It’s a good month for festivals in the fair city of film. With the East Asia Film Festival opening last night at the IFI and the Japanese Film Festival kicking off throughout the country this weekend, the time is perfect to get out of the April showers and into a cinema. Also this month is the return of the Dublin Sci-Fi Film Festival, and last night the festival held a launch party in the Generator Hostel in Smithfield. With the launch complete and the full schedule of films now announced, the second year of one of Dublin’s top film festivals is ready to get underway at the end of the month.
Dublin Sci-Fi Film Festival 2018 will be taking place from April 26th – 29th, closing out the month with a weekend of fantastic sci-fi films; showcasing new talent and celebrating some all-time classics. Both the Generator Hostel and the Light House Cinema will once again by serving as hosts to the festival, with 18 feature films set to be screened along with a couple of sessions of shorts. With the likes of Planet of the Apes and John Carpenter’s They Live included in the programming, there are must-see films throughout the festival for sci-fi fans. There’s a strong international element to the films, with selections from Greece, Belgium, Poland, China and more. 50s B-Movies like The Fly and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms will serve as a look back at the fantastical science of the past, while the horror-themed Dark Futures short film collection will be a treat for those that like their sci-fi frightening.
On the opening night of Dublin Sci-Fi Film Festival 2018, an Irish film will take the spotlight. Written and directed by Sean Clancy, Locus of Control tells the story of Andrew Egan, who reluctantly accepts a teaching job to help the unemployed re-enter the workforce. As Andrew grows accustomed to the droll institution and its occupants he suspects that one of the students may be his downfall and that the previous teacher may not exactly have left of his own accord. While his life slowly unravels, Andrew’s lessons fall on deaf ears and he soon becomes part of a larger cosmic joke. After a selection of Irish shorts to begin proceedings at 5pm, Locus of Control will be the festival’s first feature at 7.30pm.
Tickets for the festival’s films are €7 and are available now from the festival website. Check out the full schedule for the festival below.
Thursday 26th April
Irish Sci-Fi Shorts Showcase (2016-2018) 5pm
Locus of Control (2016) 7.30pm
Friday 27th April
Black Hollow Cage (aka Dark Portal) (2017) 5.30pm
Salyut 7 (2017) 6.00pm
The Man with the Magic Box (2017) 7.20pm
Let the Corpses Tan (2017) 10.45pm
Saturday 28th April
The Capture (2017) 12.30pm
Love and Saucers (2017) 12.30pm
Sci-Fi Shorts 1 4pm
Hagazussa (2017) 4pm
The Fly (1958) 6pm
Thread (2016) 7.45pm
Planet of the Apes (1968) 9.45pm
Akira (1988) 10.45pm
Sunday 29th April
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) 12pm
Big Fish and Begonia (2016) 12pm
Sci-Fi Shorts 2 2pm
Marjorie Prime (2017) 2pm
Instant Dreams (2017) 4pm
Dark Futures Shorts 6pm
They Live (1988) 7.30pm