South Africa in focus

This is the short film "Alive in Joburg" which is the basis for District 9, opening this weekend. I am super excited about this film. Shot with an relatively unknown cast in south africa, the film uses the arrival of aliens for an allegory of apartheid. The film is getting stellar reviews. Despite more scifi or scifi-ish films being produced of late, most of these have substituted CGI sequences and action for the thought-provoking critique that good scifi writing includes. Philip K Dick, Octavia Butler, Ursula K LeGuin- their stories subtly, and often not-so-subtly take on society, race, classicism, our very definition of humanity- just to name the most obvious.

If you have an art house nearby, check out Moon, starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey's voice, currently out. One of the few recent scifi films I can recommend. Partly an homage to classic scifi like 2001, the film goes farther and is a thoroughly entertaining original film.