Sci-fi buffs in the Blue Mountains and beyond will be excited to learn of a new and scary film festival.
The Blue Space Film Festival will be held at the popular vintage art house cinema - Mount Vic Flicks.
The festival has been created not only to draw in Sydneysiders looking for a fun cultural experience to the Mountains, but also as an event to scare the wits out of local sci-fi buffs.
Andrew Warrilow of Lawson, is fitting in the demands of putting together the event - his first film festival - while finishing his PhD in nutritional science. But he has had a lot of help from the owners of Mount Vic Flicks.
"The challenge has been that I actually know nothing about holding film festivals," he told the Gazette.
"But when I approached Kirsten and Adam at Mount Vic Flicks straight away they were like 'Yeah, let's do it'. They have guided and supported me the whole way through."
He said many of his favourite science fiction films don't get shown anymore.
"I wanted a new generation to have the experience of seeing [them] up there on the big screen."
He said the Blue Mountains has "a clear streak of the offbeat going through it".
"From myths of panthers stalking the bush to UFO sightings - there's always talk of something weird and wonderful going on. I've never met so many sci-fi buffs as I have in the Mountains."
As well as the perfect location for a gathering of sci-fi fans, he has collated a great line-up of retro sci-fi films for the 132 seat cinema.
"Some of the films we are showing, like Ex Machina, have become instant classics, but many like [an updated] Silent Running, The Andromeda Strain or Videodrome, have not been seen on the big screen for decades.
"It may be a last chance to enjoy many of these works up there on the big screen. Each movie to be shown has stayed with me over the years and that's why they're on the list."
Mount Vic Flicks has a long history of making cinematic experiences into social events such as their famous Rocky Horror Picture Show nights, Blue Space will be no exception.
The Saturday night screening will have a dress-up competition with $300 in prizes from Geekdom in Leura. There will also be a pre-screening talk by film critic and author Simon Foster.
"There will be plenty of fun stuff. Each night we will screen a midnight creature feature. Saturday night's will be The Creature from the Black Lagoon in 3D which is a must-show at these kind of events," he said.
"Science fiction is a great vehicle for telling a story because the possibilities are limitless. All these movies are so relevant to today.
"Silent Running is all about appreciating and protecting our environment. How eerily prescient was Videodrome, predicting the brutal voyeurism of reality TV? The Andromeda Strain envisioned how science would fight a future pandemic. See for yourself how close Michael Crichton's prediction got. We've all lived it now."
Blue Space Film Festival runs from Friday October 21 to Saturday October 22. To book go to: https://mountvicflicks.com.au/sessions/event/
