Independent genre festival Sci-Fi-London has announced that it is to return on April 30 for five days of screenings and events. Now in its seventh year, Sci-Fi-London, or The London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film, will take place at the Apollo West End cinema until May 4.

Films already confirmed for this year's programme include two Russian features, Mihkail Khelborodov's Paragraph 78, which sees a band of ex-commandos sent on a secret mission, and Nikolai Lebedev's Wolfhound, which boasts the biggest budget in Russian filmhistory, and sees swords and sorcercy in abundance as a fierce warrior seek vengeance for the death of his parents. Another announced feature is the low-budget independent Netherbeast Incorporated (Dean Reynolds), which follows a business that acts as a front for a vampire commune.

Calling itself the 'Sci-Fi festival for people who don't like Sci-Fi,' the festival is the UK's only science fiction and fantasy film festival and has built a reputation for programming challenging premieres and rarely screened classics.

Other highlights include a special-effects workshop, a masterclass, and a pub quiz.

In addition to the main programme, the festival also plays host to the annual Arthur C Clarke Award for Science Fiction Literature. Another sci-fi great is also remembered in the Douglas Adams Memorial Debate, conducted by the Institute of Ideas.

Topics