The Vidiots Foundation welcomes legendary filmmaker John Sayles (The Secret of Roan Inish, Passion Fish, Lone Star, City of Hope, Eight Men Out, Return of the Secaucus Seven) for a conversation with filmmaker Karyn Kusama (Æon Flux, Girlfight, Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation), along with a double feature of two very different science fiction classics – indie-humanist cult classic The Brother from Another Planet and the low-budget Roger Corman space opera Battle Beyond the Stars.

Filmmaker John Sayles displays his humanity through an interstellar being in the sci-fi classic The Brother from Another Planet. A three-toed alien crashes on Ellis Island after escaping slavery on his home planet. Blending seamlessly with the unwashed masses of the streets of Manhattan, he weaves amongst the humans of New York as two men in black attempt to hunt him down. Thought-provoking, eternally socially relevant, and touchingly human.

John Sayles wrote and co-directed The Brother from Another Planet, which stars Joe Morton, Rosanna Carter, Ray Ramirez, Yves Rene, Peter Richardson, Ginny Yang, Daryl Edwards, Steve James, Leonard Jackson, Bill Cobbs, Maggie Renzi, Olga Merediz, Tom Wright, Minnie Gentry, Renn Woods and Reggie Rock Bythewood.

The Roger Corman low-budget cult science fiction adventure Battle Beyond the Stars features John Saxon and Sybil Danning bringing all the camp moviegoers can handle in space. The film centers on a young farmer named Shad, who gathers a motley crew to defend his peaceful planet from an evil tyrant and his army.

Battle Beyond the Stars was co-directed by Roger Corman and Jimmy T. Murakami, from a script by John Sayles. The film stars Richard Thomas, Robert Vaughn, John Saxon, George Peppard, Darlanne Fluegel, Sybil Danning, Sam Jaffe, Morgan Woodward, Earl Boen, Steve Davis and John Gowans.