Venture Beyond Future Galaxies at Nottingham’s Sci-Fi Film Festival

From Star Wars to E.T., the fascinating sci-fi genre inspires us to imagine new worlds and societies - both utopian and dystopian. For one special weekend, New Art Exchange host Future Perfect? Film Festival, an event where families, filmmakers and sci-fi enthusiasts can explore this exciting genre. The festival launches on Friday 26 February, with an In Conversation with Larissa Sansour, New Art Exchange’s renowned exhibiting artist and filmmaker. Sansour’s films take inspiration from science fiction - from apocalyptic landscapes scattered with spaceships, to clinical CGI skyscrapers, and even scenes set in the dark abyss of outer space. Yet these fantastical future visions reflect political realities of today, particularly referencing the Middle East. Sansour will discuss her ground-breaking work, which has been a central inspiration for the wider festival. The festival continues on the Saturday morning, with a family friendly, sci-fi fancy-dress, screening of the DreamWorks Animation film Home (2015). In this galactic adventure, an unlikely friendship forms between a creature from another species, Oh, and an adventurous girl, Tip. Saturday afternoon proceeds with a sci-fi inspired Film Open delivered in partnership with Nottingham film production company, Stella Vision. The event supports emerging filmmaking talents, showcasing their work and providing an opportunity from them to discuss their views, to network, and to gain feedback from industry experts including Larissa Sansour. Safiya Williams, Creative Programme Assistant at New Art Exchange and co-organiser of Future Perfect? Film Festival describes how the film festival offers something for everyone. “Future Perfect? offers something new – a space for families to engage with and enjoy film, films that may have slipped under your radar and an opportunity to inspire, encourage and support the filmmakers of the future.” On Sunday 28 February, Nottingham Alternative Film Network present Finding Our Future, a day of films and discussion that questions whether sci-fi has been overlooking ethnically diverse characters or championing them in inspiring ways. This will include a showing of feature film, Crumbs (prod. Sergio Uguet de Resayre, dir. Miguel Llansó, 2015), which tells the story of a couple searching for salvation in a post-apocalyptic Ethiopia. The day's events will also open with a programme of short films that will range from the almost present day - such as The End (dir. Ted Evans), a British Sign-Language film which imagines what might life be like for the Deaf community if a cure for deafness were found - to the distant future of Robots of Brixton (Kibwe Tavares), a film which references the 1981 riots as it envisions this part of London being repopulated by a futuristic robot workforce. All in all, the day provides an opportunity to experience an unmissable mix of culturally important and exciting films which may not have received the mainstream attention they deserve. Event Details: Future Perfect? Film Festival takes place on 26-28 February at New Art Exchange, 39 – 41 Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham, NG7 6BE. Friday 26 February, 7pm – 9pm: Larissa Sansour In Conversation with Nat Miller Saturday 27 February, 10.30am – 12pm: Home (Dreamworks Animation, 2015) Saturday 27 February, 2.30pm – 6pm: Future Perfect? Film Open Sunday 28 February, 11am – 4pm: Finding Our Future LarissaSansour’s exhibition, In The Future They Ate From the Finest Porcelain will be on display at New Art Exchange until 13 March 2016. Photo Credit Kibwe Tavares- film still Robots of Brixton.