Bristol’s biggest repertory genre film festival is back! For our May 2024 edition, we’ll be celebrating some of cinema’s most deadly women and director Peter Hyams, transporting audiences to spectacular inner worlds, stunning outer spaces, and – of course – the video shop archives.

Launched in May 2022 at the Bristol Aquarium Big Screen, Forbidden Worlds Film Festival is Bristol’s leading genre film festival dedicated to screening repertory fantasy, action, science-fiction and horror films from around the world, and celebrating the people who made them.

At-a-glance schedule

Thursday 16 May 2024

6pm: SPEED (1994)

9pm: BLUE STEEL (1990)

Friday 17 May 2024

11am: KIN-DZA-DZA! (1986)

2pm: ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958)

3.30pm: CAPRICORN ONE (1978)

7pm: STARGATE (1994)

9.30pm: FEMALE PRISONER #701: SCORPION (1972)

Saturday 18 May 2024

12pm: FOXY BROWN (1974)

2pm: THE LAST STARFIGHTER (1984)

4.30pm: GENRE FILMMAKERS OF THE FUTURE: SATURDAY SHORTS SHOWCASE

6.30pm: NIKITA (1990) [UK PREMIERE OF 4K RESTORATION]

9pm: OUTLAND (1981)

Sunday 19 May 2024

11.30am: INNERSPACE (1987)

2pm: THE DEVIL’S SWORD (1984) [UK PREMIERE OF 2K RESTORATION]

4.30pm: GENRE FILMMAKERS OF THE FUTURE: SUNDAY SHORTS SHOWCASE

6.30pm: TIMECOP (1994)

8.30pm: THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (1996)

This year, Forbidden Worlds Film Festival will also be honouring the career of veteran screenwriter, cinematographer and director Peter Hyams by naming him the FORBIDDEN WORLDS LEGEND and screening three of his most iconic films – Capricorn One (1977), Outland (1981) and Timecop (1994) – that demonstrate his genre-film credentials across the decades.

As part of this year’s line-up, Forbidden Worlds is unleashing cinema’s KILLER QUEENS with screenings of B-movie classic Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958); Kathryn Bigelow’s cult thriller Blue Steel (1990), featuring festival favourite Jamie Lee Curtis as a rookie cop targeted by an obsessed witness; Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972), starring Meiko Kaji in one of her most iconic roles; Geena Davis as an assassin with amnesia in The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996); blaxploitation royalty Pam Grier in Foxy Brown (1974); and a brand-new 4K restoration of Luc Besson’s genre-defining Nikita (1990).

Whether journeying inside the human body or visiting a telepathic planet in a faraway galaxy, audiences will also be treated to some classic and cult sci-fi adventures with INNER WORLDS & OUTER SPACES, which will honour the 40th anniversary of sci-fi classic The Last Starfighter (1984), and include a very rare big-screen outing for the cult Soviet-era black comedy Kin-dza-dza! (1986), alongside Roland Emmerich’s groundbreaking 1994 actioner Stargate, which spawned a universe of TV series and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and Joe Dante’s Oscar-winning visual effects extravaganza Innerspace (1987).

The festival is also hosting an inaugural GENRE FILMMAKERS OF THE FUTURE: SHORT FILM SHOWCASE, where attendees can enjoy action, horror and sci-fi shorts from filmmakers both local and international.

Finally, there will also be screenings of cult and classic genre films FROM THE VIDEO SHOP ARCHIVES of Bristol video shop 20th Century Flicks. The festival will be premiering the brand-new 2K restoration of Indonesia’s infamous fantasy adventure The Devil’s Sword (1984) and celebrating the 30th anniversary of one of the most iconic action films of the nineties, Speed (1994).

https://www.forbiddenworldsfilmfestival.co.uk/