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They Came From Outer Space: SIFF & CFC Present Fantastic Planet with DJ NicFit

Fantastic Planet

France | 1973 | 72 min. | René Laloux

September 8, 2023

They Came From Outer Space

A world of surreal beauty and strange creatures. On the distant planet Ygam, a fascinating tale unfolds as humanoid Oms revolt against their towering Draag overlords. This animated sci-fi gem is a captivating exploration of freedom, unity, and the power of imagination. Seattle's own DJ NicFit will create a live soundtrack to the 1973 animated French classic using the songs of trippy alt-rock icons the Flaming Lips.

Individual Tickets: Select showtime to purchase.
Passes: $100 | $75 SIFF Members - includes full series access

Buy Pass

Nothing else has ever looked or felt like director René Laloux’s animated marvel Fantastic Planet, a politically minded and visually inventive work of science fiction. The film is set on a distant planet called Ygam, where enslaved humans (Oms) are the playthings of giant blue native inhabitants (Draags). After Terr, kept as a pet since infancy, escapes from his gigantic child captor, he is swept up by a band of radical fellow Oms who are resisting the Draags' oppression and violence. With its eerie, coolly surreal cutout animation by Roland Topor; brilliant psychedelic jazz score by Alain Goraguer; and wondrous creatures and landscapes, this Cannes-awarded 1973 counterculture classic is a perennially compelling statement against conformity and violence.

  • Original Language Title: La Planète sauvage
  • Director: René Laloux
  • Country: France, Czechoslovakia
  • Year: 1973
  • Running Time: 72 min.
  • Producer: Simon Damiani, André Valio-Cavaglione, Anatole Dauman
  • Screenplay: René Laloux, Roland Topor, Stefan Wul
  • Cinematographers: Boris Baromykin, Lubomir Rejthar
  • Editors: Hélène Arnal, Marta Látalová, Dick Elliott, Rich Harrison
  • Awards: Cannes Film Festival 1973 (Special Prize)
  • Filmography: Gandahar (1987), Time Masters (Les Maîtres du Temps) (1982)
  • Language: French
  • US Distributor: Janus Films