German broadcasting group Wdr is traveling back in time with the newly restored 1983 cult sci-fi series “The Visitors.”
The Czechoslovakian show is set in 2484, a utopian future in which humanity is united under one common government, advised in all decisions by a computer known as “the central thinker,” and where hunger, disease and war have been eradicated. When Earth finds itself suddenly threatened by an imminent collision with a comet, however, leading academic Filip and three comrades travel back to 1984 in a contemporary-looking Lada Niva in search of a lost formula that enables the shifting of planets, which could save Earth.
Created by Ota Hofman and Jindřich Polák, the team behind the classic 1970s Czechoslovak children’s series “Pan Tau,” “The Visitors” was known domestically as “Návštěvníci,” “Die Besucher” in West Germany and “Expedition Adam 84” in East Germany.
The series also boasts costumes and props designed by Theodor Pištěk, who...
The Czechoslovakian show is set in 2484, a utopian future in which humanity is united under one common government, advised in all decisions by a computer known as “the central thinker,” and where hunger, disease and war have been eradicated. When Earth finds itself suddenly threatened by an imminent collision with a comet, however, leading academic Filip and three comrades travel back to 1984 in a contemporary-looking Lada Niva in search of a lost formula that enables the shifting of planets, which could save Earth.
Created by Ota Hofman and Jindřich Polák, the team behind the classic 1970s Czechoslovak children’s series “Pan Tau,” “The Visitors” was known domestically as “Návštěvníci,” “Die Besucher” in West Germany and “Expedition Adam 84” in East Germany.
The series also boasts costumes and props designed by Theodor Pištěk, who...
- 10/22/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Spanish streamer Filmin is set to launch its latest original series, “Autodefensa,” a semi-autobiographical show about two young women in Barcelona living a wild and care-free life while also struggling with the conflicts and frustrations faced by Generation Z.
Co-created by Miguel Ángel Blanca (“Magaluf Ghost Town”) and stars Berta Prieto and Belén Barenys, “Autodefensa” is a documentary-like work about two friends in their 20s described as a mash of Lena Dunham’s “Girls,” Larry Clark’s “Kids” and the works of Lars von Trier.
Blanca, who also produced and directed the series, was selected by Variety last year as one of Spain’s 10 rising talents and has enjoyed success with his own recent award-winning documentary, “Magaluf Ghost Town.”
Up-and-coming talents Prieto and Barenys also boast growing popularity: Prieto is an author and playwright, while Barenys, who also goes by the stage name Memé, is an actress and singer with...
Co-created by Miguel Ángel Blanca (“Magaluf Ghost Town”) and stars Berta Prieto and Belén Barenys, “Autodefensa” is a documentary-like work about two friends in their 20s described as a mash of Lena Dunham’s “Girls,” Larry Clark’s “Kids” and the works of Lars von Trier.
Blanca, who also produced and directed the series, was selected by Variety last year as one of Spain’s 10 rising talents and has enjoyed success with his own recent award-winning documentary, “Magaluf Ghost Town.”
Up-and-coming talents Prieto and Barenys also boast growing popularity: Prieto is an author and playwright, while Barenys, who also goes by the stage name Memé, is an actress and singer with...
- 10/18/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Our friends at the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival have announced the first screenings as part of their Niff on Tour programme. The tour kicks off at the Epfl Pavilions in Lausanne, Switzerland, with free screenings of Blaise Harrison's Les Particules and the first Czech sci-fi film, Ikarie X-B1, from Jindrich Polák. Not only are they free but they will also be screened outside on the grounds of the venue. The National Film Archive of Switzerland is a little north of Lausanne in the city of Penthaz. In October Niff will be thre to present screenings of Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope and Brian de Palma's horror classic Carrie. You can guess where the The Filmpodium Zürich is located. They...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 9/22/2022
- Screen Anarchy
For the discerning science fiction fan, this is the best of the Eastern-bloc Cold War Sci-fi epics, a genuinely brilliant and warmly human ‘Voyage to the End of the Universe,’ restored in 4k resolution. It’s from before 2001: A Space Odyssey, and has an equally wondrous but totally different vision of the future.
Ikarie Xb 1
Blu-ray
Nfa (Czechoslovak National Film Archive)
1963 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 88 min. / Street Date March, 2017
Starring: Radovan Lukavský, Zdenek Stepánek, Frantisek Smolík, Otto Lackovic, Irena Kacírková Dana Medrická
Cinematography: Jan Kalis, Sasa Rasilov
Production Designer: Jan Zázvorka
Special Effects: Jan Kalis
Film Editor: Josef Dobrichovský
Original Music: Zdenek Liska
Written by Jindrich Polák and Pavel Jurácek, adapted from the novel The Magellanic Cloud by Stanislaus Lem.
