bad, pacy and non-ironic B (actually, more like Z) movie, just add beer.

“WINNER EATS ALL!” We have have some truly awesome MEGA PIRANHA merch to giveaway for the ‘Guess the Deaths’ game and for the most witty Heckle…

- Several Full sized glossy posters / A decent trucker cap / XL t-shirt
*** ALL signed by TIFFANY and PAUL LOGAN (stars of Mega Piranha)***

Mon 20th SEPT, the Alibi, 91 Kingsland High St, London E8 2PB
8pm – 2am (FILM AT 9pm) with DJing Schlock rock and metal…
FREE ENTRY

FilmBar 70 presents Tam Lin (aka The Devil’s Widow)

If you haven’t been to any of the FilmBar 70 nights yet, you’re missing out on an excellent evening of old adverts, trailers, music and some excellent films! One of our favourite nights of the month, check out www.youtube.com/Filmbar70 for the trailer!

Tam Lin (aka The Devil’s Widow) dir: Roddy McDowall (1970)

“Scum! You must treat them like scum!”

Filmbar70 is very proud to present a neglected and under-appreciated classic of British cinema – the magical and mysterious Tam Lin. The only directorial effort from Roddy McDowall (yes, Cornelius from the Planet of the Apes series), the film was unfairly critically mauled upon its release in 1970 and is ripe for re-evaluation. With an unbelievable cast headed by super suave Ian McShane and the alluring Ava Gardner, Tam Lin is sensuous, lyrical and unrepentantly romantic cinema of the highest order.

The indefinably wealthy and enigmatic Michaela (Gardner) lives a life of endless sensual gratification with her young lover Tom (McShane). With an entourage of swinging hipsters in tow, they head north from London for yet more decadent shenanigans. But when Michaela discovers that Tom has fallen for a provincial pastor’s daughter (Stephanie Beacham) and yearns for a simpler, more sedate life, the mood of the party threatens to turn from the celebratory to the downright sinister. As Tom learns the secret behind Michaela’s glamorous façade and the true price of the promise of eternal hedonism, he realises that he too may face the fate met by her myriad former lovers – madness, despair and destruction.

(£3 cover charge / FREE to members)

Roxy Bar and Screen, 128-132 Borough High Street, London SE1 1LB

Robert Rankin signings

ROBERT RANKIN will be signing The Japanese Devil Fish Girl at the Forbidden Planet London Megastore on Saturday 18th September 1:00pm – 2:00pm and The Book of FICTS at The MAGPIE and CROWN public house, Brentford from 7pm

The pickled Martian’s tentacles are fraying at the ends and Professor Coffin’s Most Meritorious Unnatural Attraction is no longer drawing the crowds. It’s 1895; nearly a decade since Mars invaded Earth, chronicled by H.G. Wells’ THE WAR OF THE WORLDS.

Saturday 18 September 13:00 – 14:00, Forbidden Planet London Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR

THEN…come on over to the MAGPIE and CROWN public house for 7pm to celebrate the launch of “The Bumper Book of FICTS”, and buy copies of this 96 page, hardbacked, illustrated wonder… Robert and co-author Neil Gardner will be signing them personally and you’ll even get a limited edition exclusive book plate to commemorate the event.

Saturday 18 September 19:00- 23:00, The Magpie and Crown, 128 High Street, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 8EW

Alex Fitch interviews producer Eli Roth and director Daniel Stamm about the new ‘mockumentary’ horror film The Last Exorcism which is in UK cinemas now and tells a tale of possession, cattle mutilation and murder in a small rural community. Daniel and Alex talk about how using a documentary style to make supernatural movies helps break the fourth wall for the audience to help draw them into events, while Eli talks about how his experience of producing his own movies Cabin Fever and Hostel differs from his more advisory role on this film.

Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell in The Last Exorcism

More for more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org

Links: Official The Last Exorcism website
Wikipedia pages on The Last Exorcism and Eli Roth
Interview with Daniel Stamm
Read Alex Fitch’s review of The Last Exorcism at shinyshelf.com

In association with

Originally broadcast 30/07/10 on Resonance 104.4 FM

Alex Fitch talks to actor Bill Moseley about his career in the horror film genre, and the continuing occurrence of sequels and remakes in his work, from appearing in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Bruce Campbell vs. Army of Darkness in the 1980s, the remake of Night of the Living Dead in the 90s (and its forthcoming animated prequel), a trio of Rob Zombie films, including House of 1,000 corpses and The Devil’s Rejects and the recently released sequel to a Herschell Gordon Lewis ‘classic’: 2001 Maniacs – Field of Screams….

