Sci-Fi London: Oktoberfest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: London, UK

http://www.sci-fi-london.com/festival/2008/oktoberfest/

We are delighted to announce the first SCI-FI-LONDON: OKTOBERFEST, a special one-day event on Friday 3rd October at the Apollo West End. The Oktoberfest will feature several UK premieres and three different all-night programmes to include our notorious ANIMÉ ALLNIGHTER and a nod to things a little more gory with a night of new ZOMBIE films.

Louis Savy, Festival Director said:

”I am really excited about this event. Visitors to our annual festival kept telling us a year was too long to wait and why don’t we put something on mid-year. Well, we listened and created this special event”

The Oktoberfest line-up is still being decided but we have confirmation of the UK premiere of DEAD SPACE: DOWNFALL, the feature length animated prequel to the Electronic Arts forthcoming game title DEAD SPACE. The event also features a stunning CGI family film TERRA and a ZOMBIE ALL-NIGHTER (details below).

The full line-up will be announced shortly and tickets will be on sale September 1st 2008 from the Apollo box office (020 7451 9944)

NOTE TO EDITORS: SCI-FI-LONDON is now in its 8th year is UK's only dedicated Sci-Fi and Fantasy film festival, it screens world and UK film premieres, documentaries and a selection of classic SF titles. SCI-FI-LONDON also has a strong international shorts programme and screens a short film with every feature screening. It also holds a film school and filmmaking competitions to encourage more science fiction films to be made in the UK - www.sci-fi-london.com

For information on the SCI-Fi-LONDON Festival contact:

Frazer Nash at Frazer Nash Communications:

Tel: 44 (0) 1296712522

Email: fnc@frazer-nash-communications.co.uk

Louis Savy, Festival Director:

Tel: +44 (0) 77537 46621

Email: louis@sci-fi-london.co.uk

Confirmed films include:

TERRA (2007, 85mins, Aristomenis Tsirbas, USA) - UK Premiere

With an all-star voice cast, Terra is a beautifully imagined and animated reverse alien invasion story, where the humans turn out to be the invading aliens.

Mala (Evan Rachel Wood) is a precocious girl living on the beautiful planet Terra, a place where peace and tolerance are celebrated. Unbeknownst to Mala and her fellow Terrians, the last inhabitants of Earth have exhausted the resources of their planet (and three others) and are now searching for a new home. The ‘Earthforce’, headed by General Hemmer (Brian Cox), want to use a Terraformer to make Terra habitable for humans but poisonous for Terrians. When the Earthlings embark on an invasion of Terra, Mala's father, Roven (Dennis Quaid), is kidnapped. Hoping to save her father, Mala captures and hides a crashed human pilot named Jim (Luke Wilson). While Mala nurses Jim back to health, the two forge a friendship and a plan that could save both the human race and the Planet Terra. Soon, however, they realise that peace will not be secured unless they can combat both the Terraformer and dark political forces that will stop at nothing in their drive to achieve power for power's sake.

Director Aristomenis Tsirbas paints a landscape of pastoral pleasure and delivers a slick family film with a heartfelt message at its core and adorable-looking creatures and vistas.

We also have 3 all-nighter programmes including:

THE NOTORIOUS SCI-FI-LONDON ANIME ALLNIGHT:

HELLSING ULTIMATE (2008, 90 mins, Japan)

Vampires exist and for over a century a secret organisation known as Hellsing has been secretly protecting the British Empire from the undead "freaks". When Sir Integra Hellsing succeeded as the head of the organisation, she also inherited the ultimate weapon against the undead enemies, the rogue vampire named Arucard. Armed with an enormous "anti-freak" gun and possessing mysterious and frightening powers, Arucard is forced to shoot Seras Victoria, a policewoman held hostage by an enemy vampire. "Do you want to live?" he asks Seras, whose very answer changes the course of her existence. Now reborn as Arucard's servant, Seras is torn between her conflicting humanity and her vampire urges…

DEAD SPACE: DOWNFALL (2008, 96mins USA)

Dead Space is a feature length horror/sci-fi animated movie based on the hugely anticipated Electronic Arts video game. When a deep space mining operation discovers a mysterious alien Marker, some believe they have finally found evidence of our creators. However, the removal of the Marker instead unleashes a horrific alien species, which had been entombed within a remote planet, and a desperate fight for survival ensues. The story follows a select group of miners and crew members, as they confront a grotesque and lethal invasion unlike anything ever seen before. The Dead Space animated movie will serve as a prequel to the game, and take adult animated horror to a whole new level.

