2001 A Space Odyssey: dir Stanley Kubrick (1968)

Kubrick redefined sci-fi movies with 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential ever made. It wasn’t just the scientifically accurate depiction of spaceflight and the pioneering special effects, or even the rejection of conventional cinematic and narrative techniques – there’s very little dialogue, for instance, and lengthy sequences are accompanied only by music. The main point of contention is the ambiguity; in theory it’s the account of a journey to Jupiter to investigate an alien monolith (with the explicit suggestion that an alien intelligence has been fostering human development through millennia). But beyond that the film has accumulated a variety of interpretations, ranging from the darkly apocalyptic to an optimistic reappraisal of the hopes of humanity – there are themes of human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and how humanity can cope with any or all of that. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning Kubrick the only Oscar he would receive – for his direction of the visual effects.

Screens as part of Sharjah Art Foundation’s Sunday Cinema Club – a free film followed by a talk or a workshop, 3pm each Sunday from 5 July to 30 Aug at the Photography Gallery in Al Manakh. Films are child-friendly animations (5–19 July), pioneering science fiction (26 July–9 Aug), or “significant works of Arab cinema” (16-20 Aug).