“FROM OUT OF SPACE… A WARNING AND AN ULTIMATUM!”
I’m excited to announce ATOMIC ORIGINS, a new monthly season of sci-fi screenings in the lovely Members Bar at Finsbury Park Picturehouse. First film: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL on Monday 19 August at 7:30pm!
Celebrating 70 years since Godzilla first stomped across our screens, ATOMIC ORIGINS looks at how the monstrous power of the atom bomb unleashed an era of apocalyptic science fiction.
It is almost 80 years since two atomic bombs detonated over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 06 and 09 August 1945. Following a post-war period of American occupation and censorship – in parallel with sustained nuclear testing in the Pacific islands – Japan was finally able to articulate its experiences on film in the early 1950s. GODZILLA (1954) was one of those messages from the gates of hell, a harrowing warning to the world about the dangers of nuclear proliferation that would ultimately go unheeded. Rendered impotent in the face of indifference, the world’s longest running film series rapidly mutated into more family-friendly, Saturday cinema fare.
Escalating fears of nuclear warfare transformed speculative cinema globally, giving rise to an explosion of science fiction, horror and fantasy films in the USA, UK, Japan and beyond. Exploiting geopolitical tensions arising from the Cold War between former allies the USA and Soviet Union, filmmakers spun cautionary tales packed with paranoia, movie monsters, and peculiar visitors from other worlds. From micro-budget mayhem to handsome big-studio productions, the 1950s spawned an unparalleled series of science fiction films that rumbled throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s when new blockbuster forces would once-again transform the global box office.
ATOMIC ORIGINS celebrates this period of unparalleled creativity with a series of sci-fi classics from the USA, Japan and UK. Stepping around and in-between Godzilla’s giant footprints, the programme will look at the American classics that heralded the start of the atomic age of sci-fi, and the many responses to the Godzilla phenomenon (including Japan’s first science fiction film in colour). The programme features work from some of science fiction cinema’s greatest and most prolific directors, including Robert Wise, Jack Arnold, Noriaki Yuasa, and Ishirō Honda.
ATOMIC ORIGINS starts with “the first sci-fi masterpiece”, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) on Monday 19 August at 7:30pm (doors open 7pm if you fancy a chat beforehand!). All films in the ATOMIC ORIGINS season will screen in the Members Bar at Finsbury Park Picturehouse with an introduction, intermission and subtitles (where possible).
Adapted from a short story by Harry Bates, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL delivered one of cinema’s most potent anti-nuclear warnings, and remains a powerful plea for peace over the self-destructive futility of war. Directed by multiple Oscar winner Robert Wise (WEST SIDE STORY, THE SOUND OF MUSIC) from a screenplay by Edmund H. North (PATTON), the film features an outstanding experimental score by Bernard Herman (PSYCHO, TAXI DRIVER), a serious-minded approach, compelling performances from an iconic cast, and the quasi-fascist robot enforcer, Gort.
“ATOMIC ORIGINS takes me right back to when I first fell in love with speculative cinema. Whilst my friends were listening to Soft Cell and The Cure on their Sony Walkmen, films like INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL became the soundtrack to my teenage years, playing on permanent VHS loop whilst I revised for my school exams. As the world celebrates the 70th Anniversary of GODZILLA, I thought I would expand from my previous seasons of kaijū classics – that included a sold out screening of Ishirō Honda’s GODZILLA at Genesis Cinema – by looking at how the atom bomb inspired an apocalyptic era of classic science fiction films. See you there…?”
Token Homo x
ATOMIC ORIGINS: PROGRAMME
- 12 AUGUST – THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) dir Robert Wise, USA, English with subs, 92mins
- 09 SEPTEMBER – WARNING FROM SPACE (1956) dir Koji Shima, Japan, Japanese with English subs, 87mins
- 23 SEPTEMBER – THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957) dir Jack Arnold, USA, 81mins
- 07 OCTOBER – GAMERA: THE GIANT MONSTER (1964) dir Noriaki Yuasa, Japan, Japanese with English subs, 78mins
- 04 NOVEMBER – FRANKENSTEIN VS BARAGON (1965) dir Ishirō Honda, Japan, Japanese with English subs, 89mins
- 09 DECEMBER – GAMERA VS GYAOS (1967) dir Noriaki Yuasa, Japan, Japanese with English Subtitles, 86mins
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