Pop-up science fiction - short films, podcasts, documentaries etc wanted
July 2, 2017 6:52 AM Subscribe
I do a thing - a science fiction and fantasy reading group. But for the next few months, I want to switch over to a "watch or listen to a thing in a group, then talk about it" format. Unfortunately, I don't have enough suitable SF and fantasy material to flesh out a full schedule. Look inside for what I'm seeking!
I am looking for interviews, music, recordings of stories, short films, animation, interviews and documentaries. Anything that is audio-only should probably be no more than 30 minutes, but I can be flexible on that. Things that break into obvious chunks, so we could watch the first episode/chapter/section, would be fine.
Television from before about 2000 is fine, as long as it's not the first series of Star Trek.
For interviews and documentaries, I'd prefer them to skew specifically left-wing or feminist, rather than "how we animated Macross".
For preference: If contemporary, I'd prefer material that is feminist and relatively left-wing. If historical, we can waive that a bit, but historical feminist or left material would also be great! Preference will be given to work by queer and/or POC creators.
If you're recommending a podcast, can you recommend a specific episode too? If you are recommending a series, can you suggest an episode?
Things I don't want: super-well known contemporary popular media, eg we're not going to watch a Stephen Universe episode. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just going for things people are less likely to watch/hear on their own.
Things I am considering already: Listening to clipping's album Splendor and Misery, watching "The Last Angel of History" (documentary about Afrofuturism).
I am looking for interviews, music, recordings of stories, short films, animation, interviews and documentaries. Anything that is audio-only should probably be no more than 30 minutes, but I can be flexible on that. Things that break into obvious chunks, so we could watch the first episode/chapter/section, would be fine.
Television from before about 2000 is fine, as long as it's not the first series of Star Trek.
For interviews and documentaries, I'd prefer them to skew specifically left-wing or feminist, rather than "how we animated Macross".
For preference: If contemporary, I'd prefer material that is feminist and relatively left-wing. If historical, we can waive that a bit, but historical feminist or left material would also be great! Preference will be given to work by queer and/or POC creators.
If you're recommending a podcast, can you recommend a specific episode too? If you are recommending a series, can you suggest an episode?
Things I don't want: super-well known contemporary popular media, eg we're not going to watch a Stephen Universe episode. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just going for things people are less likely to watch/hear on their own.
Things I am considering already: Listening to clipping's album Splendor and Misery, watching "The Last Angel of History" (documentary about Afrofuturism).
Sheldon Allman released an album in 1960 called Folk Songs for the 21st Century, all novelty SF-themed songs. It's definitely a 1950s white dude's take on things, but it's also fun and a cool snapshot of the era, and he pokes fun at basically everything. It's obscure enough that the people in your group are unlikely to have heard it.
posted by current resident at 7:30 AM on July 2, 2017
posted by current resident at 7:30 AM on July 2, 2017
This might be too "contemporary popular media", but all the music videos in Janelle Monáe's Metropolis saga watched together might make for great discussion fodder.
Also, there are quite a few interviews with UKLG on YouTube, including one by Bill Moyers on The Lathe of Heaven.
posted by karayel at 7:34 AM on July 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
Also, there are quite a few interviews with UKLG on YouTube, including one by Bill Moyers on The Lathe of Heaven.
posted by karayel at 7:34 AM on July 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
SF practitioners are a pretty approachable bunch. You might see if $yourfavourites will agree to a short Skype interview with you, which you can then show at the meetings, and then talk about not only the themes covered but what might be a good idea to ask the next one. Bonus would be that you'd then have - hopefully - a bunch of videos you can bung up on Youtube, which seems like a culture win.
posted by Devonian at 7:49 AM on July 2, 2017
posted by Devonian at 7:49 AM on July 2, 2017
Imaginary Worlds is a nonfiction podcast "about how we create them and why we suspend our disbelief". Episodes generally run about 20-30 minutes and cover a wide variety of SF/fantasy topics. The host is a white guy but does a decent job bringing in guests with different perspectives.
