Uploaded April 2016 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
UK PREMIERE at Sci-Fi-London 27 April - 6 May 2016
Sci-Fi-London.com #sfl16
When a group of elite online gamers each receive a mysterious invitation to trial a state-of-the-art virtual reality video game, it's a dream come true and impossible to resist.
Arriving at the test site, the group step into hi-tech gear and prepare for a revolutionary, next-level gaming experience that brings modern warfare to life with frightening realism.
At first it s a unique and exhilarating experience. But what starts out like a dream encounter with cutting edge technology quickly takes a turn for the sinister. Once the group are attacked by enemy combatants, they soon realize this is no game after all. Make a mistake here and you pay with your life.
Now these masters of the shoot-em-up will have to fight for survival within a game gone bad, but this time it's for real.
UK PREMIERE at Sci-Fi-London 27 April - 6 May 2016
Sci-Fi-London.com #sfl16
When a group of elite online gamers each receive a mysterious invitation to trial a state-of-the-art virtual reality video game, it's a dream come true and impossible to resist.
Arriving at the test site, the group step into hi-tech gear and prepare for a revolutionary, next-level gaming experience that brings modern warfare to life with frightening realism.
At first it s a unique and exhilarating experience. But what starts out like a dream encounter with cutting edge technology quickly takes a turn for the sinister. Once the group are attacked by enemy combatants, they soon realize this is no game after all. Make a mistake here and you pay with your life.
Now these masters of the shoot-em-up will have to fight for survival within a game gone bad, but this time it's for real.






![THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT | SCI-FI-LONDON 2020
20TH BIRTHDAY FREE SCREENING
The very first SCI-FI-LONDON opened at the Curzon Soho and our first film was a debut film by the director, Cory McAbee.
Fresh from Sundance, where it won the Sloan Award, and the Toronto film festival, The American Astronaut is still one of our all-time favourite films. It seemed fitting to celebrate our 20th birthday with our first film and we are delighted to be joined by Cory for a Q&A.
A simple synopsis would read โSamuel Curtis, an interplanetary trader, sets forth through a rustic and remote solar system, unaware that his old friend Professor Hess is trying to kill himโ but this doesnโt even hint at the joy this film brings.
From the trailer and photos, one might imagine it to be a parody of old black and white SF movies, itโs not! Sure, itโs a black and white space film with songs, but it is one of the more original and entertaining films we have ever seen.
Like absinthe, the Velvet Underground, or Marmite, this film is for the more discerning palette. Enjoy it, relish it and try to get the songs out of your headโฆ trust us, you never will.
6.30 PM, 11 DEC 2020 [ FREE TICKET, NO NEED TO BOOK THIS]
Dir: Cory McAbee
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 2001
Runtime: 91 mins THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT | SCI-FI-LONDON 2020](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gNE8qtoRAUg/mqdefault.jpg)



