BY SEAN EGAN | While most may only know Philip K. Dick for the plethora of big-budget spectacles based on his writings — often loosely, and inconsistent in quality (see “Blade Runner,” “Minority Report” and both versions of “Total Recall”) — he has long been a titan among science fiction fans, and for good reason.
“I was absolutely taken aback,” Daniel Abella recalls of his first time reading Dick’s work. “Something about Philip K. Dick almost hit me as sort of a gnostic sci-fi writer, someone trying to answer the fundamental questions that, basically, many western philosophers have tried to deal with for all these thousands of years.”
After Abella’s fandom inspired the organization of a small screening in 2011 that was very warmly received, and after he realized Hollywood adaptations never quite captured the heart and themes of the author’s work, he recalls thinking, “Well this is an opportunity to show the other side of Philip K. Dick.”
The result was the Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival, of which Abella serves as Festival Director. Now in its fourth year, the four-day fest boasts 80 films from all over the world. While the content and format of these features, shorts and documentaries vary wildly, there’s an underlying ideology to the selections.
“We like films that are not just splashy and visually attractive,” says Abella, “but with a story — particularly, stories that really challenge and ask who we are as humans, where we’re going. It’s not just about action films, and Tom Cruise jumping from rooftop to rooftop. It’s about something more interior, more internal, a little bit less dramatic, but nevertheless very important. This is what really gives us a sense of purpose.”
This much is clear in a number of short films on the schedule. “The Future Perfect,” a time-travel narrative, is able to prod at questions about love and the value of human life by using little more than one on-screen actor, a sparse, futuristic set, and the disembodied voice of Zachary Quinto (putting his Spock monotone to good use). The central figure in “Requiem for a Robot” is a robot constructed primarily from cardboard boxes, but manages to consider artificial intelligence and interpersonal relationships seriously.
Meanwhile, even those that have more of an emphasis on visual effects use them as an aid to exploring headier ideas, as is the case in “Bears Discover Fire” (based on the Terry Bisson story), and the at-once loopy and meditative “Genghis Kahn Conquers the Moon.”
In addition to shorts, the festival includes the NYC premieres of three narrative feature films: “The Incident,” starring Raúl Méndez (of Netflix’s “Narcos” and “Sense8”); “Chatter,” a film concerning a Homeland Security agent monitoring a couple’s video chats and discovering their home is haunted; and “Counter Clockwise,” a dark comedy/mystery involving time travel and familial murder. Three feature documentaries will also be shown, including one on Philip K. Dick himself. The judges of this year’s films are sci-fi luminaries David Brin, David Hartwell and Paul Levinson.
“The central focus of the festival is film, but then we also have panels and new media,” notes Abella — one example of the latter being a demo of the Dick inspired video game, “Californium.”
“One of the things that ran through Philip K. Dick is [that] reality is not as solid as it appears to be,” observes Abella — and the first-person game gets to the heart of this, as players control a writer navigating a shifting, 3D California landscape. “It’s not just a game where the objective is body count,” Abella notes. “It’s about entering multiple realities.”
The idea of a fluid reality and multiple points of view extend to the festival’s panels — which have, in previous incarnations, included discussions on ethnic diversity in science fiction and a talk on time travel from University of Connecticut professor Dr. Ronald Mallet.
“It’s a way to not just see a film, but to interact, and get a little sense of what scientists are bringing,” Abella explains. This year, he’s most excited for the panel on UFO experiences, which follows the NYC premiere of “Travis: The True Story of Travis Walton,” a documentary examining an infamous 1975 UFO abduction.
The panel is a further expansion of the festival’s mission to provide a space for open, mind-expanding dialogue, touching on any and all subjects, no matter how out of the ordinary. It’s the kind of thing that deeply interests Abella, who believes that science is not nearly as cold and calculated as it is often made out to be, but intertwined with creativity and spirituality, and that examining different planes of existence is a worthwhile endeavor. For freethinkers, as well as those who fear ridicule from a wider public, “Our festival is at their disposal,” he offers.
“We’re looking to create a community of people, of like-minded people,” Abella concludes. “Just bring people together, get a sense of belonging, a space where they can share experiences without being judged as lunatics, or weird, or strange. But no, this is part of who we are as human beings. I think Philip K. Dick would have felt at home.”
The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival runs Jan. 14 –17, at Village East Cinema (181-189 Second Ave., at E. 12th St.). Tickets: $20 per program. For a full list of programs, visit thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com.
