As the British Film Institute (BFI) recently announced a three month long celebration of the Sci-Fi genre in film and television, Film Hub North West Central has announced that it will receive a £51,100 grant from the BFI Programming Development Fund to take part in the BFI Sci-Fi ‘Days of Fear and Wonder’ season which will take place from October-December 2014.

In one of the biggest celebrations of sci-fi to date, which will include screenings of over 1000 classic sci-fi film and TV programmes at over 200 locations across the UK, the season will incorporate both indoor and outdoor events as well as screenings at special landmark locations.

The grant that has been awarded to Film Hub North West Central will help to fund events across the northwest, in partnership with a host of Hub Members, several of which will take place in Manchester. The Cornerhouse, MOSI, Grimm Fest, Anthony Burgess Foundation and Manchester Science Festival, all of which are based in Manchester, will be taking part in the forthcoming season’s events, as will Quad (Derby), They Eat Culture (Preston) and the Dukes (Lancaster). Other Hub members across the North West Central Region which covers Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire will also be hosting events.

The aim of this special season showcasing the very best of Sci-Fi and the fear and wonder that it inspires in fans, is to celebrate the genre by bringing it to audiences in a fresh, original way. The BFI Sci-Fi season will be fully embraced by Film Hub North West Central, which will enable audiences across the region to experience, access, learn from and enjoy specialised film. There will be a particular focus on international titles and guests, LGBTQ cinema and the links between science fiction literature, film and the world of science.

The following events will be taking place in Manchester:

Cornerhouse will present a selection of high profile events aimed at celebrating the science fiction genre. The project will include a Sci-Fi all-nighter, a theatrical cinema event stretching across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland plus special international guests and a series of literature events with the Anthony Burgess Institute. Events will be contextualised with guest speakers from literary, cinematic and scientific spheres to ensure a diverse choice of content for audiences.

Grimm Fest are developing a new partnership with the Trof group, who own and run an ever-growing number of entertainment venues around Manchester. A shared love of genre and cult film & TV enables them to jointly host special screening events around the city. The project, taking place at Gorilla, will present a day of screenings, guest speakers and Q&As related to a British Sci-Fi series.

Manchester Science Festival and Grimm Fest host a series of double-bill screenings at the Museum of Science and Industry. Using the expertise of all three partners this project will provide audiences with access to diverse content and added depth through presentations and talks as part of the overall Science Festival programme, which runs from Thu 23 October to Sun 2 November.

Other Northwest events will include:

Quad will showcase a season of classic and rarely seen Sci-Fi films curated by QUAD and Adam Batty, Editor of the Hope Lies At 24 Frames A Seconds website with the aim to blend classics with more obscure titles.

They Eat Culture take the location and culture of Preston together with Sci-Fi renderings of small-town/big-city, insider/outsider as a starting point for their contribution, with the programme revealing itself across hidden spaces and non-traditional screening sites to examine emotions and questions of place. They Eat Culture curate international films, audio-visual experiences, commentary and participatory performance around these themes for the audience to engage with as part of the events.

The Dukes will screen a season of science fiction films as part of a larger city-wide series of events exploring the genre. They will be organised in collaboration with the English and Creative Writing and Film Studies departments at venues across the city. Lancaster University’s Dr Brian Baker has consulted on the programming of the selected titles.

Further information on Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder can be found on the BFI website at http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/bfi-takes-giant-leap-sci-fi-days-fear-wonder

Watch the trailer here …