Sunday at the Palm- "2001: A Space Odyssey"

The Telluride Film Festival doesn’t mess around. No fluff. Not ever. Just culturally significant films that also entertain. Considered one of the most influential of all sci-fi films ever, and one of the most controversial,”2001: A Space Odyssey,” (1968, 141 minutes) opens the 2010/2011 season of  the Telluride Film Festival’s Sunday at the Palm series. The screening takes place Sunday, September 26, 4 p.m. at the Michael D. Palm Theatre.

“2001: A Space Odyssey”  is a meditation on man’s inventiveness, but it comes with a warning label. (Think “Hal.”) James Cameron owes a debt to Stanley Kubrick, whose film is the daddy of special effects, surrealism, and scientific realism in cinema.

“2001: A Space Odyssey” begins with a memorable sequence in which a member of one tribe bonks someone from another tribe on the noggin. And so man discovers the pleasure of using tools as instruments of war and peace. Welcome to civilization. The ubiquitous monolith represents, what, perfection? (In contrast to man’s obvious flaws.) Man is enthralled with its impenetrable perfection, these majestic road markers work like breadcrumbs, indicating the path to every more tantalizing worlds that ultimately lead full circle – sorta kinda. Man returns to childlike innocence, only this time having ingested the wisdom of the ages. Gotta admit it beats a trip to Disneyland.

In 1991, “2001: A Space Odyssey” was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

To learn more, click the “play” button and listen to program director/TFF staffer Erika Gordon ‘s interview.