Films by season & age - The Future Is Now (Ages 12-15)

Seasons are a great way to explore different ideas through watching a group of films. Why not try watching all the films in a season and make some time for discussion. Topics and discussion points are included.

For as long as people have been making movies, those same film-makers have been looking to the future, creating visions of what the world may look like in ten years, or a hundred, or a thousand - or longer still. Through the power of the movies, we’ve been able to glimpse what may one day be in store – the cinema screen acting as a vast crystal ball. This FilmClub season collects some of the greatest of these visions of the future. The results might be completely fantastical (as in the dazzling The Fifth Element), or feature some everyday details that seem like they might be just around the corner (Minority Report). The world they take place in might seem reassuringly familiar until you look a little closer (AI: Artificial Intelligence) – or be all-but unrecognisable (Waterworld). And the story might take place millions of years into the future – or, as in the hilarious Mars Attacks, be set right around the corner! But all the movies here share one thing - their invitation to let us, the audience, wonder ourselves about just what the future might hold...

SUGGESTED PAIR

In the silent classic Metropolis, legendary director Fritz Lang looked ahead to a world completely in the grip of “the machine age” that was then just starting – whereas in

Waterworld, the story is set after that era has broken down.

Both AI: Artificial Intelligence and The Time Machine take place not just in the near-future – but in a world many millions of years ahead of us.

TALKING POINTS

Which of the “visions of the future” that you saw in this season did you think was the most realistic – and which was the most far-fetched?

Which aspects of the future shown in any of the movies in this season would you most like

to see coming true?

Are any of the ideas featured in any of the movies already here?