Featured Events

Guests of Honor
Tim Powers, noted American fantasy author and a leading voice in world fantastic literature

Roger Nygard, director of Trekkies, Trekies 2 (shown during ICon 2004) and "Six Days in Roswell" (which will be shown at the festival this year)

Robert Burnett, director of Free Enterprise, which will be shown at the festival

Israeli Guests

Nimrod Har'el, Illusionist and Israeli fantasy author
Uri Fink, Israeli cartoonist and comic-book artist
Guy Hasson, Israeli SF writer
Vered Tuchterman, Israeli SF writer and editor

The Geffen Awards
One of the festival goals is the promotion and encouragement of original Israeli genre work. The Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy grants the Geffen Awards annually during Icon. These awards are given to chosen publications in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, as voted by Icon visitors.

Open Space attractions

The cinematheque plaza will be converted into a coliseum for the duration of the festival, exhibiting free shows and performances: Gladiators will fight for honor; knights will save damsels in distress from horrible orcs and goblins; Displays of martial arts of different sorts and rituals of different fantastic faiths will be performed and quite a few attractions will be opened to the general public, such as an archery workshop and performance.
The festival entrance halls and lobbies will be the set for exhibitions and displays of miniatures and models, medieval weaponry, armor and clothing, as well as science fiction, fantasy and comics artwork. Other areas will be filled with many stands and vendors, advertising and selling SF and Role-Playing merchandise, Comics, second-hand books and related material.
Labyrinths and Mazes will be erected on the convention floors and plazas, for the visitors' enjoyment and entertainment.

International Movie Festival
The opening film, Serenity (US, 2005) by Joss Whedon (creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), is being shown as a special pre-release. Whedon's spectacular television program Firefly, canceled much too early, returns and this time to the big screen. The Serenity is an old space ship, belonging to Captain Reynolds. Reynolds is ex-army and a refugee from the losing side in an inter-galactic war. The Serentiy's crew lives from hand to mouth on the edges of the galaxy, in a place where law and order are only suggestions, and earn their keep while all the time trying to stay out of the radar of the galaxic government. The film is being shown by courtesy of the Globus Group.
http://www.serenitymovie.com
Trailers

