Legendary novelist Philip K. Dick known for writing about virtual realities, dystopian worlds and human mutation has served as a significant observer of the state of our society. To honor him and his work in 2012, New York City's first Philip K. Dick Film Festival was founded. The 2024 line up films begin Thursday, April 3 and run through Sunday, April 7th.
Founder and director Daniel Abella is proud of the festival's accomplishments in carrying on the legacy of its namesake. "Philip K. Dick's themes explore our humanity and relational stance with technology," he said. "He taught us to embrace our inherent qualities and capacity to make the world a better place. Whether it's UFOs, the rapid growth of AI and genetic engineering, or everyday factors such as pain, sadness, and grief, our festival serves as a medium for his work." Noted for his roles in Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Netflix's Stranger Things (2016-22), Matthew Modine will appear at the screening of I Am What You Imagine on Thursday, April 4th. In addition, Arnold Chun, who starred in the Amazon adaptation of PKD's novel The Man in the High Castle (2015-19), will attend the presentation of Purgy's on Saturday, April 6th.
Thursday, April 4th, the festival will screen blocks of films at the Museum of Moving Image from 4-9pm and 7-9pm. The Museum of Moving Image is located at 36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria, Queens. The Producers Club will screen films Thursday starting with a 4:30-7pm block, a 7-9pm block and a 9-11pm block. The Producers Club is located at 358 West 44th Street in New York, New York.
Friday, April 5th the Producer's Club will start screening shorts with a block from 11am-12pm, a 12-2:30pm block. The Features block will run from 2:30-5pm, 5-6:30pm is Animation, Sci-Fi Shorts and Supernatural shorts 6:30-8:45pm and a Feature presentation from 9-11p.m. The Museum of Moving Image will start Philip K. Dick Sci-Fi shorts at 6pm.
Saturday, April 6th, The Museum of Moving Image will have a Philip K. Dick Talks series from 2pm-4pm. The first talk is Film Distribution: Through the Eyes of a Filmmaker, Talk 2: Winning The Game of Distribution, Talk 3: It's Real Life: An Alternative History of the Beatles and Paul Levinson, Talk 4: Celebrating 25 years of The Blair Witch Project and Talk 5: The Do's and Don'ts of Writing a Good Screenplay.
Sunday will be screenings at the Museum of Moving Image starting at 1pm and will be concluding with the Festival awards ceremony that begins at 6:45pm. and is finished at 7p.m.