Now in its fifth year, the annual science fiction film festival Future Gate will hit cinemas across the Czech Republic this February and March, starting tonight at Prague’s Kino Lucerna.
Celebrating sci-fi classics and giving new features a spot to shine, the fest also gives fans a chance to experience unique side events including exhibits, concerts, and discussions. The theme of this year’s festival is the portrayal of women in science fiction films.
And on that note, the festival will kick off tonight, February 15, in Kino Lucerna with a screening of the 1970s-set punks vs. aliens feature How to Talk to Girls at Parties from director John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch).
I caught the film, which features standout performances by Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning, at last year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (read my thoughts on How to Talk to Girls at Parties here), but it has yet to receive general release outside of Japan. A local release in the Czech Republic is still TBA.
The festival will continue in Prague through this weekend at Kino Lucerna with screenings of classics sci-fi flicks like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Fifth Element, Karel Zeman’s The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (in Czech with English subtitles), and the Polish comedy Sexmise (presented in a Czech-dubbed version, but also with English subtitles).
New features having their local premiere at this year’s Future Gate festival include the Russian space race film SALYUT-7, the Polish time travel drama The Man with the Magic Box, and two documentaries, Amateurs in Space and Bugs. Each will be presented in their original language with Czech and English subtitles.
The fest will also include a special sci-fi-themed edition of the popular short film compilation iShorts, and close out with a marathon screening of the Czech sci-fi satire reality TV series Kosmo – which will not include English subtitles.
Also on Sunday, the Prague Film Orchestra will round out the festival with a special concert featuring music from popular science fiction movies.
Tickets to individual films run 120 CZK and can be purchased online from the Kino Lucerna website. Tickets to the PFO concert run 550 CZK.
After premiering in Prague, the Future Gate festival will bring its sci-fi features to cinemas in Brno, Ostrava, Pilsen and Šumperk.
Check out the official Future Gate website and Facebook page for more info and updates.
