Series

First Contact

Inspired by Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 film Arrival—nominated for eight Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director—the First Contact film series explores the curious collision of worlds when human and alien lives intertwine for the first time. IU Cinema has previously screened some of the most obvious and beloved films depicting alien contact with earthlings—Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. Now, we’re diving a little deeper. From the depths of the sea to the far limits of the time-space continuum to everyday life in a council-housing project, this series delves into on-screen journeys of the oft-explored science-fiction theme of first contact. It seems a simple cinematic concept, but one which allows filmmakers to allegorically address larger, more complex themes like xenophobia, class struggle, and violence, as well as empathy, curiosity, and love.

Curated by Brittany D. Friesner.