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This week’s podcast episode is something of a delight – a special edition that sees a collaboration between our good selves (well, minus 5D co-host Zack, who unfortunately had unavoidable obligations elsewhere) and the The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival (SSFFF), Australia’s newest celebration of sci-fi and fantasy genre film. In 2020, the SSFFF screened works from 19 countries, with Best Film honours going to SCALES, from UAE, and the short THE FABRICATED, from Iran. Also amongst the winners circle were unique speculative visions from Japan (RYOKO’S QUBIT SUMMER); France (ANONYMOUS ANIMALS); Spain (QUEEN OF THE LIZARDS); Italy (DARKNESS); and, of course, Australia (MONSTERS OF MAN; STARSPAWN: OVERTURE).
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To say recording this episode was an enjoyable experience would be a certain understatement – because not only does it feature some chat with two hugely knowledgable guys from SSFFF, but it also features a surprise guest appearance from an icon of Australian (and indeed worldwide) genre cinema…..who for now shall remain nameless. Yes, I know……I’m just one big tease.
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The intention was to look at key moments in Australia’s science-fiction genre literature, TV & film works that have a lasting pop culture relevance as well as what the future of Australian productions may be…… and to a large extent we did that in the first half of the podcast. The thing is that my collaborating co-presenters, Simon Foster & Travis Johnson REALLY know their stuff when it comes to their country’s genre heritage; Simon is the festival director of SSFFF, the managing director of www.screen-space.net and also the co-host of the Screen Watching Podcast. If that wasn’t enough he’s also a film industry journalist with over 30 years experience as a reviewer and broadcaster. Travis is a steering committee member of the SSFFF (in 2020 he hosted a live-stream panel on the Cyberpunk sub-genre. He’s the co-host on the Screen Watching Podcast and also the founder of Celluloid and Whiskey website. If that wasn’t enough he also reviews for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, among many others.
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So no pressure there then for me….and of course you know me, ‘knowing one’s stuff’ and my name haven’t always been said in the same sentence. In fact, I was happy to tell the boys that I was fully prepared to be schooled in the rich history of Australian pop culture. So the first half of the episode features some genuinely enjoyable chat on my part about some of the key moments in Australia’s science-fiction genre – though owing to my usual blathering on (you know, it’s all about me, me, me!) I feel we only just scratched the surface of what is undeniably a rich history of literature, film and TV.
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And yes, a certain movie series featuring a character whose first name may, or may not be, Max (who’s perhaps also a little mad) was discussed……..which brings me to our special surprise guest. Do you know something? I’ll leave his name out of it for now – all I’ll say is that around 30 mins into the episode an actor, who not only played a titular character in one of the series’ films, but also went onto to wider world iconic status, graciously agreed to make an appearance with us. In fact, due to our worldwide time differences, he had to get up at the ungodly hour of 4 am in California where he now resides. His stories of his career and filming experiences are a genuine joy.
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So there you have it, not only an exploration of past, future, mainstream and independent Australian science fiction, but a veritable pop culture icon thrown in for good measure too! I would like to say a genuine thank you to Simon and Travis for being gracious, informative and hugely entertaining – you can check out more about The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival RIGHT HERE.
You can also find them on the following socials;
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SydneyScienceFictionFilmFestival
Twitter, Instagram: @SydSciFiFest
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You can hear the audio version of this episode by clicking on the ITunes or Spotify icons on this page, or you can see us all in marvellous colour in the video directly below.
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We always love to hear from the foolhardy souls who listen to this podcast so feel free to send any views, comments, questions, criticisms (hopefully not), or outright proclamations of love and adoration in the comments section below or directly via the 5D Website at 5d-blog.com. Also, if you would like to subscribe for free to receive email newsletter updates from 5D then just complete the ‘Subscribe’ section on the 5D Website. If you would like to sponsor a future episode (or episodes) of the 5D Podcast then get in touch to discuss!
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