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Game of Thrones fans with cross-genre interests will want to pay attention to the BFI's sci-fi season "Days of Fear and Wonder". The film festival, which runs until December with a host of new and classic science fiction cinema to see, will present the international premiere of Ambition, with the popular show's Aidan Gillen in the starring role.

Gillen, currently best known for his turn as the manipulative Petyr Baelish, plays mentor to Aisling Franciosi's neophyte nanotech mistress, both seemingly able to manipulate the microscopic machines to a frightening degree, even reshaping the world around them. The trailer shows a bleak vision of the future, and a haunting clue that humanity both controls and creates entire worlds.


Although the nameless trainee struggles to master her abilities, she possesses the potential to redefine life itself -- heady stuff, and perfect for high-concept sci-fi to explore.

Shot on location in Iceland, Ambition is the first live action film from Polish director Tomek Bagiński and studio Platige Image. Although not well known amongst English-speaking cinephiles, his background in animation makes his work, if not necessarily his name, familiar to gamers, having directed the animated cutscenes in The Witcher games. His short film The Cathedral was nominated for the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, and others have won awards at SIGGRAPH and BAFTA. "This is a project, ultimately, about great ambition: the power of the human spirit and our collective will to exceed all perceived boundaries," said Bagiński of Ambition. "As our heroes seek out and close in on the very key to life, it goes beyond mere cinematic tropes to deal with the bolder universal themes of facing the future, battling uncertainty and showing the determination that makes us great. But it's not all that it seems!"

Rhidian Davis, Director of Public Programs at the BFI said that

Ambition was "a perfect fit for our hugely ambitious sci-fi season. Tomek Bagiński's project is certainly one to keep a very close eye on, both in London and beyond."

The premiere is to be held on Friday 24 October, at the BFI Southbank, with a "big reveal" promised for the event.