FEATURE

26th Annual Boston
Science Fiction Film Festival

by Daniel M. Kimmel

If you ever wondered if aliens walk among us, stop by the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, Massachusetts sometime around Noon on Presidents Day, February 19. At that time a few hundred people will come out into the sunlight, squinting at the strange surroundings, as if they had just arrived from another planet. In a way, they have.

These hearty souls will be departing from the annual 24-hour marathon of science fiction movies held each February from Sunday, Noon to Monday, Noon over the holiday weekend. Combining a mixture of classics, rediscoveries, recent hits, schlock, and the occasional premiere, the 26th annual Boston Science Fiction Film Festival will this year enter the 21st century a bit grayer but as strong as ever.

It all began back in 1976 when the management of the long gone Orson Welles Cinema in Cambridge tried to come up with some sort of movie event to hold in the dead of winter. Piggy-backing on the success of Boskone, an annual science fiction convention still held by the New England Science Fiction Association that same weekend, they launched what quickly became known as "the marathon." For twenty-four hours - with breaks between films - people would live at the theater and watch movies. One of the films shown that year was the 1951 classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and the movie's powerful robot, Gort, became the event's mascot.

Twenty-five years and two theaters later, some of the original attendees are still in the audience. Garen Daly, proprietor of the Dedham Community Theater, began his association with the marathon when he was house manager of the Welles. Daly later left and eventually operated the Somerville Theatre. When the marathon needed a home after a fire gutted the Welles in May 1986, Daly offered the Somerville. As part of the deal the marathon would return to the Welles if it reopened, which it never did.

Asked if he expected to still be running the show in 2001 fourteen years later Daly laughed, "Of course not. Each year it just goes on and on."

The next crisis hit in 1989 when Daly lost his lease to the Somerville. Daly, who would eventually take over the Dedham theater, had the rights to the event, but had no place to do it. That's when the Coolidge Corner, which had recently been rescued from the wrecking ball, entered the picture. Since the Brookline theater was saved, in part, to serve community needs, then executive director David Kleiler opened the theaters doors to the event. This year the Coolidge surpasses the Welles as the longest running home of the festival.

While the veterans still refer to it as the marathon, Daly officially renamed it last year as the annual Boston Science Fiction Film Festival. "Simply, it's a lot easier for people in the industry to understand what we're doing when we say 'festival.' 'Marathon' doesn't mean anything to them," explained Daly, "It's more for when you're going after the first run features."

Programming the show is something Daly has on his mind all year, getting suggestions from marathoners from all over the country, including Bruce Bartoo, Daly's successor at the Welles who subsequently moved to Ohio and started a long-running science fiction marathon there. The program is an eclectic mix of hits and misses. There's excitement in discovering a forgotten gem like "Gojira" (the original "Godzilla" in Japanese with sub-titles and NO Raymond Burr) or "Colossus: The Forbin Project," a 1970 thriller about a U.S. defense computer that joins forces with its Soviet counterpart to take over the Earth. Recent box office flops like "Gattaca" and "The Iron Giant" have found respectful viewings from people who missed them during their short theatrical runs. One of the more interesting bookings was showing "Blade Runner" the winter after it's disastrous 1982 release.

"We know you saw it," said the program notes. "See it with the right audience this time."

Many loyal marathoners come back year after year, some from as far away as Seattle and Los Angeles. College kids who used to party outside the Welles are now bringing their own children to the Coolidge. Or, as Daly put it, "They were smoking pot. Now they're bringing potties."This has led to a debate over the appropriate of especially violent or sexually oriented movies (such as the lurid '70s pop classic "Invasion of the Bee Girls") given that there are children in attendance. Daly has split the difference. This year, for the first time, he's offering cut-rate children's tickets (full fare is $45, kids are $20 - admission is for the full twenty-four hours). However rather than turn it into a strictly family event, Daly schedules the more adult fare for 10 p.m. or later when youngsters are likely to have fallen asleep or been taken home for the night.

Beyond the movies, the word most associated with this festival is "community." Like the mythical "Brigadoon," which appears once every hundred years, the marathon convenes once a year with old friends catching up and comparing notes on everything from the movie schedule to what's new in their lives.

And though you might have to be a little bit crazy to sit through 24 hours of science fiction movies, Daly notes with pride that one attendee looked at the fare and was inspired to make his own movie. Darren Aronofsky has had arthouse hits with "Pi" and "Requiem for a Dream." Perhaps someday he'll hit the big time and get a film shown at the marathon.

Daniel M. Kimmel is the local correspondent for Variety and admits to being "a little bit crazy." This year will be his 21st marathon.