New artistic director Alan Jones remarked, “Team Trieste has scoured the filmmaking globe to hand-pick exclusive titles of all the hot hits making waves on the international scene, the critically acclaimed must-sees knocking out their enthusiastic audiences and those under the radar discoveries that make Trieste Science+Fiction Festival the prime destination this November for all lovers of the genre. I wanted to return science fiction in the biggest way possible to the world’s oldest festival celebrating everything cosmic, intergalactic and futuristic. And with the latest additions to our Back to the Superfuturesprogram, we have achieved that high aim to amaze, thrill and elevate our sense of wonder”.
VESPER by Kristina Buozyte, Bruno Samper (UK, 2022) – Italian Premiere
Set in a dystopian future after the collapse of the Earth’s ecosystem, 13-year-old Vesper must use her survival skills to subsist in the decaying remnants of the collapsed world with her ailing father, Darius. When Vesper finds a mysterious woman, Camellia, alone and disoriented after a jet crash, she agrees to help find her missing companion in exchange for being taken to the Citadel — the dark central hub where oligarchs use genetic technologies to rule. Now forced into a dangerous adventure, Vesper must rely on her wits and bio-hacking abilities to unlock the key to creating an alternate future.
LOLA by Andrew Legge (UK, 2022)
It’s 1940, and sisters Thom and Mars build a machine, LOLA, that can intercept radio and TV broadcasts from the future, allowing them to hear iconic music before composition, place foolproof bets and embrace their inner Punk. But with World War II escalating, the sisters decide to intercept future information to help with military intelligence that rapidly twists Nazi misfortunes. While Thom becomes intoxicated by LOLA, Mars realizes the terrible consequences of its power. As their relationship collapses, Thom makes a fatal error that leads to a nightmarish future. Can their love for each other save the world they’ve lost?
MEMORY OF WATER by Saara Saarela (Finland, Germany, Estonia, Norway, 2022) – Italian Premiere
Based on the bestselling novel by Finnish author Emmi Itäranta. The world has been devastated by global warming and fresh water is strictly rationed. Noria Kaitio, daughter of the last true tea masters, is entrusted by her father with the location of a secret freshwater spring. When he dies, Noria feels intense guilt witnessing the suffering of the people close to her due to the severe lack of water putting their lives in danger. But if she breaks her promise and reveals her source, not only will the repressive authorities commandeer the supply, Noria could also face imprisonment and worse.
THE ARTIFICE GIRL by Franklin Ritch (USA, 2022) – Italian Premiere
Franklin Ritch’s stunning science fiction feature debut is a tense, morally enigmatic experience plunging everyone into a tense spiral of ethical complexity in the world of technology and crime prevention. As special agents Dena Helms and Amos McCullough enlist the services of revolutionary tech wizard-turned-Internet-vigilante Garreth, their lives take a major turn in the future of the digital landscape. For his unusual method of combating online predators and ensnaring pedophiles is revealed to be an A.I. computer program and its rapid advancement through the decades lead to serious questions of autonomy, oppression, and what it really means to be human.
ZERO by Faye Gilbert (UK, 2022) – International Premiere
In a dystopian near future, all adults have fled an oppressive regime to the mainland. The Gateway offers the only chance of survival for teenage siblings Zero and Serger, and their younger sister Wake, who they are determined to save from the violence of the city. But when Zero’s life is threatened, she flees taking the very reluctant Wake with her. So Serger is forced to chase the two sisters down as they battle for survival and fight to find a safe haven. ZERO marks the feature debut of director Faye Gilbert, BAFTA-nominated in 2000 for her short film PERDIE.
NEW RELIGION by Keishi Kondo (Japan, 2022) – Italian Premiere
Miyabi lost her only daughter in an accident. After her daughter’s death, she got divorced. She now works as a call girl and lives with her new boyfriend. One day, she meets a weird customer who wants to take a picture of her spine then, at another assignation, her feet. She soon realises that every time she allows her body to be photographed, her daughter’s spirit gets closer. Soon only her eyes remain to be captured… leading to the collapse of society in this bold, Lynch-ian/Cronenberg-esque visionary and unique dystopian fantasy from a new and culture-shocking Japanese voice.
WALKING AGAINST THE RAIN by Scott Lyus (UK, 2022) – Italian Premiere
A jaw-dropping exploration into a world where human connection has been removed. How would we survive without that or constant communication, information and social media? Would we start to reassess what it really means to be alone? Two strangers, Blair and Tommy are navigating their way across a barren landscape in a desperate attempt to find each other. With their only form of communication being two soon-to-die battery operated radio microphones and with a new evil tracking them down, they must learn to confront loss and rediscover a trust in humanity.
MAD HEIDI by Johannes Hartmann, Sandro Klopfstein (Switzerland, 2022)
From the producer of IRON SKY, an action adventure horror comedy and the first Swissploitation film ever made. In a dystopian Switzerland under the rule of a fascist cheese magnate, Heidi lives a simple life in the mountains protected by her grandfather. Soon her longing for personal freedom sparks a revolution after abduction by brutal government storm troopers. Escaping prison, and the roving eyes of muscle bound inmates, the naïve Alpine girl must face lactose intolerance, mutilation by Toblerone, Swiss Army knives out, fondue torture and cuckoo clock death traps, battling a human cheese-fuelled machinery of hate.
This second wave of world class science fiction, engaging a little grindhouse thrown in for good measure joins the already announced THE LAIR, THE WITCH: PART 2 – THE OTHER ONE, THE VISITOR FROM THE FUTURE, SOMETHING IN THE DIRST, NIGHT SKY, RUBIKON, CONTROL and WOLF MANOR in the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival program.
But there will be more… More movies, more guests, more special attractions and more surprise appearances to be revealed in the final weeks before mega lift-off on November 1st at the Teatro Rossetti and the Teatro Miela.
