Adapted from Stanisław Lem’s 1955 novel The Magellanic Cloud, Polák’s landmark ’Scope feature is a clear influence on Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Liška’s extraordinarily innovative score employs manipulated tape loops of orchestral instruments and found sounds to produce a sense of foreboding and evoke the enervating psychological ambience aboard a spaceship peopled by an international crew seeking signs of life in Alpha Centauri.
4K DCP
Preceded by The Snowman Hermína Týrlová 1966 (9 mins). Often called “the mother of Czech animation”, Týrlová’s delightful stop-motion wool animation is soundtracked by a striking electroacoustic Liška score.
Both films courtesy of the National Film Archive in Prague