Among the guests expected for the 2025 edition of the Trieste Science-Fiction Festival will be Gabriele Mainetti, acclaimed director of “ They Called Him Jeeg Robot,” “Freaks Out” and “ La città proibita,” who will chair the jury for the Asteroide Award, the international prize that annually honors the best film by emerging directors in the genresscience fiction, horror and fantasy.
Gabriele Mainetti will also participate in two events open to the public on Friday, October 31: at 6:15 p.m. the director will host a public discussion as part of the IVIPRO DAYS, an annual event dedicated to the video game industry and its ties to the local area and cultural heritage, during which he will discuss his relationship with video games. On the evening of Friday, October 31 Mainetti will present two films he has selected at the Teatro Miela in Trieste: “The Fly” by David Cronenberg (1986) and “ District 9” by Neill Blomkamp (2009), two milestones of the fantasy genre that explore not only physical metamorphosis, but also moral, political, and existential transformations.
The day of Friday, October 31 will be packed with movie premieres and must-see events dedicated to all aspects of the fantasy genre. It begins at 3:00 p.m. at the Politeama Rossetti with the Italian premiere in the presence of the director of “Disforia” by Christopher Cartagena (Spain, 2025), a dystopian film in which Funny Games meets Knock on the Door, giving rise to a bloody, frenetic, and tension-filled thriller. At 3:00 p.m. the program continues at the Teatro Miela with the first selection of short films competing for the Méliès d’argent, European Fantastic Shorts Vol. 01, while at 5:00 p.m. at the Rossetti, there will be an Italian premiere out of competition “ Osiris” by William Kaufman (United States, 2025), in which a special forces unit is abducted by a mysterious spaceship, finding itself in an epic battle for survival. Also at the Rossetti at 8:00 p.m., the following film will be screened in an Italian premiere in the presence of the director “Bulk” by Ben Wheatley (United Kingdom, 2025), the acclaimed British director of “Killer on the Road” and “The Deserters – A Field in England”, will present in Trieste an extraordinarily inventive, ironic, and utterly unpredictable science fiction film that draws on a vast array of imagery ranging from Airfix model kits and Thunderbirds puppets to the concepts of Philip K. Dick and the video game universe of Zelda. At the Teatro Miela at 8:15 p.m., don’t miss the out-of-competition animated film “ Lesbian Space Princess” by Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese (Australia, 2025), a musical comedy queer science fiction film starring the shy Princess Saira of the planet Clitopolis, who embarks on an intergalactic mission to save her ex-girlfriend Kiki, who has been kidnapped by the Heterosexual White Men from Outer Space. At 10:00 p.m. at the Rossetti it will be time for the Italian premiere out of competition of “Mag Mag” by Yuriyan Retriever (Japan, 2025), the first film from K2 Pictures, founded by Takashi Miike, Hirokazu Koreeda, and Miwa Nishikawa, and marks the debut of Yuriyan Retriever, Japan’s most beloved comedy actress, who reinterprets J-Horror from a new perspective.
Also on Friday, October 31, the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival will celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the films that shaped the history of the fantasy genre: the event will take place at 11:00 a.m. at the Teatro Miela with a screening of “Sane Inside Insanity: The Phenomenon of Rocky Horror” by Andreas Zerr, a documentary that reveals the secrets and behind-the-scenes stories of the famous musical “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, a global cult classic of the Midnight Movies scene that will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025. Also at the Miela at 5:00 p.m. there will be a screening, in the presence of the director, of “Blame” by Christian Frei, a visually striking documentary by the Oscar-nominated filmmaker on the effects of fake news on COVID-19. Also on October 31, head to the Astronomical Observatory for the Astropassage in Trieste, where, amid science and wonder, children and families can explore the stars alongside researchers from INAF Trieste. On the evening of Friday, October 31, at 9:00 p.m., don’t miss the festival’s most iconic party, The Night of the Body Snatchers, during which the Sci-Fi Dome in Piazza della Borsa will be transformed into a laboratory of sound mutations with Auroro Borealo, founder of the Instagram page Libri Brutti.
