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Fan Fest: The Ultimate Spy and Sci-Fi Event

London Film Museum

24th and 25th April 2010

Last weekend saw the inaugural FanFest event take place at the London Film Museum st London’s County Halls near Westminster. Dubbed the ultimate spy and sci-fi event, FanFest featured a wide variety of guests – from actors and actresses that had appeared in numerous Bond films over the years to special effects luminaries such as Bill Pearson and Bob Keen, as well as the legend that is Ray Harryhausen.

We had the privilege of being invited to attend the event which combined guests signings, a tour of the London Film Museum, special events and some superb guest talks in the museum’s hallowed debating chamber.

The museum itself is a joy to walk round. A distinguished old building filled with memorabilia and props from numerous films and numerous genres, there really is something for literally everyone to enjoy.

Former Doctor Who special effects man Bill Pearson - who also has a string of Hollywood titles on his considerable CV - is the man behind the impressive SFX shots in the movie Moon, directed by Duncan Jones. Featured in the Sunday Mail, Pearson covered the highlights of a long career that has brought hime to pulling space buggies on wires wrapped around tumblers for David Bowie's son. Funny old world. "I have worked on very low-budget stuff. I did Blake's Seven - but not the shaky...

Chicago – With “Star Trek,” “Terminator: Salvation,” and now Duncan Jones’ “Moon,” it’s been a good season for science fiction fans. Jones’ directorial debut is a stunning piece of psychological sci-fi about a man who is literally being replaced by a younger version of himself.

Sam Rockwell stars (and gives the best performance of the year to date) as Sam, a man who works mining an energy-producing substance on the moon and sends it back to Earth. His three-year assignment with only a robot pal named Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey) to keep him company is finally about to come to an end.

After an accident outside the base, Sam returns to find a younger version of himself who claims to be starting his three-year assignment. Has Sam gone crazy? What is going on? “Moon” is one of the best debuts of the year and it was borne not...

To many first time directors, the pressure of helming their first feature film would have proved impossible to bear.

But to Duncan Jones - director of Moon, and a self-confessed geek - it was like being let loose in a giant toy set.

Jones and his crew worked like demons to get the film made, but a lifetime of sci-fi fandom gave him a sound and deepening affiliation with the genre to draw upon.

To show he can walk the walk as well as talk the talk, he said: "I would extend my range of geekery to be fair. I'm a hard core PC computer gamer, and have been for decades, I loved 2000Ad, (the British comic equivalent to Heavy Metal,) I think the new Battlestar Galactica is Way ahead in script writing terms from what most Sci-fi feature films are doing, and I used to play the Space Hulk board game.