Cities in the Sky: A Documentary About Sci-Fi's Unknown Writers

Cities in the Sky: Science-Fiction's Forgotten Visionaries is a planned documentary about some of the unknown figures who wrote about things like space travel, evil robots, equal rights, cryogenics, and the internet, sometimes long before their more well-known peers.

Cities in the Sky

One of the big geek movies of last year was Argo, about the CIA operation whose cover story was that they were filmmakers shooting a science fiction film. On Kickstarter, Flatbush Pictures successfully raised funds for Science Fiction Land, a documentary delving into the true story behind that sci-fi film, one that was glossed over and changed in Ben Affleck's dramatization. Reading about some of the facts was astonishing, and part of the reason I backed the film was because it gives credit to some key players involved who never really got their due.

Now there's another Kickstarter documentary that has a similar purpose. Cities in the Sky: Science-Fiction's Forgotten Visionaries is a planned documentary about some of the unknown figures who wrote about things like space travel, evil robots, equal rights, cryogenics, and the internet, sometimes long before their more well-known peers. It looks fascinating, but I imagine the difficulty in funding a project like this is that, well, nobody's heard of the people they're talking about. It's not like revealing new stories about Ray Bradbury or Roger Zelazny; here we'll learn about Edward Page Mitchell and Vladimir Odoevsky — people who made important contributions to sci-fi but aren't household names.

The campaign has about 3 weeks left; take a look at the Kickstarter page and consider backing it. For sci-fi fans, this film could add a whole new section to your reading list!