The many faces of Bill Moseley

To download / stream this radio interview in a variety of formats, please visit www.archive.org

Links: Wikipedia pages on Bill Moseley, 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams and Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D
Official 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams website
Listen to Alex’s interview with Bill Moseley’s Army of Darkness co-star, Bruce Campbell

Partially broadcast 23/07/10 as part of an episode of I’m ready for my close-up on Resonance 104.4 FM

To coincide with the release of the new Sci-Fi thriller Splice, in which scientists Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley create a dangerous half human hybrid via genetic manipulation, Alex Fitch talks to director Vincenzo Natali about the film and the other three movies he’s collaborated on with actor David Hewlett: Cypher, Nothing , the cult classic Cube and his forthcoming adaptation of William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer…

Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody being directed by Vincenzo Natali on the set of Splice

More for more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org

Links: Wikipedia pages on Splice, Vincenzo Natali and David Hewlett
Official Splice website
Splice trailers at apple.com

Read Alex’s reviews of Splice and Cube

Listen to Alex’s interview with David Hewlett about working with Vincenzo Natali

Partially broadcast 23/07/10 as part of an episode of I’m ready for my close-up on Resonance 104.4 FM

Alex Fitch talks to actor David Hewlett about the four films he’s made with director Vincenzo Natali – Cypher, Nothing, the cult classic Cube and their new film Splice, which is in cinemas now. David also talks about his interest in William Gibson’s Neuromancer and his directorial debut A Dog’s Breakfast…

The cast of Splice by Vincenzo Natali - Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Simona Maicanescu and David Hewlett

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com

Links: Wikipedia pages on Splice, Vincenzo Natali and David Hewlett
Official Splice website
Splice trailers at apple.com
David Hewlett’s website – www.dgeek.com
Read Alex’s reviews of Splice and Cube
Read an interview with Vincenzo Natali about Splice at www.sci-fi-london.com

Recommended events:

HOUSE OF MIRTH: Edinburgh previews finale

Featuring: JOSIE LONG!!! with a FULL PREVIEW of her brand whipping new EDINBURGH show: “Be Honourable!”…

1999 BBC Best New Comedy Award Winner and 2006 If.Comedie Edinburgh Best Newcomer Winner!

“Britain’s bright new hopes of the comedy scene” Sunday Times

“there’s a lovable romantic sensibility here, reminiscent of Daniel Kitson’s, but without the accompanying acidity…heartfelt and eccentric.” Guardian

Star of ‘You Have Been Watching’, ‘The Bubble’, ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ , ’8 out of 10 Cats’ and ‘Girl Friday’ amongst mega-loads of other things… She’s just signed a book deal. NEED WE GO ON? No.

And… DAVID WHITNEY

One of the stars of Channel 4′s FoneJacker…

“His trajectory is perfect. He squeezes the laughter out of audiences. He is the squeeze person.” Eddie Izzard
“dunked in a tongue-in-cheek laddishness that lends a playful spirit to the posturing. With bags of confidence and mainstream sensibilities, it probably won’t be too long before he’s a fixture on the bigger clubs” – Chortle

All brought to you by your regular hosts and SARA PASCOE and JESSICA FOSTEKEW! LIVE fighting guaranteed. With words though, only with words (and kicks).

Recommended by Time Out and Londonisfunny.com …

SOLD OUT every month since DECEMBER so BOOK NOW, HERE!

JULY 27TH 2010
Doors 8pm, £5
THE BETSY TROTWOOD
56 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3BL

On the Silver Globe, an esoteric Polish sci-fi epic directed by Andrzej Zulawski in 1977 – then lost and believed destroyed by the authorities for a decade before its cinema release – was screened at Tate Modern last year as part of a mini-season of films titled ‘Polish New Wave – The History of a Phenomenon that Never Existed’. Looking ahead to the release of this film on DVD in the UK, Alex Fitch talks to Andrzej Zulawski about his struggles in getting the film released and the travails involved in making his horror films The Third Part of the Night (1971) and Possession (1981) under the eyes of a communist regime.
Alex Fitch also talks to Polish poster designer Andrzej Klimowski and his wife Danusia Schejbal (famously depicted as the victim of an assassin’s bullet on Klimowski’s poster for Robert Altman’s Nashville) about working on the fringes of Polish filmmaking in the late 1970s and whether the films of the time could be seen as belonging to an artistic movement. (N.B./ Shorter edits of the two interviews were broadcast in an episode of I’m ready for my close-up on Resonance FM, 11/06/10)

