Keen to get Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets into your sensorium? The good folks at Entertainment One are hosting a very special advance screening of the French science fiction blockbuster at Event Cinemas George St on Monday, July 31. How special? Director Luc Besson will be on hand for a post-movie Q&A, moderated by our own Travis Johnson (currently writing in the third person for the sake of Filmink‘s house style).

Besson is, of course, one of the foremost cinematic stylists of the last 30-odd years, a key figure in what critic Raphael Bassan called cinema du look, and the director of such eye-pleasing wonders as Subway, La Femme Nikita, The Big Blue, Leon, The Fifth Element, and Lucy. Through his EuropaCorp production house, he has become one of the world’s foremost action movie producers, and arguably codified the “geriactioner” subgenre (see Taken, The Gunman, et al).

Valerian sees Besson bringing the iconic French-language SF comic Valerian and Laureline, to the big screen. Tjhe film sees 28th century special operatives Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) embark on a mission to Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis home to a countless number of diverse alien species. When a dark force threatens the peaceful city, the pair must race against time to identify the menace that also jeopardizes the future of the universe.

It’s gonna be a good time! Click through here to book tickets. This is Besson’s only Australian appearance, so expect those seats to disappear quickly.