Nothing else has ever looked or felt like director René Laloux and Polish Jewish writer/illustrator Roland Topor’s animated marvel Fantastic Planet, a politically-minded and visually inventive work of science fiction that 45 years later astonishingly still reflects the horrors of the Holocaust, dictatorship, and conformity. The film is set on a distant planet called Ygam, where enslaved humans (Oms) are the playthings of giant blue native inhabitants (Draags). After Terr, kept as a pet since infancy, escapes from his gigantic child captor, he is swept up by a band of radical fellow Oms who are resisting the Draags’ oppression and violence. With its eerie, coolly surreal cutout animation and wondrous creatures and landscapes, this Cannes-awarded 1973 classic is an enduringly compelling statement against conformism and violence.
Preceding the screening will be a special shorts block of contemporary films.
Featuring a live score performance by Mystvries from the Bribery Corporation.
This After Hours screening is presented in partnership with the 21st Annual Miami Jewish Film Festival, occurring January 11-25.