Distributed Features

Casshern (Japan, 2004), a visual masterpiece combining live photography with different styles of animation, from anime to computer animation. The film is based on an anime film of the same name from 1973. A great war has ended, and Earth is sick and polluted. The geneticist, Dr. Azuma, works to create a cure that will make the body younger and will help renew the human race, but faces governmental objections. In order to complete his work, Dr. Azuma accepts an offer from a secret military organization. Due to an accident, mutants are released from Dr. Azuma's lab, and only the unbeaten hero named Cassheen can beat them and save the Earth. The film is being shown by courtesy of the Israeli distributors SolrisDV.
http://lime.gofishpictures.com/casshern
Free Enterprise (USA, 1998), Two Young filmmakers (Rafer Weigel, Eric McCormack) trying to hawk a movie meet their screen idol, William Shatner (appearing as himself). Shatner has fun poking at his own image. The two young men, who idolize him and in their fantasies have seen him as a shadowy fairy godfather figure, are alarmed at the reality of the middle-aged non-Captain Kirk man that they meet. However, their relationship helps anchor the two into reality. The movie is screened with the courtesy of its creators, Robert Burnett and Mike Altman.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0141105/
Trailer
Primer (USA, 2004), Winner of the grand jury prize at Sundance 2004. Primer tells the story of four engineers and part-time entrepreneurs in the modern-day US, who stumble about a creation that would change their lives completely. Their trust in each other is strained when they are faced with the question, if you always want what you can't have, what do you want when you can have anything? The Movie is screened with the courtesy of its creator, Shane Caruth, and Omer Manor from Yasmin-TV.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0390384/
Trailer
Robot Stories (USA, 2003), Winner of 23 prizes, among them the grand jury of the slamdance festival. Four Humane stories dealing with the near future and a world populated by robots alongside humans. The Movie is screened with the courtesy of its creators, Greg Pak and Karin Chien.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0301777/
Trailer
G.O.R.A (Turkey, 2004), The most expensive and effect-laden Turkish movie ever-made is bizarre parody of Hollywood-style SF blockbusters, such as "Star Wars" and "The Matrix". The Movie is screened with the courtesy of Kirol Akbaba from the BKM production company.
www.gorafilm.com/_eng/
Gamerz (UK, 2005), an independently produced romantic comedy with a strong fantasy twist. The tale is set in the strange, tormented world of a group of kids who are deeply into fantasy roleplaying games. The hero is Ralph, the Game Keeper, a geeky genius who builds imaginary worlds. But he has a fatal weakness for Marlyn, the sexy goth girl who thinks she's an elf – and she's not alone in thinking that. The group is joined by Lenny, an ex-drugs dealer and a religious fanatic who gained enlightenment after watching all of the Lord of the Rings movies, and this only complicates matters. The movie is screened with the courtesy of Pure Magic Films and was first shown at the last Worldcon, held in Glasgow.
http://www.gamerz-the-movie.com/
Trailer
A Wicked Tale (Singapore, 2005), A short film (45 minutes) which combines different photgraphy techniques. It is a thrilling and erotic take on the classic Red Riding Hood story. The film is shown with the courtesy of it's creator, Tzang Merwyn Tong and INRI studios as a cooperation with the Fantasy Worldwide festival.
http://www.inristudio.com/wicked
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (Spain, 2005), a science fiction movie that takes place in the not distant future in Paris. Europe is ruled by a mysterious order of women. The heroine joins the order, but her ties to a man come in conflict to the beliefs of the order. The film is being shown with the courtesy of it's creators and as a cooperation with the Fantasy Worldwide festival.
33 x Around the Sun (UK, 2005), An indenpendant British film, which is a modern freestyle version of the classic myth of Orpheus and Euridice. The hero wakes up in an abandoned hospital and goes to find his home. In the atmosphere of a nightmare, the hero meets strange people and creatures and tries to understand what has happened to him. The film is being shown with the courtesy of the producer, Darren Shlesinger and as a cooperation with the Fantasy Worldwide festival.

Documentaries

Six Days in Roswell (USA, 1998), a look at the myth and industry surrounding Roswell, a small town in the state of New Mexico that turned into a Mecca for believers in alien crash-sites, abductions and conspiracy theories. The Movie is screened with the courtesy of its creator, director of Trekkies and Trekkies 2, Roger Nygard.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0177227/
Trailer
Fairies and other Tales (Germany - Iceland, 2004), the creator of the movie goes searching around Iceland in a quest to find elves, fairies and other fantastic and mythical creatures.
Frazetta: Painting with Fire, a documentary on the art-work of fantasy artist Frank Frazetta.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0363621/
Trailer
Uber Goober (US, 2005), a documentary picture that explores the world of gamers: the tabletop gamers, the live gamers ("LARPers") and those who play with miniatures - from the munchkins to the character actors. This film will give you a chance to meet the gamers, to learn their exotic language, to see strange texts and historic costumes, and may make you want to play the plethora of games at the festival.
http://ww.ubergoobermovie.com

Anime Movies

The Nightmare Before Christmas (USA, 1993), By Tim Burton
The king of Holloween town is bored by the usual goings on in the towm. One day, he visits Chrostmas town, gets excited about it and it's atmosphere and decides that Holloween town should celebrate Christmas as well. This decision has destructive implications... An enchanting and dark fantasy by the reknown director Tim Burton.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0107688/
Trailer
The Place Promised in Our Early Days (Japan 2004), the most talked about anime movie of 2004 by up and coming anime director Makoto Shinkai tells the story of a 1996 Japan in a different reality, one that had a slightly different ending to WW2. The moive is screened with the courtest of Kazuki Sunami from CoMix Wave Films.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0381348/ www.kumonomukou.com/top.html
Windaria, a classic anime picture from the 80s. A war between two states threatens to destroy a beautiful valley. In an effort to save his home, Alan agrees to be a message carrier, in order to prevent the terrible destruction.

