Ikarie XB-1 (Voyage to the End of the Universe)

Ikarie XB-1 is an ambitious science fiction space opera, possibly best known for prefiguring many visual and thematic motifs of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Made in the midst of the Cold War, this ‘Space Marienbad’, as one critic called it, epitomises the era’s raging space race and cultural competition between the East and the West. The film portrays an idealised communist civilisation circa 2163, as it embarks on a voyage beyond our solar system. Its real protagonist is a monumental discovery spaceship, a self-contained world in miniature designed to impress the world with its vision of a highly advanced lifestyle, as imagined by a small socialist country. Its 22nd century costumes are no less steeped in the ideology of utopianism, something that is especially driven home when ‘ancient people’ of the 20th century are discovered deep in space.

Dir. Jindřich Polák, Czechoslovakia 1963, 86´, English subtitles
With Zdeněk Štěpánek, František Smolík, Dana Medřická.
Set design Jan Zázvorka, Costumes Ester Krumbachová, Jan Skalický and Vladimír Synek.

“Remains one of the most original and exciting science fiction films ever made.”
Alex Cox, The Guardian

Introduction by Markéta Uhlířová

This screening will complement CCA's upcoming exhibition on the life and work of Ester Krumbachová.

Tickets: £10.50 / £7.50
Online booking: glasgowfilm.org

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