Bethel Woods gets really far out with sci-fi film festival

Science Fiction Weekly founder Brooks Peck to speak BETHEL — The Museum at Bethel Woods will host a space-themed spring speaker and film series that is inspired by the 50th anniversary of Alan Shepard’s flight as the first American in space and offered in conjunction with the upcoming special museum exhibit. Showings of the four retro space films will be presented Saturday evenings in April and the spring speaker series will host Brooks Peck on Saturday, April 2, and Megan Prelinger on Saturday, April 23, in the museum. Peck and Prelinger will each discuss important themes at the museum’s special exhibit, providing audiences with an understanding of the exhibit and its historical or artistic background. Peck is an associate curator at Experience Music Project|Science Fiction Museum in Seattle since May 2004. His program, “Album Art of the Space Age,” will walk guests through a time when space was the final frontier, describing the mentality of the times and the role of still-unknown outer space in public perception. Currently, he is working on “Avatar: The Exhibition,” an interactive exploration of James Cameron’s film. Other exhibitions that Peck curated/co-curated include “Battlestar Galactica: The Exhibition” () and “Alien Encounters” (2006). Prelinger, author, scholar and historian, is co-founder and architect of information design at the Prelinger Library, open since 2004. Her research interests include technological history, space exploration and Cold War era history. She is also in the process of writing her next book, “Inside the Machine: Electronics and the Modern Century,” set to be released in 2013. Her program, “Advertising the Space Race,” will divulge the research that Prelinger gathered for her latest book, “Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957-62.” The illustrated talk will discuss the relationship between technological and ad designs from the time period. A book signing will follow the talk. Explore four films that feature different aspects of outer space in American public consciousness. Extraterrestrials, space exploration and the future of civilization will be discussed at the presentation of each film in the Retro Space Film series. An introduction focused on the historical setting of each film will be given, as well as an audience discussion regarding the movie’s relevance in today’s world after the film.

2011 Spring Film Series: Retro space films
April 9: “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951)
April 16: “2001: A Space Odyssey”
April 23: “Planet of the Apes”
April 30: “The Andromeda Strain”
For more information visit www.BethelWoodsCenter.org or call 570-296-2333.