Still from On the Silver Globe by Andrzej Zulawski and posters for The Godfather part II, Nashville and Stranger than Paradise by Andrzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal

Links: Andrzej Klimowski and / Danusia Schejbal‘s websites
Andrzej’s pages at www.polishposter.com and The Royal College of Art
Theatre design by Danusia: A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Listen to Alex’s previous interviews with Andrzej
Info on Polish posters at Cinéphilia West

Info on ‘The Polish New Wave’ at Tate Modern including On the Silver Globe
Buy The Third Part of the Night from Second Run DVD

Coinciding with veteran genre film maker Joe Dante receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Cine-Excess Cult film festival in London, Alex Fitch talks to the director about his career so far, concentrating on his new / old film The Movie Orgy (1968) which premièred at the festival. The Movie Orgy was initially a 5 hour film made of found footage spliced together by the director in the 1960s as a calling card for editing work in the industry. It succeeded in this aim, leading to a job under Roger Corman and Dante has just finished a new 90 min cut of the film for 21st Century audiences. Alex and Joe also talk about his shift from ‘adult’ horror films such as The Howling and Piranha (which also screened May 1st at Cine-Excess) in the 1970s to subversive family fare such as Gremlins in the 80s and the possibility of that film receiving a belated second sequel.

Director Joe Dante and his most famous creation

To download / stream this radio interview in a variety of formats, please visit www.archive.org

Links: Cine Excess website
More info about the cult film archive and MA course at Brunel University
Wikipedia and IMDb pages on Joe Dante

Alex Fitch talks to Michael Almereyda about his new film Paradise, which is currently screening at the ICA and shows the director’s typically avant-garde approach to the travelogue film by collating his home movie footage from the last decade into a thematic sequence of vignettes about the modern world. Alex also talks to Michael about working with David Lynch on the belated Dracula sequel Nadja, Wim Wenders on the script for Until the end of the world and making Hamlet with Ethan Hawke…

Still from Paradise by Michael Almereyda

To download / stream this radio interview in a variety of formats, please visit www.archive.org

Links: Buy tickets for Paradise at the ICA
Michael Almereyda pages on Wikipedia and the IMDb

Recommended events:

Ladeez do comics – Cancer and Psychotherapy

In this month’s meeting for female comic book creators and fans of female comic book creators, the guest speakers are: Philippa Perry, Psychotherapist and author of Couch Fiction: A Graphic Tale of Psychotherapy and Ian Williams AKA Thom Ferrier , plus Columba Quigley leading the discussion on our reading book of the month: Our Cancer Year by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner

Monday 24 May 2010, 6.30-8.30pm, The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ

Please visit the Ladeez’ website for more info

Solipsistic Pop 2 at Orbital Comics

Pencil artwork from Solipsistic Pop 2 cover

Orbital Comics, 8 Great Newport Street, London WC2H 7JA

City of Abacus at The Book Club

Throughout May at The Book Club cafe and bar in Hoxton, London there is a month long exhibtion of the art from The City of Abacus by VV Brown and David Allain, illustrated by Emma Price and Lee O’Connor.

Opening hours: 8am-late Mon-Fri, 10am-late Sat/Sun
100 Leonard Street, London EC2 4RH
More info at www.wearetbc.com

Ray Harryhausen makes a monster while Julian Rhind-Tutt and Pamela Miles have a ghostly encounter in Darker Shores

Alex Fitch talks to two creators of excellent Christmas entertainment. Oscar winning animator Ray Harryhausen has long been associated with Bank Holiday TV programming and Christmas wouldn’t be the same without an appearance of Jason and the Argonauts or Sinbad facing off mythological creatures. Elsewhere, the Hampstead Theatre in Swiss Cottage is the home of Michael Punter’s ‘Darker Shores’, a new play in the style of M.R. James’ Ghost stories for Christmas, which stars Julian Rhind-Tutt as a spiritualist escaping the traumas of the American Civil War. Alex talks to Ray about his career and meeting a new generation of fans at the launch of his coffee-table book “Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life” and to Michael about using stage magic and cathartic laughter to haunt theatre-goers in the gentility of West London.

For more info, please visit the home of this podcast at Sci-Fi London (originally broadcast in an edited form as an episode of I’m ready for my close-up on Resonance 104.4 FM).

