SCI FI PI

Twelve Tricky Questions with Fantastic Planet Film Festival's Director, Dean Bertram.


Q: You have quite an impressive line-up for your first ever Sci Fi Film Fest. How do you convince studio people to screen something like Zombieland?

A: Thanks for your kind words. Everyone at the festival is also very pleased with the line-up for the first year. The same team that run Fantastic Planet have been running A Night of Horror International Film Festival for the past four years, so I think we've reached a stage where we can source some bigger films. That said, we are very fortunate that Sony – the distributors of ZOMBIELAND (screening Saturday October 31, 7:00pm, Dendy Newtown) - are fantastic and so supportive of the genre in Australia. As are Icon, from whom we were able to source the festival's closing night film, the mesmerising steam-punk fantasy FRANKLYN (Friday November 6, 7:00pm, Dendy Newtown).

Q: Why on earth would you attempt to put yourself through the emotional blender of a)tracking down decent and interesting Sci Fi/genre films and b)trying to get people to watch them?

Probably both endeavours stem from my inner-masochist.


Q: Is Sci Fi a sickness with you? When did it start? Is there a cure?

*Laughs* Well I think it is definitely a virus of some type, though maybe a helpful virus that opens up your perception – like the empathy virus injected into Tim Robbin's character in the Michael Winterbottom sci-fi gem CODE 46.

I think I contracted the Sci Fi virus as a boy, my first exposure was probably KING KONG, I was obsessed with both the original and the remake. Then its symptoms became fully blown when I went to see STAR WARS for the first time at the cinema. I still remember the feeling I had as the film opened: John William's score washed over me and the Imperial Star Destroyer soared overhead filling the screen. Cinematic magic. Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS only exacerbated my condition.

For those of us who contract the virus, there is no known cure I'm afraid. Although when George Lucas re-launched the STAR WARS franchise with THE PHANTOM MENACE, I think that some of the infected went into a brief remission...


Q: Do you think that Sci Fi fans are a breed apart from the typical 'Aussie' or are we all Sci Fi fans underneath, just waiting to be educated?

I think that anybody, regardless of nationality, who is interested in important ideas and the future can't help but be a bit of a sci-fi fan.


Q: Have you ever converted a 'boofhead' to Sci Fi? If so, describe the experience. In detail.

Yes. À la CLOCKWORK ORANGE conditioning. For legal reasons I can't say much more. The subject is now a functional member of society.


Q: What's a good Sci Fi film that not many people have heard of?

Actually, at the festival this year we're fortunate enough to have Jaimie and Aspasia Leonarder – the king and queen of Australian repertory cinema - presenting a special retrospective screening of BARON PRASIL (Sunday November 1, 4:00pm, Dendy Newtown). The film is an absolutely stunning combination of various animation techniques, live action, and special effects by Czech film wizard Karel Zeman. It is an almost forgotten cinematic gem, that manages to stunningly combine aspects of both the science fiction and fantasy genres.


Q: What film in the Fantastic Planet Film Festival Line-up were you most surprised by?

Well, the festival is open to cold submissions, so we receive a lot of very strong independent films that have just been completed, and thus have with very little buzz yet attached. So we do get pleasantly surprised. Certainly, the entire festival programming team was absolutely floored by SAMURAI AVENGER: THE BLIND WOLF (Thursday November 5, 9:00pm, Dendy Newtown). The film is an exhilarating, and perfectly executed homage to 70's action exploitation films. The film's director/writer/star, Kurando Mitsutake, is a guest of the festival and will be partaking in a Q&A after the screening of SAMURAI AVENGER.

Another cold submission that blew the festival programming team away was CRYPTIC (Tuesday November 3, 7:00pm, Dendy Newtown). It is a compelling time travel themed mind-bender, that explores the question: “What would you do if you called your old home phone number and your younger self answered”?


Q: You have a Forum on making Sci FI and Genre films in Australia. Why DON'T we make them here (up till now)? How DO we make them here?

Well, I think that there was almost a golden age of Australian genre cinema (sci-fi, horror, and fantasy) in the late 70s and early 80s. Films from producers like Antony I. Ginnane and directors like Brian Trenchard-Smith - including PATRICK, HARLEQUIN, THIRST, TURKEY SHOOT and DEAD-END DRIVE IN - were very successful in their day.

It is the funding bodies in this country that are primarily to blame for the traditional scarcity of Australian genre films. These government agencies have tended to only throw tax-payer dollars at self-consciously Australian, art house yawn-inducers that consistently fail at the box office.

But the Australian filmmaking scene is currently undergoing a genuine renaissance: in large part due to increasing advances in affordable digital video technology. Many emerging Australian filmmakers are now self-financing original, clever, and entertaining films, which stay untainted by the grubby fingerprints of the film funding bodies. This movement includes a massive upswing in the number of sci-fi and horror films being produced; genres which were traditionally despised and refused funding by the government film agencies.

In fact, two new Australian films screening at the festival this year are testament to the calibre of independent sci-fi that is currently be produced in this country. 1 AND 0 NLY, directed by Sydney-sider Martyn Park is a beautiful, yet haunting film about an environmentalist/scientist who decides to unleash a device that will wipe out all human DNA on the planet. While ERASER CHILDREN is a visually stunning, darkly comedic film which is reminiscent of the best in Dystopian sci fi films from METROPLOIS to Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL.

Directed by Nathan Christoffel, ERASER CHILDREN is the festival's opening night film (Friday, October 30, 7:00pm, Dendy Newtown).


Q: What's your favourite guilty pleasure in the Sci Fi world of movies?

I'm almost ashamed to say that I do take strange delight in watching STAR WARS EPISODE 2: ATTACK OF THE CLONES...


Q: Why should people support Sci Fi in Australia?

Sci Fi is unique in it's ability to examine the most pressing issues of today through a futuristic lens. So not only can it be exhilarating entertainment, it tends to have more important things to say about the human condition than any other genre.


Q: All your movies (except for ZOMBIELAND ironically enough) are rated R18+. Is this because you also run the 'A Night Of Horror' film festival and can't help yourself?

While I do enjoy strong content films, very few films in the Fantastic Planet program actually deserve an R 18+ rating. Most would actually be around an M rating.

The discrepancy exists because of the classification laws in this country. By law, film festivals are required to receive classification exemptions for all of the films that they screen from the Office of Film and Literature Classification (unless, of course a film has already been officially classified/rated by the OFLC). Films that are given an exemption for the duration of the festival are never officially classified for general release, and the festival is only permitted to screen them to 18+ audiences. ZOMBIELAND is MA 15+, as incidentally is the festival's closing night film FRANKLYN, because the distribution companies that are releasing the films in Australia after the festival have already paid to have them officially classified.


Q: Have you had a chance to see Stargate Universe yet? If so, will Dr Rush ultimately be revealed as evil, or good, do you think? If not, what's your favourite Sci Fi TV show?

No, unfortunately I haven't had a chance because I have been flat out with the festival. Regarding my favourite Sci Fi shows, I have so many that it is hard to pick just one. The original STAR TREK is still right up there, as is the OUTER LIMITS. I'm also a big fan of the old DR. WHO, particularly the Tom Baker years (I met Baker when I was a boy, which had a big impact on me). More recently, the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is a firm favourite.

The Fantastic Planet Film Festival opens this Friday, October 30, at Dendy Newtown, Sydney.


For full details, check out www.fantasticplanetfilmfestival.com.