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The otherworldly animated classic about the small human-like Oms and their much larger blue-skinned oppressors is presented by Seattle's own DJ NicFit, who parallels the film's themes with those of alternative-rock icons The Flaming Lips.

In 1973, French animator Rene Laloux and artist Roland Topor wowed the Cannes Film Festival with their phantasmagorical work of science fiction, a hallucinatory futuristic animated parable set on the faraway planet of Ygam, where knowledge is power and a race of blue giants (Draags) act as oppressors to tiny humanoid creatures (Oms). By turns surreal and graceful, brutal and emotional, the film's unprecedented visual style helped it to become an instant counterculture classic. Now, DJ Nicholas "NicFit" Gilmore takes Fantastic Planet one step further into the stratosphere with a carefully curated soundtrack featuring the music of alternative-rock icons The Flaming Lips. The modern psychedelic music of Wayne Coyne and the Lips provide the perfect sonic complement to the film, sharing similar motifs of sociopolitical commentary, rebellion, and general hallucinogenic mind-fuckery. DJ NicFit, known throughout the Pacific Northwest for his innovative mashups of beloved films with indie-inspired soundtracks, returns to SIFF after last year's wildly popular all-Queen interpretation of Highlander. He has dug into the deepest recesses of the Flaming Lips catalogue to craft this all-new, mind-altering reimagining, as performed live on two turntables only at this one-of-a-kind screening event.

— Clinton McClung

Director Biography

René Laloux was a French animator and film director born in Paris in 1929. After studying painting, he worked in advertising and, while working at a psychiatric institute, created the animated film Monkey's Teeth. From there, he collaborated with the likes of famed animators Paul Grimault, Roland Topor, and Jean Giraud before creating his best-known film, Fantastic Planet. His 1987 film Gandahar, a major success in his native France, was redubbed and released by Miramax in the United States under the title Light Years. Laloux died of a heart attack in 2004.