by Nicoletta Pacini

In honour of science fiction, the Museo Nazionale del Cinema has organized a spectacular exhibition of posters, props, scripts and collector’s toys. The charm science fiction has always held over its audience, which boasts an almost unrivalled multitude of fans and faithful followers, was one of the reasons for setting up this exhibit. At the same time the Museum wanted to display its graphic “wonders” of a genre whose poster art has achieved some of the most captivating and spectacular results.
At the +18 Level, on the Winding Walkway and in the Temple Hall, 300 posters, inserts and lobby cards from the Museum’s rich collection recreate a thought-provoking visual gallery which chronologically illustrates the history of science fiction in Film. The exhibit begins with Silent Film, with Voyage autour d’une étoile, from 1906, one of the earliest films from the dawn of science fiction; it then moves on to cult-movies from the Fifties (Forbidden Planet, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still…), the Sixties and the Seventies (most importantly 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars) and completes the journey with the most recent works such as Revenge of the Sith, the final episode in the thirty year long Star Wars saga. It is a century of history whose wonders and enormous pieces of coloured paper create a truly evocative visual tribute thanks to the artistic ability and creative impulse of illustrious artists who have immortalized characters, figures and scenarios typical of the genre, thus contributing its growth in popularity.
Not only are there posters but toys, props and scripts as well. As an additional tribute to such a well-loved genre, the Museum has set up in the Temple Hall a display of a rich selection of toys and models from Star Wars (from a major private collection owned by Fabrizio Modina) which traces, with George Lucas’ saga, the evolution and importance acquired by merchandising: objects that had simply been children’s toys were transformed into real and true cult paraphernalia, sought-after and collected by the adult audience.
And it is in the same Temple Hall that the exhibit concludes with some props and scripts from the Museum’s collection, including, just to give a few examples, the extremely rare screenplay from King Kong along with the screenplay from Le testament du Docteur Cordelier (with a dedication by Jean Renoir to the Museum of Cinema), in addition to the storyboards from the The Empire Strikes Back and the cape used in Superman.
Visitors will find a video station along their tour which allows them to visit a science-fiction databank of 800 posters, inserts, lobby cards, with their relative information-filled files, thus making it possible to easily access other advertising “tidbits” not displayed in the exhibit but belonging to the Museum’s prestigious collection of over 341,000 pieces.