SCREENING
The second half of the programme from January to early February 2026 presents works that imagine alternative futures shaped by ancestral and indigenous knowledge. These films reclaim myth, ritual, and storytelling as pathways to plural futures alive with possibility—challenging binary utopian/dystopian narratives and asserting resistance through imagination.
Line up (5 Jan to 8 Feb 2026)
Daily Screenings – Free Admission
Their presence is felt in the future is a short film programme that features moving image works by Southeast Asian artists Montika Kham-on, Subash Thebe Limbu, Natasha Tontey, and Shi Yun Teo. The programme explores the ways in which ancestral and indigenous knowledge, traditions, and rituals continue to reverberate in the present and shape the far future – reclaiming myth, tradition and storytelling as acts of resistance and liberation that challenge colonial legacies. Through experiments with science fiction tropes and aesthetics, these films examine contemporary anxieties of technology and artificial intelligence, proposing alternative futures where tactility and technology can co-exist.
Total programme duration: 50 minutes
Weekend Screenings – Ticketed
Banner image: Siamese Futurism, 2021, Montika Kham-on
Please note that the cinema will be closed on 24 & 27 Jan.
Space Cadet (2025) by Kid Koala
86min | Rating PG | No dialogue
Free admission, first-come-first-served basis.
Guardianbot's sole purpose is to care for Celeste, who has grown into a brilliant space cadet off on her first interstellar mission. Guardianbot is thrilled but left to deal with a new emotion it wasn’t programmed for – loneliness.
Based on the graphic novel by Kid Koala, who also makes his directorial debut, Space Cadet is a tomorrow-days’ lullaby about memories and the bonds that connect us. Featuring original songs by Karen O and Digable Planets’ Mariana “Ladybug” Vieria.
The Creator (2023) by Gareth Edwards
135min | PG13 (Brief Nudity) | English
Copyright: © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Free admission, first-come-first-served basis.
Amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua (John David Washington), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife (Gemma Chan), is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war and mankind itself. Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory… only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child.
Filmed across Laos, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam, The Creator renders a speculative world in which religion, resistance, and AI coexist. The film’s aesthetic - temples, orbital stations, vernacular architectures - constructs a future deeply shaped by its Asian location.
Selected episodes from The Jetsons (1962)
25min per episode | English
Free admission, first-come-first-served basis.
Episode 1: Rosey the Robot
Episode 4: The Coming of Astro
Episode 8: Rosey’s Boyfriend
Episode 23: Dude Planet
Episodes will be played back-to-back
Premiering during the Space Race era, The Jetsons captured the 1960s’ optimistic vision of tomorrow. With its flying cars, robotic helpers, and space-age living, the show reflected a time when technological progress felt limitless. But even with its depiction of a dazzling future and high-tech gadgets, the heart of The Jetsons was its focus on family life – love, work, and daily routines – making this retrofuturistic series an enduring pop cultural touchpoint.
The Whispering Star (2015) by Sion Sono| 100min | PG | Japanese with English subtitles
Ticketed admission
Showtimes
Sat 8 Nov: 4.00pm
Fri 14 Nov: 4.30pm
Sat 22 Nov: 4.00pm
Sat 13 Dec: 4.00pm
Sat 20 Dec: 4.00pm
Sat 27 Dec: 4.00pm
In a distant future where machines dominate the universe and the human population has nearly vanished, the android Yoko travels alone in a spaceship resembling an old Japanese villa, delivering parcels to last few remaining humans. As Yoko moves through desolated planets, the curious android reflects on humanity’s nostalgic desires, and what it means to be human.
A lo-fi, sci-fi arthouse film by Sion Sono, The Whispering Star marks a contemplative shift from the filmmaker’s maximalist style, blending quiet sci-fi with poetic introspection, with nods to Kubrick and Tarkovski in a meditative exploration of solitude and technological legacy.
