CICADA CINEMAS: The Christmas Martian (1971)

7PM
ALL AGES

TICKETS $7

Synopsis: While out looking for a Christmas tree one winter day, siblings François and Katou encounter a bizarrely dressed entity who emanates bubbles and shoplifts from a convenience store. With Katou convinced this “man” is really a Martian, the children follow his green trail all the way to a flying saucer. After confirming his alien identity, they form an instant bond and pool their efforts to fix the Martian’s damaged spaceship, so he can return to his home planet. Meanwhile, the police join forces with a vigilante mob to track down this mysterious visitor and put his antics to an end.

A viable contender for weirdest Canadian movie of all time, The Christmas Martian takes family-friendly holiday entertainment to imaginatively inspired new places. With a uniquely carefree and child-like approach, director Bernard Gosselin (making his one and only fiction feature) paved the way for producer Rock Demers’ celebrated Tales for All series and arguably even E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The Christmas Martian is a misunderstood (and underseen) holiday gift that keeps on giving.

*In partnership with The Orbit Room, The American Genre Film Archive and Vulture Video, our Cicada Underground series comes from the ethos that while as imperfect as the people who made them, genre films deserved to be screened to both enrich our lives and have a good time doing it!