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Illustrations by Stephanie Lane Gage.As the year draws to a close, we’d like to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our contributors. Here are some of their finest essays, interviews, festival coverage, and more from this year. We’re looking forward to much more in the new one. As always, thank you for reading.ESSAYSIllustration by Zoé Mahamès Peters.The current cinema:Sasha Frere-Jones on Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Eiko Ishibashi’s GIFTPhilippa Snow on Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor ThingsAdam Nayman on Pascal Plante’s Red RoomsCassie da Costa on RaMell Ross’s Nickel BoysAmanda Chen on Trương Minh Quý’s Việt and NamSanoja Bhaumik on Felipe Gálvez Haberle’s The SettlersNathalie Olah on Andrea Arnold’s BirdRobert Rubsam on Alice Rohrwacher’s La chimeraGrace Byron on Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV GlowZach Schonfeld on M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap and Michael Showalter’s The Idea of YouSam...

Through skilful departure from reality and the use of apt allegories, speculative science fiction is the perfect genre for filmmakers working under oppression and censorship. The times of the Polish People's Republic, when Piotr Szulkin began his film career, were not favourable to artistic creativity based on freedom of expression. Despite being persecuted for his anti-socialist views, he managed to stay imaginative and nonconformist – traits that are important for filmmakers regardless of the era or system in which they operate.

His feature debut, loosely inspired by the novel by Austrian author Gustav Meyrink, presents a post-apocalyptic future where scientists strive to engineer a new race of humans using individuals deemed degenerate. Among their creations is Pernat (Marek Walczewski), a seemingly ordinary product of their experiments, who is subjected to constant surveillance as he navigates his daily life – until he decides to defy his overseers. According to Jewish legend, a...

Apocalypse Now: Four Sci-Fi Parables by Piotr Szulkin is now showing on Mubi in many countries.O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization.When considering the complex and fraught history of Polish science-fiction cinema, one may quote the first words of Stanisław Lem’s novel Eden, which opens a mature period of his writing: “There was a miscalculation.” Between government censorship and long periods of economic recession, the genre was bound to fail.The first Polish sci-fi films were shorts made for TV through the 1960s and ’70s. These films were beloved by TV audiences and often very funny, but they were made with shoestring budgets and did not screen in cinemas. A notable early attempt at creating an ambitious science-fiction film was Andrzej Żuławski’s On the Silver Globe (1988), which aimed for a grand, epic canvas. Because of the Space Race, both Polish politicians and audiences had high expectations for this film.

Vinegar Syndrome’s annual “Halfway to Black Friday” sale is now live through Memorial Day Weekend, and as always, it’s a Huge celebration for fans of the label.

The “Halfway to Black Friday” sale is live through Monday at 11:59pm Est, and for starters, you can take advantage by saving 50% off nearly Everything in Vinegar’s shop.

The cornerstones of the celebration include Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls on 4K Uhd, exclusively restored by Vs and featuring a consummate selection of extras.

Ulli Lommel’s notorious horror classic, The Boogeyman makes its worldwide Uhd debut, freshly scanned and restored by Vs from its 35mm original negative and featuring a fresh slate of interviews along with a heaping helping of archival goodies.

Three weird and nasty Spanish rarities have been freshly scanned and restored by Vs and collected in Villages of the Damned: Three Horrors from Spain.

And Lamberto Bava...

Relativity (1966)My long-awaited first visit to the International Film Festival Oberhausen was canceled last year, due to the pandemic, so I was thrilled to finally experience the festival this year, albeit via streaming. The 67th edition took place in a dual format, online and with somewhat expanded in-person screenings in Oberhausen (though the online offerings themselves were ample). Founded in 1954, Oberhausen played a decisive role in fostering avant-garde and experimental filmmaking during the Cold War, when much of Eastern Europe suffered the brunt of censorship. It wasn’t uncommon for films that remained unscreened or were banned in their native countries to premiere and win prizes at Oberhausen, and so be saved from critical and public oblivion. Given its longstanding legacy, it was invigorating to see Oberhausen bring a wide-ranging historical perspective to its online platform. Such emphasis helped avoid a common pitfall at other, more industry-driven festivals, whose online...

Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Metrograph

Stage a Satoshi Kon double bill, with Millennium Actress and Perfect Blue both screening.

“Shaw Sisters,” a series on female-directed Hong Kong cinema, has its final weekend.

A print of The Green Ray continues, while Assault on Precinct 13 and The Angel Levine both screen.

Fantastic Planet and Spirited Away play on opposite sides of the day.

Witold Sobocinski, a Polish cinematographer who worked with countrymen including Roman Polanski, Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Zanussi and also was a celebrated jazz musician and a teacher at Lodz Film School, has died. He was 89. Lodz announced the news but did not give details.

Sobocinski was one of the first graduates of Lodz’s cinematography department and had taught there since the 1980s. His son, Piotr Sobocinski, also was a celebrated Dp, having scored an Oscar nod for Three Colors: Red and worked on such films as Hearts in Atlantis, Marvin’s Room and Ransom. He died in 2001.

Among the directors he worked with and their films are Polański, Wajda, Zanussi (Życie rodzinne), Jerzy Skolimowski (Ręce do góry), Wojciech Jerzy Has (The Hourglass Sanatorium), Piotr Szulkin and Andrzej Żuławski (The Third Part of the Night).

Among his many career honors,...