Playtime (1967) by Jacques Tati | 124min | PG | French with English subtitles
Ticketed admission
Showtimes
Fri 14 Nov: 6.30pm
Sun 14 Dec: 4.00pm
Sun 21 Dec: 4.00pm
Sun 28 Dec: 4.00pm
Monsieur Hulot finds himself lost in a hyper-modern, ultra-sleek version of Paris, filled with overcomplicated gadgets and rows of reptitive architecture.
The sprawling set, known as ‘Tativille’, was specially constructed for the film at the edge of Paris. The detailed steel-and-glass cityscape took over three years to complete and was shot on 70mm, making it one of the most expensive, and impressive, French films to be made at the time. Despite becoming a commercial failure at its release, Playtime is now considered to be Jacques Tati’s magnum opus, and one of the greatest films ever made.
Jacques Tati’s masterpiece is both critique and prophecy of modern life, calling for a more balanced future with technology that embraces warmth, colour and the messy humanness of it all.
Universal Language (2024) by Matthew Rankin | 89min | PG | Persian, French with English subtitles
Ticketed admission
Showtimes
Sun 9 Nov: 4.00pm
Thu 13 Nov: 2.00pm
Sun 16 Nov: 4.00pm
Sun 23 Nov: 4.00pm
In a mysterious and surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, the lives of multiple characters interweave with each other in surprising and tender ways.
An homage to Iranian cinema with Canadian inflections, Matthew Rankin’s absurdist comedy finds its heart and humour across borders, language and identities. The alternative world of Universal Language is infused with warmth, carrying a hopeful message that our relationship with one another is not predicated on differences, but perhaps in gestures of care and understanding.
Awards:
Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award | Cannes Film Festival 2024
Arthouse Cinema Award | Hamburg Film Festival 2024
Bright Horizons Award | Melbourne International Film Festival 2024
Best Canadian Feature Film | Vancouver International Film Festival 2024
The Last Angel of History, 1996, by John Akomfrah | 45min| PG13 (Some Coarse Language) | English
Ticketed admission
Showtimes
11 Jan (Sun): 2.30pm
18 Jan (Sun): 2.30pm
One of the most influential video-essays of the 1990s, John Akomfrah's genre-bending documentary on black consciousness traces the origins and impact of Afrofuturism through the eyes of a man known as the Data Thief, who seeks the keys to the future.
Featuring interviews and performance clips by artists such as George Clinton, Sun Ra and science fiction authors Samuel R. Delaney and Octavia Butler, Akomfrah amplifies the futuristic tenor of the film by intercutting these scenes with images of Pan-African life from different periods of history, jumping between timelines and generations.
Nhà Cây (The Tree House), 2019, by Minh Quý Trương | 84min| PG13 (Brief Nudity) | Vietnamese with English subtitles
Ticketed admission
Showtimes
11 Jan (Sun): 4pm
18 Jan (Sun): 4pm
In the year 2045, a filmmaker who relocated to Mars attempts to make a film about life on Earth, juxtaposing his own displacement with recordings of the Ruc and Cor peoples, ethnic groups driven from their cave homes and tree houses during the American invasion of Vietnam. This footage is interspersed with American propaganda films depicting the post-war resettlement of these Vietnamese communities.
Combining elements of science fiction and ethnography, The Tree House is a powerful exploration of how time and environment relate to our understanding of home.
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SPECIAL EVENT
Futures Festival: Worlds in the Making
Futures Festival: Worlds in the Making is an invitation to hold the future open. It brings together the community in a shared exploration of plural worlds emerging from the equator — worlds that are generous, resilient and already in the making.
ArtScience Cinema
ArtScience Cinema is the museum’s latest screening space with specially-curated films all year round.
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VR Gallery
Dive into a whole new Virtual Reality world and beyond in our new VR Gallery, a permanent gallery space that celebrates curiosity, innovation and experimentation through cutting-edge virtual reality artworks.
