"Spanning seven films across seven decades, the programme begins in 1960 and moves through a wide range of genres, tones and visual styles, ending with works from the 2020s. Together, they trace how the fear of nuclear catastrophe has evolved and how contemporary filmmakers reinterpret a danger that 20th-century directors could only speculate about."
"The season opens with a 4K restoration of the landmark Czechoslovak sci-fi film Ikarie XB-1 (1963). Set in 2163, it follows a crew of astronauts on a mission to find life in a distant galaxy, only to confront unsettling reflections of their own civilisation. Directed by Jindřich Polák, the film is widely regarded as a major influence on 2001: A Space Odyssey and remains a cornerstone of modern science fiction."
"Now, a season of films at the Barbican flips the perspective, turning its gaze eastwards to explore how filmmakers behind the Iron Curtain imagined the nuclear threat. Most of us grew up with a fairly fixed image of the Cold War, shaped by Western anxieties about missiles, bunkers and mutually assured destruction."
The Barbican presents a film season that shifts perspective on Cold War cinema by examining how filmmakers behind the Iron Curtain portrayed nuclear anxiety, contrasting with Western narratives focused on missiles and mutually assured destruction. The seven-film programme spans from 1960 to the 2020s, tracing the evolution of nuclear fear across different eras and artistic approaches. The season opens with a restored 4K version of the landmark Czechoslovak science fiction film Ikarie XB-1, widely recognized as influential to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Additional highlights include UK premieres of Bulgarian and Yugoslav films, works by Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky, and contemporary films examining nuclear brinkmanship's lasting legacy. Together, these films demonstrate how Cold War-era directors speculated about nuclear catastrophe while contemporary filmmakers reinterpret this historical danger.
Read at ianVisits
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]