For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by science fiction. Undoubtedly, my good father deserves credit for that, because he bought me the first SF book in my early childhood, which was co-written by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornblut…

It was a book from 1953 with the original title ‘The Space Merchants’, which was published in SFRY in 1967 under the title ‘Advertisocracy’. At that time, every SciFi work seemed to me like a peek into the future. ‘The Space Merchants’ described a dystopia from the distant future in which, instead of democratically elected governments, the world is run by advertising corporations, dictating to the enslaved masses an empty and spiritless life drown in hyper-consumerism. I was a child, and at that time I still had no idea to what extent this book was a precise look into the future…

Then came the movies, and they are the real subject of this text. The first movie I went to watch unaccompanied by my parents and friends in the cinema was ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. Special effects in that movie were far ahead of their time, and even for today’s standards they represent the very pinnacle of film production. The film left such an impression on me that I developed a certain dose of addiction on everything that takes place in space.

Fifty years later, we no longer need giant Hollywood studios with fabulous budgets. It is enough to have a script, a decent cast, a seamstress who can sew a movie suit, and a computer with the appropriate program. If you never seen it before, YouTube DUST channel hosts a number of talented filmmakers who create real miracles with relatively modest equipment.

There are many great examples of short SF films that you can enjoy online, and today I will present you one of the movies with the theme of the time-space paradox in seven parts, which when combined almost make a full-length film. ‘ATROPA’ is a work signed by Eli Sasich as a director, while he wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Clay Tolbert. The cast is doing the job at a high level, and the famous American actor Michael Ironside appears in a short supporting role.

There would, of course, always be something to complain about in terms of pure physics – there is no sound in space, no flame spreading, because there is no atmosphere. But that is not the point. These movies are much more a demonstration of the possibilities of technology than an attempt to create National Academy Award candidates. It is, however, a learning process. Mastering the tools for making movies is a priority. Then comes lending the thought to a story worth telling.

Then maybe next step will be a movie adaptation of ‘The Space Merchants’…