Want to watch a foreign film, but you are in the mood for some Science-Fiction? Combine both and watch through the library using Kanopy. Here are some picks from staff!
Legend of the Mountain
Audio: Mandarin; Subtitles: English
1979, MPAA Rating: NR*
A travelling scholar, intent on translating a Buddhist sutra, loses his way in the mountains. Time and space collapse around him as he continues his journey, encountering ghostly visitations amid a haunting fantasia of color, light and landscape.
The Silent Star (Der schweigende Stern)
Audio: German; Subtitles: English
1960, MPAA: NR
The first science-fiction film brought out in East Germany, THE SILENT STAR is based on Stanislaw Lem’s mysterious novel, The Astronauts (1951). In it, an international expedition is sent to Venus to decipher a message found in the Gobi desert – and discovers it is a declaration of war on Earth.
Alice
Audio: Czech; Subtitles: English
1988, MPAA Rating: NR*
When Alice follows the White Rabbit into Wonderland, so begins this dream expedition into the astonishing landscape of childhood, through many dangerous adventures, and ultimately to Alice’s trial before the King and Queen of Hearts.
The Visitors
Audio: French; Subtitles: English
1993, MPAA: NR*
In 1122, a brave soldier and his right hand man are sent to the future by a sinister witch and an absent-minded wizard. Hilarity ensues as they try to find their way back to their own time while dealing with the confusion and chaos of 21st century France.
Timecrimes
Audio: Spanish; Subtitles: English
2007, MPAA Rating: R
A man being pursued by a murderer stumbles into a lab and accidentally travels back in time. Pieces of an unpredictable jigsaw puzzle where terror, drama and suspense will lead to an unthinkable sort of crime. Who’s the murderer? Who’s the victim?
Europa Report
Audio: English; Subtitles: English
2013, MPAA Rating: PG-13
Six top astronauts set out to explore the possibility of a hidden ocean – and life – beneath Europa’s icy surface. After a near-catastrophic technical failure, the survivors must overcome the tolls of deep space travel to survive a profound discovery.
Death Watch
Audio: English & French; Subtitles: English
1980, MPAA Rating: R
In the future, a man has a camera implanted in his brain. The mechanism, which is endowed with special X-ray properties, is activated by the user’s eyes. The man is assigned by a ruthless television producer to secretly probe the subconscious of a dying woman.
18+ only on Kanopy
Save the Green Planet
Audio: Korean; Subtitles: English
2003, MPAA Rating: NR*
Lee Byeong-Gu is a sensitive, blue collar sad sack hopped up on conspiracy theories and sci-fi films whose life has been derailed by one bad break after another. Yet he knows there’s no such thing as bad luck. The only thing that could have made such a mess of his life are…aliens. Specifically, Andromedans. Nasty, disgusting Andromedan aliens who have infiltrated human society.
Jupiter’s Moon
Audio: English, German, Hungarian; Subtitles: English
2017, MPAA Rating: PG-13
A young refugee called Aryan is shot while illegally trying to cross the Hungarian border to escape his war-torn home. While tending him back to health, a doctor at a refugee camp discovers that Aryan has gained an extraordinary talent – he can levitate at will. But the doctor has his own predicament that he needs to escape from and offers to smuggle Aryan out of the camp if, in return, he helps him make some money by using his new miraculous gift.
18+ only on Kanopy
Through the Thorns to the Stars: Part 1: Niya, an Artificial Human & Part 2: Space Angels
Audio: Russian; Subtitles: English
1980, MPAA Rating: 13+
An exciting fantasy film set in the 23rd century. Niya, an artificially created girl, gets on the Earth from the distant planet of Dessa. On her home planet, the civilization is being destroyed by industrial pollution and the totalitarian regime of the dwarf Turanchoks. The earthlings save their brothers by intellect.
High Fantasy
Audio: English & Xhosa; Subtitles: English
2016, MPAA Rating: 18+
A group of friends camping in the South African countryside wake up to discover they’ve all swapped bodies. Stranded in the wilderness, they’ll have to navigate a personal-political labyrinth if their lives are ever to be the same again.
*If a film has not been submitted for a rating or is an uncut version of a film that was submitted, the labels Not Rated (NR) or Unrated (UR) are often used. Uncut/extended versions of films that are labeled “Unrated” also contain warnings saying that the uncut version of the film contains content that differs from the theatrical release and might not be suitable for minors.
