If you’re a lover of sci-fi and fantasy films from around the world, you’ll love the line-up at !magine Fest. This film festival is presented by the Film Programmes Office of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). It’s running from 10 December to 27 January 2024, showing films in Hong Kong at three venues: Cinema of the Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA), Lecture Hall of the Hong Kong Science Museum (HKSCM) and K11 Art House.
There are 17 films in the line-up, from new releases to classics – even a silent movie with scores from 1902! They all feature highly imaginative stories that aim to broaden viewers’ wild imagination, creativity and see the vast possibility brought by the selection. Note that the films will have English subtitles. Also, some screenings will be accompanied by free post-screening talks and seminars (in Cantonese).
Sci-fi masterpiece – 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick’s epochal masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), showing at the festival in its 4K restored version, was produced before computer-generated imagery (CGI) existed. Nevertheless, the visuals were stunningly outstanding for their time, and are still breathtaking today. With its iconic opening scene featuring prehistoric apes, a strange futuristic monolith, and the sounds of Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra, the sci-fi masterpiece saw Kubrick work together with novelist Arthur C Clarke to create a reflection on human evolution and existence from prehistoric times to space travel.
A world of imagination
New French film Mars Express (2023) is an animated film set on Mars, which has been colonised by humans and androids. With hints of Blade Runner (1982), Chinatown (1974) and Ghost in the Shell (1995), it’s a feast of futuristic fantasy that combines film noir and sci-fi movie elements.
Also set in space is High Life (2018) by French director Claire Denis. Starring Robert Pattinson as one of a number of death-row inmates aboard a spaceship, and Juliette Binoche as a doctor performing experiments on them, it’s an exploration of human desires and emotions that marries violence and tenderness.
There have been multiple films about the 18th century German nobleman Baron Munchausen. Showing at !magine Fest is a Czechoslovakian version from 1961, The Fabulous Baron Munchausen. It combines animation and live-action performances, creating wildly vivid imageries on the screen.
Hailed as the perfect sequel in cinema history, the story of The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) is set immediately after the first Frankenstein film (1931), and portrays the loneliness of the monster and the complexity of human nature.
On the subject of man-made life forms, the debut film by British director Alex Garland, Ex Machina (2015), won an Oscar for best visual effects in 2016. The film explores the theme of artificial life through the humanoid robot Ava, who possesses self-awareness. It unveils the discomfort and distrust of human beings towards AI technologies.
Heart-warming films for all ages
This film festival in Hong Kong is also screening films for younger viewers. Among them is the classic Pixar animated film WALL-E (2008), which won both an Oscar and a BAFTA for best animated feature film in 2009. It tells the story of a robot, WALL-E, left on earth to clean pollution after humans have evacuated. After 700 years, he has developed a personality – and a sense of loneliness. But then a new robot model, EVE, arrives, and the adventures begin.
Ernest & Celestine (2012) is another animated film suitable for all ages, featuring Ernest the bear and Celestine the mouse. The pair break their family traditions of bears and mice being archenemies and instead become best friends. The film’s animation is hand-drawn in a watercolour-like style that echoes a classic series of Belgian children’s books by Gabrielle Vincent.
Also showing at the film festival
- A Trip to the Moon – France, 1902 (free screening)
- A Matter of Life and Death – UK, 1946
- Forbidden Planet – USA, 1956 (free screening)
- The Creatures – France, 1966
- The Face of Another – Japan, 1966
- Stalker – Soviet Union, 1979
- The Spirit of the Beehive – Spain, 1973
- Orlando – UK, France, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, 1992
- After Life – Japan, 1998
!magine Fest ticket info
On sale from: 15 November
Prices: $60, HKFA; $110 and $130, K11 Art House; Free, HKSCM
Ticketing: URBTIX, K11 Art House, MCL Cinemas and mobile ticketing app “MCL Cinemas – Ticketing”
Programme page: Here
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