UCLA Film & Television Archive presents ‘Science Fiction Against the Margins’ series

The UCLA Film & Television Archive, in partnership with the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television’s cinema and media studies program, presents its “Science Fiction Against the Margins” series, running from Oct. 4 to Dec. 14.

Over 12 nights, the series, part of Getty’s “PST ART: Art & Science Collide,” will showcase nearly 40 independent science fiction narrative features, documentaries, shorts and television productions from 21 countries and will include conversations with filmmakers who challenge and disrupt the sci-fi genre like Alex Rivera, Larissa Sansour, Cauleen Smith, Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams and others.

“‘Science Fiction Against the Margins’ presents provocative works by genre-defying artists,” said May Hong HaDuong, director of the Archive, a division of UCLA Library, and associate university librarian. “The brilliant storytelling shared in the series is a reminder that another world is not only possible — it is necessary.”

The series’ curatorial team — UCLA’s Paul Malcolm, Chon Noriega, Maya Montañez Smukler and Nicole Ucedo — said: “Speculative fiction has the power to expose inequality. We are honored to bring attention to the divergent ways in which media artists represent social identity, cultural context and material relations.” 

‘Science Fiction Against the Margins’

The groundbreaking series kicks off Oct. 4 with the “Afrofuturism” program, featuring screenings of “The Last Angel of History” (Germany/U.K., 1996) and “Space Is the Place” (U.S., 1974), a mesmerizing film starring jazz legend Sun Ra strolling through the forest of an alien planet that he deems a fit gift for Black people on Earth. The program includes an in-person conversation with artist and UCLA professor Cauleen Smith, whose short film “H-E-L-L-O” (U.S., 2014) is also part of the evening’s program.

The series also reimagines the relationship between science and art by finding new inspiration in old cinematic traditions. Works in the Oct. 5 “Moon Landings: The Science of Fictions” program span the history of world cinema, from the reflections on colonialism and the moon in Georges Méliès’ “A Trip to the Moon” (France, 1902) to Nuotama Bodomo’s “Afronauts” (Ghana, 2014) and Yosep Anggi Noen’s “A Science of Fictions” (Indonesia, 2019).

On Oct. 12, the “Post-Apocalyptic Love Triangles” program explores interracial romantic yearnings and rivalries with “The World, the Flesh and the Devil” (1959) and “The Quiet Earth” (New Zealand, 1985). On Oct. 18, the Archive’s restoration world premiere of “The Sticky Fingers of Time” (U.S., 1997) takes center stage in the “Time Travel” program and includes a special conversation with the filmmaker, Hilary Brougher, after the screening.

The “Contested Space(s): Cathode-Ray Tube Afrofuturism” program on Oct. 27 showcases counter-narratives centering African Americans in sci-fi television explorations that address issues of poverty, racism and discrimination. The evening features the notable works “Black Wax” [excerpt] (U.K., 1982) with Gil Scott-Heron; “Nightmare” (U.S., 1963) with Bill Gunn, from the “Outer Limits” TV series; the music video "The Space Program" (U.S., 2018) by A Tribe Called Quest; “Space Traders” (U.S., 1994), from the “Cosmic Slop” TV anthology; and “Far Beyond the Stars” (U.S., 1998), from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”

Throughout the series, audiences will be offered speculative visions of societies struggling to overcome dictatorship, whereby the present is explained as either one of collective madness or of a planet under alien invasion — such as Eliseo Subiela’s “Man Facing Southeast” (Argentina, 1986), screening on Nov. 9. In other films, the future presages the total privatization of critical resources supporting human existence, envisioning an endgame brought about by forced labor, political subjugation and environmental collapse. These include “Sleep Dealer” (Mexico/U.S., 2008) on Nov. 3, featuring filmmakers Alex Rivera and Kibwe Tavares in person; “Night Raiders” (Canada/ New Zealand, 2021), with filmmaker Danis Goulet in person, and Wanuri Kahiu’s “Pumzi” (Kenya, 2009) on Nov. 22; and “Neptune Frost” (U.S./Rwanda, 2021) on Oct. 19, with filmmakers Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman in person. Overall, the series explores an alternative mode of science fiction that raises critical questions rather than offering comforting answers and will provoke challenging conversations.

On Nov. 15, the “Seeing Is Not Believing” program will showcase “Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America” (U.S., 1991) and “Save the Green Planet!” (South Korea, 2003), offering a unique perspective on future civilizations surviving through destruction with no place left to go. On Dec. 6, the “Earthly Visions” program will feature “The Tree House” (Vietnam, 2019), in which a man living on Mars in 2045 sets out to make a film about the past in his home country of Vietnam.

The series concludes on Dec. 14 with the “An Evening With Larissa Sansour” program, including three films in Sansour’s science fiction trilogy — “A Space Exodus” (Denmark/Palestine, 2009), “Nation Estate” (Denmark, 2013) and “In the Future, They Ate From the Finest Porcelain” (U.K./Denmark/Qatar, 2015) — along with her follow-up film “In Vitro” (Denmark/Palestine/U.K., 2019). An in-person Q&A with filmmaker Sansour will follow this program. Immediately after the Dec. 14 closing program for the series, the Archive will present the U.S. premiere of Sansour and Lind’s “Familiar Phantoms” (U.K./Palestine, 2023), along with a conversation with Sansour about this experimental documentary.

The “Science Fiction Against the Margins” series is a companion to the anthology “Science Fiction Against the Margins: Cinematic Futures, Global Imaginaries,” edited by Chon Noriega, Maya Montañez Smukler and Nicole Ucedo.  

Screenings at the Billy Wilder Theater are free through June 2025, thanks to a gift from an anonymous donor.

For full program details and admission information, visit cinema.ucla.edu.  

Marisa Soto

September 5, 2024