Theme: Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk was a brand of literary science-fiction that emerged during the 1980s and onto film screens around the same time. Cyberpunk is best defined in terms of what came before – it rejects utopian futurism for a vision of a densely textured world that resembles this one but a few years on.

Key to Cyberpunk is the depiction of a future where computers have seamlessly integrated into society and of developments of the internet, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence. Visually, Cyberpunk pictures a worn-down world where technology was no longer pristine but cluttered and breaking down and is scenery dominated by brand name advertising, New Wave fashions and teeming streetlife.

In contrast to Cyberpunk fiction, Cyberpunk films take more of an action emphasis and are often peopled by heroes with cyborg attachments who are struggling to find their humanity. Some of the most sophisticated treatments come from Japan and are found in anime.