Links: Info about Darker Shores at The Hampstead Theatre
Review of the play in the Camden New Journal
Aurum Press website, publishers of Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life
Ray’s official website

Recommended events:

Comixmas exhibition

ComiXmas: When Worlds Collide is an exhibition of fantastic images from contemporary comic books and graphic novels, featuring work by the best contemporary comic book artists, along with images from past great masters of the genre. On display in the exhibition are prints reproduced at a strikingly larger scale by artists such as Osamu Tezuka, one of the fathers of Japanese manga and anime; Hergé, the Belgian creator of Tintin; Woodrow Phoenix, creator of the award winning Rumble Strip; Andrzej Klimowski, illustrator of The Master & Margarita; Reinhard Kleist, illustrator of Johnny Cash: I See A Darkness; From Hell creators Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, and many other artists. This free exhibition runs from 11 December 2009 to 6 February 2010 at the LondonPrintStudio Gallery, 425 Harrow Road, London.

Additionally, Paul Gravett will be hosting a free panel discussion How A Comic Is Made at the LondonPrintStudio on Thursday 21 January 2010, where you can discover the secrets behind writing and drawing comics, graphic novels and manga, revealed by creators featured in the ComiXmas Exhibition: Andrzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal (Master and Margarita), Nana Li (Twelfth Night), Pat Mills (Nemesis, Slaine, Requiem) and Woodrow Phoenix (Rumble Strip). Followed by book signings and reception.

More info at www.londonprintstudio.org.uk

Click here to visit The Stroke Association website

More info here…

Also broadcast 20/11/09 as an episode of I’m ready for my close-up on Resonance 104.4 FM

Rip Torn, Joseph Strick and Henry Miller on the set of Tropic of Cancer (1969), photograph by Carlo Bavagnoli, (c) Life Magazine

To coincide with the ‘Directorspective’ of the work of Joseph Strick, currently at The Barbican centre in London, Alex Fitch talks to the Oscar winning director about his career from working as a U.S. Air Force photographer during the Second World War to directing adaptations of challenging texts such as James Joyce’s Ulysses and Portrait of the artist as a young man, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer and Jean Genet’s The Balcony. A selection of 6 of Strick’s films will be screened on consecutive days at The Barbican from 19/11/09 and there is also an additional daily screening of a new print of Ulysses (1967) until 26/11/09.

For more info about the variety of formats you can download this podcast in / stream, please visit www.archive.org

Links: Info about the Barbican ‘Directorspective’ and additional daily Ulysses screenings
Info about Joseph Strick on the IMDb and wikipedia

For info on the latest issue of Electric Sheep magazine, please click here

In association with

Originally broadcast 16/10/09 as an episode of I’m ready for my close-up on Resonance 104.4 FM

Alastair Kirton as Colin and Stephen McHattie in Pontypool

In a special early Halloween edition, Alex Fitch talks to Jeffrey Coghlan, the producer of the innovative Canadian Horror film Pontypool and Marc Price, director of the excellent British living dead film Colin about their new approaches to the zombie genre on a limited budget.
Pontypool goes on limited release in the UK today, while Colin in released on 23rd October.

For more info about the variety of formats you can download this podcast in / stream, please visit www.archive.org

Links: Pontypool – IMDb page and Official website
Review at Cinematropolis blog
Alex’s mini-review as part of a Frightfest 2009 article at Electric Sheep Magazine
Listen to the radio version at www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice

Colin – IMDb page and Official site
Review in Revenant Magazine
Info about the Colin panels at this month’s MCM Expo
Read a transcript of Alex’s interview with Marc at Electric Sheep Magazine

For info on the latest issue of Electric Sheep magazine, please click here

In association with

Related news:

We Are Words + Pictures stall: Saturday 17th October, Girl Germs club night @ The Camden Head (from 8pm)
Join WAW+P creators Julia Scheele and Matthew Sheret as they sell and personalise the cream of the UK’s small press output from a stall with the ‘Girl Germs’ female pop and punk night at 100 Camden High Street, London NW1 0LU

also: Hunterian Museum Film Screening – Medical Miniaturisation – Thursday 22 October, 7pm