STRAIT JACKET (2007, 90mins Japan)

The year is 1899 and magic and science coexist on earth. However, the overuse of magic is strictly forbidden and those who break this rule risk turning into horrific monsters. Rayotte Steinberg, a lone wolf ‘tactical sorcerist’, fights against these monsters. He wears a strait-jacket that allows him to use magic and stay human, for now…

If Rayotte casts too much magic, he will eventually become a monster. If he doesn't, he will be killed…

Fourth film in the line-up TBA

OUR VERY FIRST ZOMBIE ALL-NIGHTER

COLIN (2008, 90mins, Marc Price, UK)

Colin cannot escape the cadaverous apocalypse that engulfs his Suburban town and is bitten by a zombie. He's alive, then he's undead, all within the first few minutes of the movie. What follows is an incredible character study on the latest member of the Undead. Combined with ravenous feeding and his immersion into various zombie hordes we get a glimpse into who Colin was through his attachment to objects, places and a chance encounter with his sister.

CHANBARA BEAUTY (2008, Yôhei Fukuda, 86mins, Japan)

Bikini cowgirl zombie killing! what’s not to like?

”When the dead rise from their graves to feast on the flesh of the living, it's up to bikini girls with samurai swords and motorcycle mamas with machine guns to send them back to Hell! Based on a series of Japanese videogame, this itchy, twitchy, finger-popping, head-lopping hoedown is the cinematic equivalent of a light, summertime beach read, if the paperback shot laserbeams out of its eyes and had a thirst for bloody vengeance”. (courtesy of NYIFF)

ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! (2007, Jason Murphy, 90mins, USA)

A drug experiment gone wrong produces a league of blood-thirsty zombies. It is up to a small band of exotic dancers trapped in a gentleman’s club to fight back. Together they must rely on their wits and skills to survive the night, and pray that they don't become victims of the flesh-eating zombies! The films stars a cast of talented actors including Hollie Winnard (Beauty & the Geek 2, Playboy), Jessica Barton (FHM, Playboy), and Hollywood Scream Queen Tiffany Shepis (The Hazing, Corpses, Nightmare Man).

Yes, that’s right – a group of Strippers go to battle against a league of brain thirsty Zombies.

TOKYO ZOMBIE (2005, Sakichi Satô, 103mins, Japan)

In a forgotten corner of a near-future Tokyo sits the city dump, Black Fuji – a mountain of everything from discarded appliances to the bodies of whining mothers-in-laws... But the toxic waste is now resurrecting the corpses that litter the mountain, and they have an insatiable hunger for living human flesh! Meanwhile, in a factory at the foot of Black Fuji, two none-to-bright buddies are practising jujitsu; the older convinced that he can make a true champion out of his younger pal. But he’d better learn pretty quick as the pair will have their hands full, fighting off the hordes of the living dead!

Director Sakichi Satô, who wrote ICHI THE KILLER delivers a wild movie with an over-the-top plot that pokes fun at the already way too familiar clichés surrounding the Zombie/Undead genre. If Land of the Dead had a sense of humor, you'd have Tokyo Zombie in a nutshell.

The third all-nighter and other movies are still being programmed and news will follow soon!

Notes to editors

SCI-FI-LONDON -

Dates:

Friday 3rd October 2008 Venue:

Apollo West End, 19 Regent Street

London SW1Y 4LR, UK

About:

The UK’s only science fiction and fantastic film festival, SCI-FI-LONDON is set to deliver its 8th festival in 2009. Over the last 7 years SCI-FI-LONDON has shown itself to be a hit with venues, sponsors, film studios and our audience. Each year screening attendance has topped 80% and we have consistently attracted excellent media attention.

The festival continues to bring fun, challenging and interesting movie premieres to the UK along with our programme of rarely screened classics. We pride ourselves on delivering World, UK and London premieres (WILD ZERO, VERSUS, AKIRA, FALL OF THE LOUSE OF USHER, AVALON, MOTHMAN PROPHECIES, THE MACHINIST, PRIMER, FINAL FANTASY:ADVENT CHILDREN, CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, PAPRIKA, 28 WEEKS LATER and CHEMICAL WEDDING) and a dynamic shorts programme, which has sold out every year.

Film London, the capital’s film and media agency said of the festival:

“Film London is pleased to support SCI-FI-LONDON Film Festival as a significant contributor to London’s film cultural live. The strong audiences achieved by its screenings are a testament both to the city’s appetite for science fiction film and to the work the festival does in bringing new audiences to the genre. An acknowledged leader in its field, the festival has effectively pioneered a variety of online marketing strategies and consistently demonstrates professional best practise in its operations. SCI-FI-LONDON have always been generous in sharing their expertise and knowledge and Film London are grateful for their support in developing London’s film festival sector.”