Film launches refer only approximately to European/UK release dates and are subject to studio change.
This convention diary lists only the major national and international SF conventions relating to the genre's literary and cinematic forms. For a more complete list of book conventions (including smaller regional ones especially in the US) then consult the Locus listing. For details of TV related SF conventions in the UK then consult SFX magazine in the UK and for conventions in countries with a significant Russian-speaking population see MIR Fantasy magazine in Russia.
For registration details see the convention's own website linked to each of the below entries.
Jump to 2009 - 10 Films Jump to 2009 -10 Conventions
2009
February 2009
ROSKON (12th - 15th February '09), Moscow, Russia. Russia's national convention with a big banquet party at its centre.
March 2009
DORTCON 2009 (21st - 22nd March '09), Dortmund, Germany. One of Germany's principal SF & F conventions. Guests of Honour: authors Walter H. Hunt and Markus Heitz, and artist Dieter Rottermund.
ITALCON - EUROCON (26th - 29th March '09), Italy's national convention and Europe's Eurocon. Guests: Sergey Lukyanenko (Russian grandmaster fantasy writer) and Kate Mulgrew (Non-European actress). Eurocon news can be found within the 'Eurocon/Worldcon' subsection of our seasonal Science Fiction News page. +++ STOP PRESS: More news came in after our Spring news upload -- Apparently the Italian Eurocon computer had a glitch and e-mails were lost. The latest is that Robert Silverberg and Kate Mulgrew drop out but Ian Watson (UK author) and Marina Sirtis (US actress) will be there. US athors Geoffrey A. Landis and Mary Turzillo are likely to be in attendance and the Italian Space Agency may be making a contribution... The Fan GoH will be Boris Sidyuk from the Ukraine (good to see one of the Concat team invited) and he is bringing a small contingent from his country. We have just been told that registrants include fans from Russia, UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Sweden and Greece.
April 2009
LXCon (10th - 13th April '09), Bradford, Great Britain. British national convention. Guests: Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Tim Powers and Dirk Maggs. The Fan Guests are the incredible, but shouldn't be edible, Mary & Bill Burns. Now residing in the rebel colonies, Bill has had roots in Manchester and District (MaD) fandom but not withstanding his translocation he is (we understand) the longest continuing attender of the UK Eastercon!
SCI-FI LONDON (29th April - 4th May '09), Britain's SF showcase film fest which includes a number of European premieres and which is in central London. You pay for only the films you see and there is a free (for registrants) pub quiz on the Sunday.
May 2009
CONSCRIPTION (29th May - 1st June '09), New Zealand's national convention. Guests: Julie Czerneda, Russell Kirkpatrick and Robbie Matthews.
June 2009
CONJECTURE (5th - 8th June '09), Australia's national convention, this year in Adelaide.
July 2009
FINNCON 2009 (10 - 12th July '09), Helsinki, Finland. Finland's national convention. Guests: George R. R. Martin (fantasy) and Alastair Reynolds (SF).
August 2009
ANTICIPATION -- WORLDCON 2009 (6th - 10th Aug '09), Montreal, Canada. Principal Guests: Elisabeth Vonarburg - Invitee d'honneur; Taral Wayne - Fan Guest of Honour; David Hartwell - Editor Guest of Honour; Tom Doherty - Publisher Guest of Honour; Julie Czerneda - Master of Ceremonies. Can Canada build on 2003? Well the 2003 science programme was very well organised albeit exclusively panels. Worldcon news can be found within the 'Eurocon/Worldcon' subsection of our seasonal Sci-Fi News page.
September 2009
DRAGONCON 2009 (4th - 7th September '09), Atlanta, Georgia, US. With some 30,000 attending this is N. America's largest convention covering TV, films, comics, games, and books.
MAELSTROM INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL (18th - 20th September). SIFF Cinema at McCaw Hall in Seattle, Washington USA.
HISPACON (Date to be confirmed at time of posting (January) but may be October- check the website). Spain's national convention.
October 2009
ICON (exact October dates not confirmed at time (December '08) of annual diary compilation), Israel's national convention. Tel-Aviv.
BuCon 24 -- BUCHMESSECON 24 (If it is there on their webpage ignore the '2004' and click to enter their site which from then on is up to date.) (17th Oct '09), Dreieich-Sprendlingen near Frankfurt, Germany. A fantasy book orientated convention.
