Oddball Films presents I, Asimov, a program of 16mm short documentaries, television episodes and short film adaptations from the great mind of Isaac Asimov. Asimov (1920-1992) began his writing career at the ripe age of 11 and went on to publish hundreds of short science fiction stories and books and dozens of non-fiction books and articles as well as coining the term "robotics", researching technology for the Department of Defense, and teaching bio-chemistry as a professor for Boston University for decades. Explore an Unseen World (1970) in the science film written by Asimov (his first foray into TV writing). From microscopes to slow-motion cameras, the film explores the question: what secrets lay beyond our present view of the unseen world? Ugly Little Boy (1977), an Asimov adaptation, brings us a surprisingly heart-wrenching story of the connection formed between a neanderthal baby brought from the past through time travel and the nurse tasked with caring for him. Another adaptation: All The Troubles of the World (1978) ponders the emotional wear on sentient technology in a world run by the omnipotent Multivac. The Weird World of Robots (1968), a segment of the CBS short-lived series The 21st Century, hosted by Walter Cronkite, examines the strange and surreal world of robots in the 1960s. This episode features Asimov advocating worker robots to replace blue collar workers, robotic dogs, human amplifiers and more. Plus, an excerpt of Population Time Bomb (1976), where he theorizes on several nightmare scenarios on the effect of overpopulation from Philippe Cousteau's Oasis in Space.
Featuring:
All the Troubles of the World (Color, 1978)
Multivac is tired of the world's problems and wants to die! A dramatization of the story of the same title by Isaac Asimov, about a civilization run by Multivac, an all-powerful computer that directs the society's economy, scientific progress and human psychology. Multivac's "life" is being threatened and young Ben Manner's father is the main suspect. Ben knows that his father is innocent, and in trying to save him, unwittingly becomes involved in a suicide plot from a world-weary computer. Directed by Dianne Haak.
Ugly Little Boy (Color, 1977)
Ugly Little Boy is an adaptation of the short story by sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, about a Neanderthal boy whom scientists have transported through time for scientific testing. A conflict arises when a the nurse tasked to care for the little guy from the past grows attached and can’t bear to return him to the past. Asimov said this was his second or third favorite of his writings. The film adaptation gained acclaim for staying true to his story and the for Kate Reid’s powerful performance as nurse Fellowes.
Oddball films is a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Silicon Valley, Kurt Cobain: The Montage of Heck, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our screenings are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.