Science Fiction Film and Television

Science Fiction Against the Margins (SFAM) is an unprecedented collaboration between the UCLA Film & Television Archive and ten faculty in or associated with the Cinema and Media Studies Program (CMS) in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Science-fiction films are typically dominated by Hollywood’s “universal” story structure that works within the conventions of action-driven melodrama, resolving social issues in private, emotional, and moral terms that reinforce the status quo. SFAM complicates these conventions of mainstream cinema by considering how certain independent and international media creators use speculative cinema to explore alternative representations of race and ethnicity, gender politics, and national identity.

This project will culminate in a public film series of 10-12 nights over a 10–12 week period between October and December 2024 that showcases science-fiction narratives from around the globe. To provide attendees with more context and insight into the films shown, Q & A events with invited scholars and filmmakers will accompany these screenings. The series will place an emphasis on feature films, but also include select narrative shorts and television programs. The series will be accompanied by a printed film program as well as a groundbreaking, peer-reviewed, anthology of original scholarship on the subject. In addition, the project will support an undergraduate seminar for UCLA students that will be taught through the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in fall 2024.