From: Ken Bawcom (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Jan 25 2009 - 01:10:44 PST
The only unmentioned apocalypse film I can think of off hand is "A
Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy." It's a shame that no one ever
made a movie of the book "Venus On The Half-Shell." Now THAT would be
an apocalyptic film.
The IMDb lists 450 entries under "post apocalypse"... Several films in
the Star Trek franchise are apocalyptic, as are several episodes of
Twilight Zone.
I must say that I saw "On The Beach" as a teen during the cold war,
and found it very affecting.
"Tribulation 99" has to be my favorite exp apocalypse film.
"The Bed Sitting Room" is probably my favorite more-or-less mainstream
apocalypse film. I've read that Richard Lester wasn't allowed to make
another film for a few years after that one.
I'd have to say "The Quiet Earth" is my favorite sci fi apocalypse film.
Ken B.
Quoting Steve Polta <email suppressed>:
> Regarding this thread, it just struck me that San Francisco
> Cinematheque presented a program in June 2007, curated by me, very
> much on this very theme, which was titled "Films from the End of the
> World." The "feature" of the program was Sergei Loznitsa's BLOCKADE,
> which added seemingly-synchronous sound to originally-silent
> newsreel-type footage of the Seige of Leningrad, to extremely
> uncanny effect. The rest of the program were short films which
> suggested, to varying degrees, apocalypse, entropy, and/or an empty
> world.
>
> My brief program description read as follows:
> “Death advances, and life falls away. That happens gradually and
> unnoticeably for us; we gradually immerse ourselves in the nightmare
> of a completely absurd existence.” (Sergei Loznitsa). A monumental
> work of sound design and archival research, Sergei Loznitsa’s
> BLOCKADE brings the devastation of the 900-day Siege of Leningrad—a
> WWII battle considered to one of the most lethal in world history,
> in which nearly one million people died of starvation, disease, and
> cold—crashing solidly into the present day. Through the addition of
> seemingly synchronous sound to brutal and beautiful actuality
> footage held in archive of the St. Petersburg Studio of Documentary
> Films, the harrowing historical events become uncannily real and
> alive. Also screening: Brian Frye’s post-apocalypse psycho-melodrama
> THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY; Stephanie Barber’s lonely late-night
> laundry-scape TOTAL POWER DEAD DEAD DEAD Vanessa Renwick’s
> PORTRAIT #2: TROJAN, an
> ambivalently beautiful ode to destruction; and Michael Robinson’s
> End Times elegy, THE GENERAL RETURNS FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER.
>
> The Program Note for the screening, which contains film descriptions
> and information can be downloaded from:
> www.sfcinematheque.org/calendar-44917.shtml?x=457
>
> Speaking of Robinson, his VICTORY OVER THE SUN, which depicts
> abandoned World's Fair location and suggests a peacefully overgrown,
> once-great civilization (a la LOGAN'S RUN), would also possibly be
> worth your consideration.
>
> ———Steve Polta
>
> --- On Tue, 1/20/09, Margaret Jamieson <email suppressed> wrote:
>
>> From: Margaret Jamieson <email suppressed>
>> Subject: Apocalypse films
>> To: email suppressed
>> Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 3:35 AM
>> Hi List:
>>
>> I'm teaching a class on apocalypse films and would
>> welcome any suggestions, especially: shorter films,
>> experimental films, non-fiction, international films, and
>> other platforms, like games or installations. The premise of
>> the course is to follow the anxieties of culture through
>> apocalypse films, and the readings go from Boccaccio to
>> Wheeler Winston Dixon, and the films from Birth of a Nation
>> to Bruce Connor (with, rest assured, lots of aliens in
>> between), so I'm very open to ideas.
>>
>> Thank you for your generosity, as always--MJ
>>
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________________________
>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at
>> <email suppressed>.
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
>
"Those who would give up essential liberty
to purchase a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty, nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin 1775
"I know that the hypnotized never lie... Do ya?"
Pete Townshend 1971
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.