It’s the final day of the 25th edition of the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival, which still has plenty of must-see screenings in store: Sunday, November 2 there will be an unmissable event featuring Ted Chiang, the award-winning American writer, author of the short story “Story of Your Life” (reprinted by Ne/oN libri in 2025), which served as the basis for the cult film “Arrival” by Denis Villeneuve. Considered one of the most influential voices in science fiction worldwide, Ted Chiang has received the highest honors, including four Nebula Awards, four Hugo Awards, six Locus Awards, and the PEN/Malamud Award. His collection “Exhalation” (Knopf, 2019) was named one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times and made it onto Barack Obama’s reading list. At 5:00 p.m. at the Politeama Rossetti, the writer will introduce the screening of the film “Arrival” along with journalist Emilio Cozzi.
At 3:00 p.m. at the Rossetti with the Italian premiere out of competition of “Xeno” by Matthew Loren Oates (United States, 2025), an exciting adventure that tells the story of the friendship between teenager Renee and a terrifying alien creature, demonstrating how the strongest bonds can form in the most unexpected places. Also at 3:00 p.m. everyone to the Miela Theater for “Artificial Universe,” the out-of-competition section dedicated to short films created using Artificial Intelligence; and staying at the Miela at 4:30 p.m. short films will also take center stage in “ Fantastic Animated Shorts,” a non-competitive program that will bring the best animated fantasy short films to the big screen in Trieste.
Fantasy film classics will also be the focus of the festival’s final day: at 10:30 a.m. the Trieste festival’s tribute to Jindřich Polák, the acclaimed science fiction director, on the occasion of the centennial of his birth, begins with the documentary “Visitor Jindřich Polák” by Jakub Skalický, an intense portrait of the Czech filmmaker and producer who created never-before-seen universes, becoming a cultural phenomenon on both sides of the Iron Curtain—in the East as well as the West—by imagining worlds that transcended both communism and capitalism. This will be followed by a screening of “Ikarie XB1,” Jindřich Polák’s film winner of the first edition of the Trieste Science Fiction Film Festival in 1963, which launched his film career—a colonization journey to the far reaches of the universe, in which astronauts face the mysteries of outer space and unexpected consequences.
Among today’s events for adults and children, we highlight: at 10:00 a.m., at the Sci-Fi Dome in Piazza della Borsa, a discussion dedicated to the cultural legacy of Philip K. Dick, an American science fiction writer whose work, more than forty years after his death, has profoundly influenced literature, film, TV series, and video games. Six scholars—Carlo Pagetti, German A. Duarte, Nicoletta Vallorani, Andrea Chimento, Oriana Palusci, and Giulia Martino—will discuss the role and impact of his visions on contemporary culture, marking the 50th anniversary of the special issue of Science Fiction Studies dedicated to him. At Viale XX Settembre from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., on the final day of the “ Intergalactic Market”—the festival’s exhibition space dedicated to local artisans offering creative and evocative science fiction-themed ideas. Also from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Xenia Hall, the Illustrabook Altrimondi, a live art event dedicated to science fiction and fantasy literature: in collaboration with the Accademia del Fumetto, 31 comic book artists and illustrators will bring to life—before the audience’s eyes, using pencils, ink, and colors—selected pages from their favorite novels and short stories in the science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction genres. For children enrolled in the Education Program scheduled from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Little Beetle a fun workshop with modeling clay to create aliens, monsters, and extraterrestrial creatures: each participant will be able to create (and take home) a space creature. Finally, at4:00 p.m. at the Sci-fi Dome, there will be a talk titled “ Superheroes, Culture, Identity: The Universe of Sara Pichelli”, in which the poster artist for TS+FF 2025 will discuss her creative universe and the human and social value of comics in the contemporary world.
Remaining at the Sci-Fi Dome in Piazza della Borsa at 6:00 p.m. the Mondofuturo Literary Award ceremony —an award for the best science fiction book (original and untranslated) published in Italy in 2024—will take place. The three finalists for the second edition of the award are: “Anticaja Canaglia” by Cobol Pongide and Emiglino Cicala (Edizioni Progetto Cutlura), “Cronache dalla deriva” by Carlo Roselli (Zona 42), and “Nero. Il complotto dei complotti” by Luca Giommoni (effequ). The initiative is promoted and organized by the national research institution Area Science Park and La Cappella Underground.
The festival concludes at 8:30 p.m. at the Politeama Rossetti with the Awards Ceremony, followed by the out-of-competition screening of “Chien 51” (France, 2025) by Cédric Jimenez, a dystopian thriller depicting Paris divided into three zones based on social class, where an artificial intelligence called “ALMA” revolutionizes police work—until its inventor is murdered, forcing two officers to investigate.
TS+FF 25 – Day 6
