AFS Essential: INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

Rated PG; 115min; Director:Philip Kaufman (1978)  

All tickets to AFS events available at the AFS Website

In 1902 French director Georges Melies released A TRIP TO THE MOON and delighted audiences worldwide, but science-fiction films didn't gain much respect or critical attention until the post-atomic era. Major exceptions were important films of the 1920s by German director Fritz Lang (METROPOLIS in particular, as well as WOMAN IN THE MOON) and by Soviet filmmakers (AELITA QUEEN OF MARS, for instance). In American cinema of the 30s and 40s space travel and the use of futuristic technology for world domination were relegated to Saturday kiddy-matinee serials (BUCK ROGERS and FLASH GORDON) and cartoons (SUPERMAN). However, after the explosion of atomic bombs over Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945, the world realized that a new power existed, one which could be used to destroy life or take humans into outer space. Coincidentally, as earthly eyes gazed heavenward, UFO sightings became far more frequent, a manifestation of hopefulness and paranoia and perhaps sometimes truth. Human dreams of new possibilities in science and fantasy exploded. The 1950s brought a Golden Age of American sci-fi feature films involving space exploration and alien invasions. In 1957, after the Soviets successfully launched Sputnik - the first man-made satellite to orbit Earth -- the race was on to get to the moon (a feat realized in 1969 by American astronauts) and to explore other planets. During that time and beyond, fantasy literature and cinema showing terrors on other planets or dystopias on earth proliferated around the globe. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) and E.T. (1982) were the exceptions to the rule that alien beings were evil and came here to steal or destroy our planet. Kubrick's 2001 (1968), Tarkovsky's SOLYARIS (1972), Ridley Scott's BLADERUNNER (1982), and THE MATRIX trilogy (1999-2003) proved that sci-fi could be thought-provoking as well as entertaining and visually stunning. More recently, science-fiction cinema has begun to explore global warming, population stresses, and new and frightening diseases. We no longer need extraterrestrial aliens to be afraid, very afraid of the future. This AFS summer series will present a wide array of science fiction styles and themes from Czechoslovakia, France, the UK, Italy, Japan, the US, and, most intriguingly, the former Soviet Union (represented by four new 35mm prints of films perhaps never seen in Texas). -- Chale Nafus, Director of Programming, Austin Film Society

Strange seeds from a distant planet drift on cosmic winds down to Earth, where they take root and take over by duplicating humans who then hatch out of giant pods and discard their previous bodies. These new clones are soulless automatons who do as they are told. All too quickly San Francisco is so overrun with these pod people that it becomes increasingly dangerous to trust one’s friends, who might turn you in for being human. Although the original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) came out at a time that the lingering terror of McCarthyism was still making Americans fear to be “different,” Kaufman’s 1978 version was far more stylish and just as terrifying. “Amazing Grace” will never sound quite the same.

Location: Alamo South Lamar

Kid Policy: 18 and up; Children 6 and up will be allowed only with a parent or guardian. No children under the age of 6 will be allowed.

Screenings (click on a show time to buy tickets):

• Tuesday, July 03, 2007
  • 9:45p