2001 – A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick USA 1968 2h 44m

Number 6 in the British Film Institute’s Critics’ top 100 films of all time.

Stanley Kubrick took science fiction cinema in a grandly intelligent new direction with this epic story of man’s quest for knowledge.

An imposing black structure provides a connection between the past and the future in this enigmatic adaptation of a short story by revered sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke. When Dr. Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and other astronauts are sent on a mysterious mission, their ship's computer system, HAL, begins to display increasingly strange behavior, leading up to a tense showdown between man and machine that results in a mind-bending trek through space and time.

With stunning special effects, immaculate production design, prophetic technology, transporting classical music, and all-out strangeness: Dr. Bowman’s climactic voyage ‘beyond the infinite’ is as mind-blowing now as it must have been in 1968.

Try and make it to the MLC Librairie Café for 6.30 to get a drink and have a chat, then we'll have a brief introduction to the director and film, and start the film promptly at 6.45, with time afterwards to discuss. Please do try to be on time out of respect for others watching the film.

This is an English language film with no subtitles. Although there is no cost to this screening, I will ask you to buy a 1 Franc raffle ticket in order to have the chance of taking the DVD home with you. It is also helpful to Francis, whose premises we are using, if you buy a drink.