Episode suggestions:
posted by Flannery Culp at 8:29 AM on July 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
Episode suggestions:
- First Contact, on alien invasion narratives and the Native American experience
- The Robot Uprising, on master/servant relationships
- The Legacy of Octavia Butler and The Mysterious James Tiptree, who are hardly unknown authors but their stories are interesting
- The Year Without a Summer, on Mary Shelley and catastrophic weather events
- Politics of Thrones and Economics of Thrones and Starships, on parallels between SF/fantasy worlds and our own
posted by Flannery Culp at 8:29 AM on July 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
Arguably, The Meaning of Life by Hertzfeld as well.
posted by oflinkey at 8:51 AM on July 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by oflinkey at 8:51 AM on July 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou was a short-lived podcast (and possibly a radio show on someone's local station) in which a group of people listen to a reading of a short story or an excerpt of some classic SF work, and then discuss them. You can obviously trim off the discussion. The episode that leaps to mind instantly is the micro-epic, "Zirn Left Unguarded, The Jenghik Palace in Flames, Jon Westerley Dead," a very short, extremely epic story told with ruthless efficiency.
StarShipSofa is a short-SF/F magazine podcast, which includes a short-story reading in the vein of Escape Pod, above. SSS is from an British podcaster, Tony Smith, with a non-very-familiar northern accent. Lots of good stories there, including, IIRC, all of the Hugo (and Nebula?) Short Story nominees that were willing to license the reading. Search the archives through the "Aural Delights" episodes from 2008-2010ish for the ones I used to listen to.
posted by Sunburnt at 10:32 AM on July 2, 2017
StarShipSofa is a short-SF/F magazine podcast, which includes a short-story reading in the vein of Escape Pod, above. SSS is from an British podcaster, Tony Smith, with a non-very-familiar northern accent. Lots of good stories there, including, IIRC, all of the Hugo (and Nebula?) Short Story nominees that were willing to license the reading. Search the archives through the "Aural Delights" episodes from 2008-2010ish for the ones I used to listen to.
posted by Sunburnt at 10:32 AM on July 2, 2017
I just stumbled upon a new podcast LeVar Burton Reads, which I'm intending to check out, and which might be of interest to you too. Its description: "Lose yourself in a great story... In each episode, host LeVar Burton (Reading Rainbow, Star Trek, Roots) hand-picks a different piece of short fiction, and reads it to you."
posted by ringu0 at 5:30 PM on July 2, 2017
posted by ringu0 at 5:30 PM on July 2, 2017
Seconding Splendor & Misery (there are music videos you could include) and Metropolis (the bits I've heard & seen are great).
Every year, the feminist scifi convention WisCon holds a vid party, showing fanvids (2-5 minutes each) that often rework speculative fiction film and TV, often from a feminist lens. Here is their set of playlists from this year and here are playlists from past years. Many of those playlists would be great to view and discuss as a group.
Short film recommendations: indie film "Forever's Not So Long", the documentary "Chaos on the Bridge" that takes you behind the scenes of people starting Star Trek: The Next Generation, and this 1963 25-minute documentary about Ray Bradbury that includes sort of a dramatization of a short story.
The audio drama Wolf 359 does reward listening in order; episodes 4 & 5, if I recall correctly, are where a lot gets going. I've only listened to about 2 and a half seasons, but if you like sort of a reboot Battlestar Galactica feel, then it's worth getting to the second season.
posted by brainwane at 2:01 PM on July 3, 2017
Every year, the feminist scifi convention WisCon holds a vid party, showing fanvids (2-5 minutes each) that often rework speculative fiction film and TV, often from a feminist lens. Here is their set of playlists from this year and here are playlists from past years. Many of those playlists would be great to view and discuss as a group.
Short film recommendations: indie film "Forever's Not So Long", the documentary "Chaos on the Bridge" that takes you behind the scenes of people starting Star Trek: The Next Generation, and this 1963 25-minute documentary about Ray Bradbury that includes sort of a dramatization of a short story.
The audio drama Wolf 359 does reward listening in order; episodes 4 & 5, if I recall correctly, are where a lot gets going. I've only listened to about 2 and a half seasons, but if you like sort of a reboot Battlestar Galactica feel, then it's worth getting to the second season.
posted by brainwane at 2:01 PM on July 3, 2017
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(I am shit at retaining stories heard aurally so I can only tell you I liked lots ... but I remember approximately none of them. Sorry!)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:21 AM on July 2, 2017 [1 favorite]