Join us for our first ever Hunterian Museum film screening of two works on the theme of medical miniaturisation. Anime expert Helen McCarthy will introduce the classic 1963 anime Astroboy: Mighty Microbe Army about the robot boy miniaturised to fight bacteria inside the body, followed by the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage inspired by one of Osamu Tezuka’s early Manga works ‘The Monster on the 38th Parallel’. The museum and the exhibition ‘Sci-Fi Surgery: Medical Robots’ will be open from 6pm so that you can see the mini-bots that turn fantasy into reality. Screenings supported by the Japan Foundation, the Japan Society and Right Stuf, Inc. FREE, booking essential on 0207 869 6560

plus: BLACK POWERS exhibtion at Swiss Cottage Library Gallery

As part of Black History Month, Swiss Cottage Library Gallery presents an exhibition of comics by black creators and of African-American characters in comics. The collection coheres around black representations through the imagery and language of the comic book medium: representation as markers of both historical and contemporary struggles. The theme is developed through archival works from the 1930’s to the present-day and culminates with a display of the singular comic art of Patrice and John Aggs, Paul Peart-Smith, Woodrow Phoenix and Lance Tooks.

09 October – 06 November 2009
Swiss Cottage Library Gallery, 88 Avenue Rd, London, United Kingdom

The Observer / Jonathan Cape / Comica Graphic Short Story Prize 2009
Are you an aspiring graphic novelist? Do you have an original story to tell? Win £1,000 and have your story printed in The Observer.
More info…

Deadline: 19th October 2009

and: London signings…

Fred Van Lente The third Autumnal signing at Gosh! Comics is Fred Van Lente, the award-winning writer of Action Philosophers!, Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Zombies and Incredible Hercules, among numerous other excellent titles,and is one of the most exciting writing talents to emerge in the last five years. This will be his only London signing, so take advantage of this rare opportunity to chat with him… Saturday 24th October, from 3pm-5pm

Avatar comics signing: An all-star line up will be signing at Orbital Comics courtesy of Avatar Press on Tuesday the 27th of October from 4:30 to 7:00. Paul Duffield (Freakangels), Jacen Burrows (Crossed, 303), William Christensen (Editor-In-Chief of Avatar), Kieron Gillen (Phonogram), Si Spurrier (Judge Dredd, Gutsville) and Rich Johnston (Bleeding Cool Blogsite)

David Petersen /Mouse Guard: David Petersen be signing the gorgeous Mouse Guard Winter 1152 at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Saturday 7th November 1 – 2pm

plus: Autumn comics conventions and events…

October 24th and 25th: The MCM Expo at the Excel centre in London’s Docklands includes appearances by Andy Diggle, Jock, Leigh Gallagher, Alan Grant, Ben Templesmith ,Kieron Gillen and Emma Vieceli – more info at www.londonexpo.com

Also on Sunday October 25th, there’s the Women in Comics one-day conference at Murray Edwards College New Hall in Cambridge: which includes Belgian-based artist Dominique Goblet in conversation with Paul Gravett, Corrine Pearlman and Woodrow Phoenix discussing autobiographical comics work, Helen McCarthy on women and gender roles in the work of Osamu Tezuka, and other talks by Sarah McIntyre and Asia Alfasi. More info at http://tinyurl.com/womenincomics

5th to the 26th of November: Comica, the three week festival of comics in and around the Institute of Comtemporary Arts in London includes appearances by Eddie Campbell, David Lloyd, Brian Talbot, James Jean and Tara McPherson. – more info at www.comicafestival.com

19th to the 22nd of November: The Thought Bubble sequential art festival in Leeds which includes appearances by Paul Cornell, Garey Erskin, Garen Ewing, Andy Diggle, Frank Queitly and many more – more info at www.thoughtbubblefestival.com

Clockwise from top middle, Sally Potter and the cast of her film Rage, Jude Law, Judi Dench, Dianne Wiest, Eddie Izzard, Steve Buscemi

In an hour long talk / Q and A recorded at Cinephila West in Westbourne Grove, London, Sophie Mayer interviews director Sally Potter about her career with additional questions from the audience. Sally talks about getting advice from Martin Scorsese and Michael Powell while raising funding for her second feature, Orlando and conducting a Q & A via skype with Jude Law at the premiere of Rage at the NFT. Recorded and edited by Alex Fitch.

