Space: A Celebration of the Final Frontier

Overview

With 2019 marking five decades after Neil Armstrong took one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind, looking above and beyond our pale blue dot has been the theme of this year. With the exact anniversary of the lunar landing rolling around in July, expect celebrations to ramp up — including at Palace Barracks' space-themed film program.

Across four Friday nights between June 19 and August 9, the Petrie Terrace cinema is sending cinephiles soaring into the stars courtesy of a lineup of sci-fi classics. Each session kicks off at 7pm, costs $10 and will make you remember why space flicks are so beloved. (Spoiler: it's because they're vivid, diverse and provide an imaginative playground to grapple with weighty topics.)

First on the bill is the science fiction movie to end all science fiction movies, aka Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you haven't seen it on the big screen, then you haven't seen it properly. Then comes Duncan Jones' stellar Moon, featuring Sam Rockwell, Sam Rockwell and Sam Rockwell (no, that's not a typo), as well as the anime delights of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie and James Cameron's action-packed Alien sequel, Aliens.