Saturday, March 29, 2014

Soundtracking with a handful of BEAMers!

Sound artists Trio Latitude (Gary James Joynes, Shawn Pinchbeck, Scott Smallwood) are slated to provide a unique electroacoustic treatment of a 1963 Czech science-fiction classic in this special, all-ages, one-night event. Admission is $10 at the door.

To allow for this presentation, the movie, shown in black and whi...te and clocking in at an hour and 22 minutes, will be shown in a silent format with English subtitles.

Ikarie XB-1 is a 1963 Czechoslovak science fiction film that was edited and dubbed into English for release in the USA, where it is known by its alternate title, Voyage to the End of the Universe.

While it shows some influence from earlier American ventures such as Forbidden Planet, the film was also influential in its own right—critics have noted a number of similarities between Ikarie XB-1 and Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey and it is believed to have been one of many films Kubrick screened while researching 2001.

As well, its concept of a mobile community in space paralleled TV producer Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a “wagon train to the stars,” which sowed the seeds for the landmark TV series Star Trek in 1966.