For more info about the variety of formats you can download this podcast in / stream, please visit www.archive.org

Links:
wikipedia and IMDb pages about Rage
Official movie website
Sally Potter’s website
More info about Sophie’s book The films of Sally Potter: A politics of love

For info on the latest issue of Electric Sheep magazine, please click here

In association with:

From Eyeborgs, left to right, actor Luke Eberl, producer John Rushton, actors Megan Blake and Adrian Paul and director Richard Clabaugh, interviewed by Alex Fitch

Continuing our podcasts of talks and Q & As recorded live at this year’s Spring Sci-Fi London festival, Alex Fitch talks to the cast and crew of the new Science Fiction thriller Eyeborgs which sees surveillance cameras combined with miniature robots to create deadly machines that give Critters and Gremlins a run for their money! Featuring director Richard Clabaugh, producer John Rushton and stars Adrian (Highlander) Paul, Megan Blake and Luke Eberl…

For more info, please visit the home of this podcast at Sci-Fi London

Links: More info about Eyeborgs can be found at the official website www.eyeborgs.com
Wikipedia pages on Adrian Paul and Megan Blake

In association with:

Info about the Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest can be found here, including events at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, such as SCI-FI-UNIVERSE, a planetarium show from an SF perspective, talks with Doctor Who writers Simon Guerrier and Paul Cornell, a special screening of Star Trek (2009) and at the Apollo Piccadilly cinema, SF themed stand-up comedy with Sara Pascoe (Free Agents / In the thick of it), Mould and Arrowsmith, James Acaster, Mark Restuccia, Lou Sanders and Rob Deb. Also, (not) live at the Apollo, our legendary all-night screenings including an Aliens / Predator marathon, the customary MST3K quintupal bill and five new Anime films in a row including the UK premieres of Evangelion 1.0 – You are (not) alone and Mamoru Oshii’s The Sky Crawlers.

Dario Argento interview originally broadcast 26/06/09 as an episode of I’m ready for my close-up on www.resonancefm.com

Dario Argento directs Adrien Brody on the set of Giallo

In an interview recorded at the Cine-Excess cult film festival in London, Alex Fitch talks to Italian cult film maker Dario Argento about his career from writing ‘Spaghetti Westerns’ in the 1960s such as Once Upon a time in the West to his most recent film Mother of Tears. Alex and Dario talk about the importance of music in his work, why he doesn’t like being pigeon holed as a horror director and his next project Giallo.

Goblin circa 2009 - Fabio Pignatelli / Massimo Morante / Maurizio Guarini / Agostino Marangolo

Also, in a Q & A recorded live on stage at the Supersonic music festival in Birmingham, Alex talks to the Italian prog rock band Goblin – Fabio Pignatelli, Massimo Morante, Agostino Marangolo and Maurizio Guarini – about scoring Argento’s films from Profondo Rosso / Deep Red to Non ho sonno / Sleepless…

For more info about the variety of formats you can download this podcast in / stream, please visit www.archive.org

Links:
IMDb pages on Argento, Once upon a time in the West and Giallo
The ‘Three Mothers’ trilogy: Suspiria, Inferno, Mother of Tears and Luigi Cozzi’s unofficial sequel The Black Cat
Wikipedia pages on Argento and the giallo genre
Watch the trailer for his new film Giallo on youtube
BFI page on the rerelease of Once upon a time in the West
Cine-Excess website
Read a transcript of Alex’s interview with director Dario Argento in Electric Sheep Magazine:

Dario Argento: With Goblin or with Claudio Simonetti, it’s different. For Profundo Rosso (Deep Red), we meet in my house nearly every night and they introduce me to the work of the day and it inspires me to do the next scene. It was very important. For Suspiria we collaborated on the music – it was good to do it before shooting.

Goblin‘s official website
Info about Goblin on wikipedia and the IMDb
Visit the festival website at www.capsule.org.uk/supersonic

For info on the latest issue of Electric Sheep magazine, please click here

In association with:

Gerry Anderson interview originally broadcast 16/07/09 /
Francis Matthews interview originally broadcast 13/08/09 as episodes of I’m ready for my close-up on Resonance 104.4 FM

In a special episode looking at two of the people most closely associated with classic Supermarionation TV shows, Alex Fitch and Robin Warren talk to Francis Matthews about providing the voice of Captain Scarlet and playing cult detective Paul Temple on TV. Alex also talks to Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson about some of his more obscure titles from Fireball XL5 to Lavender Castle…

For more info, please visit the home of this podcast at Sci-Fi London

In association with:

Links: Gerry Anderson‘s fan club
Wikipedia pages on Gerry Anderson, Francis Matthews, Paul Temple and Captain Scarlet
Buy the Paul Temple box set from Acorn Media
Buy Fireball XL5 and Space:1999 from Network DVD