FESTIVAL OF FANTASTIC FILMS (16th - 18th Oct '09) Day's Hotel, Sackville St, Manchester, UK. Including the international amateur and professional independent SF/fantasy/horror film competitions which provides a rare showcase for recent/current SF art house films. Vintage and rare vintage SF, fantasy and horror films are also very well covered in among the three parallel programme streams. Guests not announced as we post this page (check our latest seasonal SF news page for updates) however they usually include up to half a dozen film directors and actors. The venue is six minutes walk from Manchester's Piccadilly central rail station.
IMAGICON 2 Stockholm, Sweden. Sweden's national convention.
CAPCLAVE (16th - 18th Oct , '09), Hilton Washington DC/Rockville, US. Principal Guests: Harry Turtledove (author) and Sheila Williams (editor). A litcrit con with filk run by the Washington Science Fiction Association.
WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION (29th Oct - 1st Nov '09) The Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, California, US. Guests to be announced.
SF UTOPIALES 2009 (30th Oct - 1st Nov '09 dates to be confirmed), Nantes, France. With some 40,000 passing through its doors this is the World's largest convention! See our brief review of last year's SF Utopiales.
2010
March 2010
WORLD HORROR CONVENTON (25th - 28th March '10) Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton, United Kingdom of great Britain and Norther Ireland.
April 2010
ODYSSEY 2010 (2nd - 5th April '10), Heathrow, London, UK. Guests: Alastair Reynolds (SF), Liz Williams (science fantasy) and Mike Carey (graphic novel writer). This is both the British national convention and a European SF Society Euroconference. The venue is the same as that for the succesful 2008 British Eastercon (news review here) and some of the organisers are also the same. Expect well over a thousand attending and at least four parallel programme streams, book dealer's room, art show, fan exhibition area etc, etc. Word has it that the Wednesday (two days) before the convention there will be a sight-seeing tour day of London for visiting mainland Europeans. (Though billed as starting on Friday 2nd, actually many will turn up on the evening of Thursday 1st.) ESFS Eurocon (and ESFS Euroconference) news can be found within the 'Eurocon/Worldcon' subsection of our seasonal Science Fiction News page.
August 2010
AU CONTRAIRE (27th - 29th Aug '10 provisional dates to be confirmed), Wellington, New Zealand. This is the New Zealand national convention. The aim is to hold the event the weekend before the Australian Worldcon (see next convention) so that those from outside of Australasia can make the short hop to Worldcon and do two conventions for largely the same travel price from Europe as one. +++ Early sight seeing recommendations here.
September 2010
WORLDCON 2010 (2nd - 6th Sept '10), Melbourne, Australia. Guests of Honour will be Kim Stanley Robinson, Robin Johnson and Shaun Tan. Remember, this is just a couple of days after the end of the above New Zealand National convention. So if you are travelling to Australasia for one you may as well stay for both events. Worldcon news can be found within the 'Eurocon/Worldcon' subsection of our seasonal Science Fiction News page.
2011
March 2011
DORTCON 2011 (12th - 13th March '11), Dortmund, Germany.
Autumn 2011
IMAGICON Stockholm, Sweden. The Eurocon combined with Sweden's national convention. The exact dates have yet to be confirmed (at the time of posting (April 2009)).
Want a feel for whether any of the above might be for you? Check out our reviews of past SF conventions.
Note: This list features UK/Western European dates as at January '09, so these may change.
Also release dates in other parts of the World may vary by a few months.
2008
December 2008
The Day The Earth Stood Still
This is the remake of the classic 1951 original. This one stars Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly. Director Scott Derrickson. 'If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives.' This is more spectacular than the original but the original is better SF and more logical both in plot and characterizations.
2009
January 2009
The Spirit
A cop returns as a spirit to fight crime... Now this is based on the classic -- some say the first true -- graphic novel (1940) by the legendary Will Eisner (of whom the Eisner Awards for comics are named). As with all films based on genre classics, one wonders whether they will allow the original brilliance to shine through or will it be a hash job? Though Eisner died back in 2005 he is credited as being one of the film's writers and this was probably done out of respect, especially as the film's other co-writer is one Frank Miller! (Frank was the US comic writer behind the Dark Knight Batman graphic novels that have influenced the recent Batman films.) What is more Frank Miller is the director!
February 2009
Outlander
During the time of the Vikings a 'man' from another world crashes with an alien who escapes. The man's technology and the Vikings come together to get the alien.
