Across the Universe: Space and the Human Imagination
Space has captured the imagination of filmmakers from the earliest days of the medium, resulting in some of the first, as well as some of the best, films ever made. In genres ranging from existential dramas to comedies to Westerns, space has functioned as a fruitful realm of human projection and fantasy.
Sputnik
(Спутник)
A cosmonaut returns to Earth, accompanied by a dangerous extraterrestrial living inside him.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Russia • 2020
- Director Egor Abramenko
- Cast Oksana Akinshina, Pyotr Fyodorov, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Anton Vasilyev, Pavel Ustinov
- Genre Drama, Horror, Science Fiction
- Available on AMC+ Amazon Channel, IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Aniara
A spaceship carrying settlers to Mars is knocked off course, causing the passengers to consider their place in the universe.
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- Sweden, Denmark • 2019
- Director Pella Kågerman, Hugo Lilja
- Cast Emelie Jonsson, Arvin Kananian, Bianca Cruzeiro, Anneli Martini, Jennie Silfverhjelm, Peter Carlberg
- Genre Drama, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, VUDU Free, DistroTV, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
A Space Exodus
A reinterpreted moon landing in a Palestinian political context...
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Denmark, Palestine • 2008
- Director Larissa Sansour
- Cast Larissa Sansour
- Genre
- Available on Kanopy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
A regular guy having a bad day finds himself on an intergalactic adventure for the meaning of life.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 2005
- Director Garth Jennings
- Cast Martin Freeman, Zooey Deschanel, Sam Rockwell, Yasiin Bey, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren
- Genre Adventure, Comedy, Family, Science Fiction
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Fandango At Home, AMC on Demand, Hoopla
The Wild Blue Yonder
Human astronauts attempt to find an alternate planet for humanity while an alien narrates the story of his dying planet.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, France, Austria • 2005
- Director Werner Herzog
- Cast Brad Dourif, Donald Williams, Ellen Baker, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Shannon Lucid, Michael McCulley
- Genre Documentary, Drama, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Freevee, Hoopla, Shout! Factory TV, Plex, Plex Channel
Cowboy Bebop
(カウボーイビバップ)
Amid rising crime rates across the solar system in 2071, bounty hunters, or "cowboys," chase criminals in exchange for rewards.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1998
- Creator Hajime Yatate
- Cast Koichi Yamadera, Unsho Ishizuka, Megumi Hayashibara, Aoi Tada
- Genre Action & Adventure, Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Western
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Fantastic Planet
(La Planète sauvage)
A history of dominance on planet Ygam is challenged by an educated underdog.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Czechoslovakia • 1973
- Director René Laloux
- Cast Jennifer Drake, Sylvie Lenoir, Jean Topart, Jean Valmont, Max Amyl, Yves Barsacq
- Genre Animation, Science Fiction
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, The Roku Channel, Plex, Plex Channel
Solaris
(Солярис)
A psychologist must keep his mind intact as he navigates a space station full of strange visions.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1972
- Director Andrei Tarkovsky
- Cast Donatas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Jüri Järvet, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky
- Genre Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
2001: A Space Odyssey
Humanity finds a mysterious monolith buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins.
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- United Kingdom, United States • 1968
- Director Stanley Kubrick
- Cast Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Douglas Rain, Daniel Richter, Leonard Rossiter
- Genre Adventure, Mystery, Science Fiction
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand
Alphaville
(Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution)
A spy journeys to a tyrannical space city to complete three secret missions.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy • 1965
- Director Jean-Luc Godard
- Cast Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina, Akim Tamiroff, Howard Vernon, Christa Lang, Valérie Boisgel
- Genre Drama, Science Fiction, Mystery
- Available on Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla
Aelita: Queen of Mars
(Аэлита)
An engineer travels to Mars and helps lead a proletarian revolution against the ruling class.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1924
- Director Yakov Protazanov
- Cast Yuliya Solntseva, Igor Ilyinsky, Nikolai Tsereteli, Nikolai Tsereteli, Nikolai Batalov, Vera Orlova
- Genre Drama, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Available on FlixFling, IndieFlix, Klassiki, Kanopy, Plex, Public Domain Movies, Plex Channel
A Trip to the Moon
(Le Voyage dans la Lune)
A voyage to the beginning of narrative cinema
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1902
- Director Georges Méliès
- Cast Georges Méliès, Henri Delannoy, Bleuette Bernon, Brunnet, Depierre, Farjaut
- Genre Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Amazon Video, Public Domain Movies