George Lucas’ Thx 1138, Byron Haskin’s The War Of The Worlds and 1918 silent film A Trip To Mars among 27 features set to screen.

The Berlin Film Festival’s annual retrospective will be devoted to science fiction films at the 67th edition of the festival unfolding Feb 9-19 in 2017.

The sidebar – Future Imperfect. Science · Fiction · Film” - will screen a total of 27 international features, including classics, cult films and largely unknown productions from countries including Japan as well as central and European Europe.

Describing science fiction films as one of the most “visually stunning and spectacular genres in the history of film”, the festival said the event would focus on two themes: ‘the society of the future’ and ‘the strange and the other’.

“The possible worlds on earth or in space open up a vast scope for re-defining questions of collective visions and fears. So as a mirror for society’s public debates, science fiction...

“There is in every one of us, even those who seem to be most moderate, a type of desire that is terrible, wild, and lawless.”—The Republic, Book IX 572bWhat’s the best way to describe the mania of an Andrzej Żuławski film? William Grimes, eulogizing Żuławski for The New York Times chose “emotionally savage.” J. Hoberman used “hyperkinetic,” “frenzied,” and “‘awful’ in its root sense of inspiring dread. Daniel Bird, writing about the most recent Lincoln Center screenings in New York, chose “deeply disturbing.” These descriptors make perfect sense after experiencing a Żuławski film, but I’ve never been able to sell his films to a newcomer this way. How could I? They’re much too primal for adjectives in our delicate English language, crafted to communicate Enlightenment-era ideas in a pleasing series of vibrations. The intensity of this director’s films could only be described in some sort of ancient Lovecraftian squelching,...

With The Princess of France beginning its theatrical run, Matias Piñeiro discusses five of his favorite cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare's work at Indiewire. Naturally, one of them is Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Jana Prikryl and Jonathan Rosenbaum on Jaromil Jireš’s Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, interviews with Piotr Szulkin and John Waters, J. Hoberman on Crystal Moselle's The Wolfpack and Miroslav Slaboshpitsky's The Tribe, David Cairns on Fritz Lang, Bruce Labruce on Jason Banker’s Felt—and more. » - David Hudson...

With The Princess of France beginning its theatrical run, Matias Piñeiro discusses five of his favorite cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare's work at Indiewire. Naturally, one of them is Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Jana Prikryl and Jonathan Rosenbaum on Jaromil Jireš’s Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, interviews with Piotr Szulkin and John Waters, J. Hoberman on Crystal Moselle's The Wolfpack and Miroslav Slaboshpitsky's The Tribe, David Cairns on Fritz Lang, Bruce Labruce on Jason Banker’s Felt—and more. » - David Hudson...

Yes we announced the partial lineup a ittle while back, and now we have the exclusive full lineup to share, and boy, is it a doozy. The festival runs April 28th to May 3rd so get your tickets now!

Opening night film: Splice by Vincenzo Natali.

Cosing night film: Cargo (which we loved, review)

TiMER (UK Premier)

Hunter Prey (International Premier) (teaser)

2033 (UK Premier) (Another film we loved, review)

1 The Stanislaw Lem adaptation (UK Premier) (Yes, we loved this too review)

Transmission (A Ballardian telecom malfunction, UK Premier) (review)

Drones

Eraser Children (International Premier, finally I get to see this tonight!) (trailer)

Radio Free Albemuth (Sneak Preview of this Philip K. Dick adaptation! We should have a trailer soon)

Earthling (International Premier) (review)

Depositarios (International Premier, more Mexican scifi) (teaser)

Plug & Pray (UK Premier, documentary)

8th Wonderland (UK Premier)

and much more! You can head over to the festival website for more details and tickets,...

tweetmeme_url='http://www.scificool.com/sci-fi-cinema-obscura-o-bi-o-ba-the-end-of-civilization/'; tweetmeme_style = 'normal';; For those of you who don’t like subtitles, bugger off. For the rest of you that enjoy enriching your entertainment choices with dashes of culture, read on. This week we take a look at one of Poland’s best sci-fi exports from director Piotr Szulkin entitled O-Bi, O-Ba, The End of Civilization (1985). The Basics The setup is familiar. A nuclear holocaust wipes out most of humanity and those that remain are left to survive the harsh aftermath. The brunt of the plot is set underground and focuses on the exploits of the survivors as they await a mysterious vessel known as ‘the Ark’ to come and rescue them. Meanwhile on the outside a ravaging nuclear winter ensues. The Review You’ve never heard of this movie, but it’s not because it sucks. It doesn’t, in fact it’s very good.

Wow! For the first time, the Polish scifi genius (and madman) Piotr Szulkin will have dvd releases of his most loved films which will include English subtitles and reportedly be region free but in 4:3 (and probably Pal). These 4 films are part of the box-set:

Ga, Ga - Chwala bohaterom (Ga-ga: Glory to the Heroes) IMDb

O-bi, O-ba - Koniec cywilizacji (O-Bi, O-Ba - The End of Civilization) IMDb

Wojna swiatów - nastepne stulecie (The War of the World: Next Century) IMDb

Golem IMDb

I've seen all of these films except for The War of the World: Next Century and I can attest to their greatness, especially the post apocalyptic and thoroughly depressing (cold war style) O-Bi, O-Ba - The End of Civilization.

There are some disceprancies on the below purchase website, but according to the distributors website, all of them do have English subtitles.

You can buy the DVDs here for 104.90 zloty = 35.67 Usd.