Produced by Filmové Studio Barrandov
Directed by Jindrich Polák
The trailer for the new restoration of Ikarie Xb 1 (no hyphen) pretty much tells the story. A shot...
Ikarie Xb 1
Blu-ray
Nfa (Czechoslovak National Film Archive)
1963 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 88 min. / Street Date March, 2017
Starring: Radovan Lukavský, Zdenek Stepánek, Frantisek Smolík, Otto Lackovic, Irena Kacírková Dana Medrická
Cinematography: Jan Kalis, Sasa Rasilov
Production Designer: Jan Zázvorka
Special Effects: Jan Kalis
Film Editor: Josef Dobrichovský
Original Music: Zdenek Liska
Written by Jindrich Polák and Pavel Jurácek, adapted from the novel The Magellanic Cloud by Stanislaus Lem.
Produced by Filmové Studio Barrandov
Directed by Jindrich Polák
The trailer for the new restoration of Ikarie Xb 1 (no hyphen) pretty much tells the story. A shot...
- 7/4/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Ikarie Xb-1 | Mud | Banshee | Hannibal | Hitchcock
Ikarie Xb-1
This seldom seen but significant Czech science fiction film from 1963 can almost be regarded as the missing link between the flamboyant outer-space movies of the 50s, such as Forbidden Planet, and the more serious, sterile and cerebral fare of the pre-Star Wars 1970s. Like 1972's Solaris, Jindrich Polák's film is based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem (The Magellanic Cloud in this instance) and concerns a mission to explore deep space, portraying the cosmos as an impossibly huge area full of dangers unimaginable to the puny human mind. There are plenty of holdovers from the film's groovy 50s forebears (the spaceship of the title even has a cocktail lounge); and visually it's a delight, the inventively lit sets conjuring a mood unlike any other movie of the era. The space-age trappings are also highly imaginative, from magnetic boots to tubes...
Ikarie Xb-1
This seldom seen but significant Czech science fiction film from 1963 can almost be regarded as the missing link between the flamboyant outer-space movies of the 50s, such as Forbidden Planet, and the more serious, sterile and cerebral fare of the pre-Star Wars 1970s. Like 1972's Solaris, Jindrich Polák's film is based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem (The Magellanic Cloud in this instance) and concerns a mission to explore deep space, portraying the cosmos as an impossibly huge area full of dangers unimaginable to the puny human mind. There are plenty of holdovers from the film's groovy 50s forebears (the spaceship of the title even has a cocktail lounge); and visually it's a delight, the inventively lit sets conjuring a mood unlike any other movie of the era. The space-age trappings are also highly imaginative, from magnetic boots to tubes...
- 8/31/2013
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Jindrich Polak’s 1963 Czechslovakian space odyssey was originally titled Ikaria Xb-1, the name of the spaceship on a mission to search for life in the stars of Alpha Centuri. Adapted from Stanislaw Lem’s novel The Magellenic Cloud, this austere and beautifully designed pic anticipates Tarkovsky’s Solaris and remains one of the best of the Eastern Bloc science fiction films– all of which were released in the West in reworked adaptations. The full film can be seen here.
- 3/19/2012
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
We may think of Kubrick's 2001 as the great grown-up sci-fi film, but many beautiful, thoughtful cosmic adventures came out of the Eastern Bloc too
If we can begin with a sweeping generalisation, American science-fiction movies are usually distinguished by a fast pace that gets faster and ends with an enormous bang. Not all: George Lucas's Thx 1138 and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey are different. But these are exceptional even within those directors' work: Lucas's other sci-fi films being fast-moving toy-operas, while Kubrick's Doctor Strangelove and Clockwork Orange are relentless in their irony and forward movement.
Partially, I think, this is because Us sci-fi films were born of very low budgets in the 1950s, in the hands of independents such as Jack Arnold. They were often parables about the danger of nuclear testing, which caused men to shrink, or ants to grow giant, or prehistoric sea-beasts to carry off swimsuited girls.
If we can begin with a sweeping generalisation, American science-fiction movies are usually distinguished by a fast pace that gets faster and ends with an enormous bang. Not all: George Lucas's Thx 1138 and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey are different. But these are exceptional even within those directors' work: Lucas's other sci-fi films being fast-moving toy-operas, while Kubrick's Doctor Strangelove and Clockwork Orange are relentless in their irony and forward movement.
Partially, I think, this is because Us sci-fi films were born of very low budgets in the 1950s, in the hands of independents such as Jack Arnold. They were often parables about the danger of nuclear testing, which caused men to shrink, or ants to grow giant, or prehistoric sea-beasts to carry off swimsuited girls.
- 6/30/2011
- by Alex Cox
- The Guardian - Film News
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