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Arts feature

Without sci-fi, there would be no cinema

Science-fiction is the ultimate film genre, argues Peter Hoskin, on the eve of a major BFI season

11 October 2014

9:00 AM

11 October 2014

9:00 AM

Do you know what’s hateful? The snobbery that film fans have to contend with. There’s the ‘it’s only a movie’ snobbery, by which cinema is suitable only for wastrels and dogs. And there’s the ‘if it ain’t Danish and silent, then it ain’t no good’ snobbery. Proponents of both should spend less time blowing conjecture through their Sobranie smoke, and more time watching the Hollywood films of John Ford, Nicholas Ray and William A.

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The BFI’s ‘Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder’ season continues until 31 December

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