March 2009
Watchmen
This is based on the seminal 1987 graphic novel by Alan (V for Vendetta) Moore and Dave (2000AD) Gibbons. It is set in an alternate Earth in which costumed super heroes really do exist. As such they are used by the Government until the people gets worried and so nearly all the heroes retire. Then one former hero is murdered and another, Rorshach who never really retired, sets out to find his killer... Now the original graphic novel had all the depth and character of a text-only novel and the story the richness and allegory of much of Moore's other work. Will it successfully transfer to the big screen? V For Vendetta has so far come the closest while The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was an abomination of the excellent original. At the time of posting this page we have only seen the trailer -- hardly the best way to judge a film but it looks good. This is a joint UK as well as US production and there may be an IMAX element or version even.
Lesbian Vampire Killers
This is a British made comedy horror. The women of a Welsh village have been taken over by a group of lesbian vampires but the village men folk are not going to give up especially when they can send two of their lads to try to sort matters out...
April 2009
The Wolf Man
An American returns to his ancestral European homeland and is bitten by a wolf. You know what comes next... Made by a US company but filmed in Blighty (Farnham in Surrey). Anthony Hopkins co-stars.
Monsters vs. Aliens
Race to Witch Mountain
This is Disney's re-make of the 1987 kids' SF film Escape to Witch Mountain. Two siblings have special powers that may be connected with a UFO.
May 2009
From Time to Time
Based on Lucy M. Boston's novel The Chimneys of Green Knowe, this is a kids' film made by Britain's reincarnated Ealing Studios. While at his grandmother's house a boy as transported back in time as a ghost and solves a mystery.
Star Trek
This release was originally scheduled earlier for before Christmas. The latest Star Trek film returns us to the early days and a young Captain Kirk who is - if early reports are to be believed - threatened by time travellers from the future. Can Spock save the day? Silly question.
June 2009
Terminator Salvation
The latest in the Terminator series. Set in the robot controlled future - the remenants of humanity fight back. It can't be much worse than 3. (Can it?)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The follow-up to the first Transformer film for kid about cars that morph into giant robots. Surprisingly this was not that bad and with a bottle of wine this sequel romp might well be enjoyable. The story follows on from the first one but don't worry, you'll pick it up PDQ.
July 2009
2012
Apparently the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. Perhaps this explains the spate of natural disasters?
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
More magical fun for youngsters. School-boy wizard, Harry Potter, finds a book that tells of Voldemort's past... Made by US Warners but, on author Rowling's insistence, has a British cast. It was originally slated to have come out before last Christmas. (This may have IMAX elements or an IMAX version?)
The Land of the Lost
A re-make of the 1974 film. A forest ranger and his children accidentally find a lost land with dinosaurs and strange people.
August 2009
The Time Traveller's Wife
The fim version of the acclaimed novel. Could be brilliant?
Final Destination: Death Trip 3D
The third in the franchise and Death is getting peeved that yet again some teenagers are escaping fate. This is the first of the series to be in 3D.
September 2009
Pandorum
A deep space thriller directed by Christian Alvart. We have info of the film on our summer news page.
Creation
Docu-drama on Charles Darwin and the religious debate his discovery of evolutionary mechanisms caused. Timed to coincide with this being the 150 anniversarry of the publication of On the Origin of Species.
October 2009
Ghosthunters.con
The aunt of one of a pair of con-artists has psychic powers and they think that this will help them with their conning. But some things are not meant to be meddled with.
Zombieland
In a world overrun by zombies a band of folk try to find somewhere to hole up. Billed as a comedy horror this is Hollywood trying to cash in on the success of Shaun of the Dead.
November 2009
The Wolf Man
A modern re-telling of the classic horror film. Co-stars Anthony Hopkins.
2012
A researcher translates an ancielnt calendar and discovers that the end of the World is nigh. Director: Roland Emmerich.
Planet 51
This Spanish / British offering sees an Earth astronaut is mistaken by the inhabitants of a distant world as an alien invader...
December 2009
Avatar
A distant world seems a paradise ripe for exploitation. But a marine thinks otherwise... This is directed by James Cameron and as such is long awaited.
Return to top of 2009 - 10 Films Return to 2009 - 10 Conventions
Alternatively check out the Annual top SF & fantasy films charts
This page is updated annually in early December -- so get any additions you have to us in November. (See 'contact' below.) Please note the guidance at the top of this page: this is a listing of primarily national level and international conventions. There are other sites on the web for regional and more specialist events.
[Concatenation: Home Page | Recent Site Additions | Author Index: Fiction & Non-Fiction Reviews | Science Fiction News Index]
[ One Page SF Futures Short Stories | SF Convention Reviews | SF Film Charts | Articles | Whimsy from Gaia]