Space Aliens

Organized to complement the exhibition William Eakin: Have a Nice Day, on view from 12 January - 25 February, 2001, this series explores concepts of Alien life as presented in films from the 1930s to the 1970s.

17 January - The Shape of Things to Come

W.C. Menzies, UK, 92 minutes

One of the most important early science fiction films, H. G. Well's future included a devastating war and a society eventually rebuilt through technological mastery. The aliens in the film are, of course, ourselves. 

24 January - The Day the Earth Stood Still

Robert Wise, USA, 1951, 92 minutes

An alien comes to Washington accompanied by a giant robot named Klaatu, to warn humans of the dangers of the Cold War. Starring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal, and driven by a remarkable score by Bernard Herrman, this is a powerful and enduring film.

31 January- Forbidden Planet

Fred Wilcox, USA, 1956, 98 minutes

An adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Forbidden Planet offers a Freudian spin on space travel and the dangers of alien life on other planets. Saint John native Walter Pidgeon stars with Leslie Nielsen and Robbie the Robot in one of the most ambitious of all science fiction films. 

7 February - Stalker

Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR, 1979, 160 minutes

Tarkovsky's latest Soviet film is visionary and mesmerizing story of a guide (the "Stalker" of the title) who leads a scientist and a writer on a journey through the blasted wasteland of the "zone" to a room where aliens will grant you your heart's desire. 

14 February - The Man Who Fell to Earth

Nicholas Roeg, UK, 1976, 140 minutes

David Bowie starts in this strange tale of a disolute alien in search of water for his dying planet. He becomes head of an international conglomerate and eventually forgets his original mision. Liquid, underplayed and ambiguous, The Man Who Fell to Earth is an imaginative classic. 

21 February - Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Steven Spielberg, 1977, USA, 132 minutes

Spielberg's breakthrough film saw aliens for the first time as a rapturous primal force that would re-acquaint humanity with our own missing sense of mystery. Twenty-three years later the film is still a powerful and positive interpretation of alien possibilities. 

26 February - 8 March: No films (the Gallery is closed for Installation).