Live shows and original productions

Once More With Feeling, a stage show in Hebrew of the famous "Buffy-The Musical" episode from the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" television show. This episode, which was nominated for an Emmy, has developed a cult following and a wide range of fans, and has been used as a base for many and different showings around the world, including in Israel. The musical is being shown with the courtesy of the Technion Cell for Science Fiction and Fantasy by the Bitcast - a cast of amateur actors made up mostly of fans of the show. The Bitcast production is being shown for the first time in Israel as a full musical, including song, dance, acting, all live, without playback and in Hebrew. After the show, there will be a meeting with the cast. Tickets will be sold starting on September 4th, there are limited places and it is advisable to order tickets in advance. For further details, go to http://www.icon.org.il/Musical.htm
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, what more can we say about it? Pointless, plotless, amoral, destructive, and in a word - terrible. With that, it has created a huge following. The showing will be accompanied by cast members on stage, and has become a tradition of the festival
Magic on Wheels, an original stage production which allows the audience to decide what happens on stage. Come change the ending of the play. No one knows how it will end ... Directed by Michael Gorodin, produced by Adi Yogev, and witha a cast taken from fandom across the country.
The Plantir, Are there not enough orcs and trolls in your life? Are you missing a blond elf? A rugged ranger? Or do you just love hobbits? Whatever the answer, this night wil not be soon forgotten... The Plantir is an amateur production, a wild parody of Lord of the Rings, taking much of it's influence from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

TV series

Lectures, discussions, debates and panels alongside screenings of various episodes from different genre TV series: the entire scope of Star Trek, Babylon 5, Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel, Farscape, The X-Files etc…
Anime: Paranoia Agent, the dark, sinister and talked-about anime series of 2004, where different fates of modern-day Japan are portrayed each episode. The first 4 episodes would be screened alongside an overview of the series in a late-screening. The series is screened with the courtest of Geneon Entertainment.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0433722/
wwww.paranoiaagent.com
Trailer
New Genre Hits on the screen: the Re-imagined Battlestar Galactica; the Re-imagined Doctor Who; the 4400 etc. A lecture pertaining to the series would be given alongside the pilot episode or other significant episode from the first season.
A Firefly marathon, the classic television series by Joss Whedon (creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") return to ICon. All through the three nights, the entire 13 episodes of the show will be shown as a marathon. You are invited to join the crew of the Serenity in their adventures, and to enjoy an additional piece of Joss Whedon's creative world in a community showing along with other fans.

Role-playing

The nearby "Ironi-Alef" high-school complex will be transformed into a gushing and storming metroplex of role-playing of all shapes and sizes, all genres and techniques.
Live-action role-playing would be part of the scenery of every open-spaced section of the Icon complex.
"The Kingdom" section of Icon is intended to acquaint younger children to the world of role-playing and acquaint parents to the imaginative realm of their children.

Lectures and Panels

Esoteric and Hermetic Orders / Dr. Raz Dekel
The Asimov Legacy / Prof. Yoran Kirsch, Head of Physics at the Open University
Intelligence and security services in SF - main motifs and seeds of inspiration / Tal Inbar
A panel dealing with writing original fiction in Israel, led by Lavi Tidhar (an Israeli genre author) and with the participation of Vered Tuchterman (Israeli genre author and editor of Chalomot beAspamia), Guy Chasson (Israeli genre author) and Nir Yaniv (a writer in Meimad HaAsiri, Chalomot beAspamia and webmaster for the Aguda's website).
Lectures and overviews on various comics and animation issues by Okay: The Israeli comics fan club.
Archeological illusions and forgeries / Yael Abadi
Transformers… Living among Us / Hilik Haimovitch
Conspiracies at the heart of "The X-Files" / Gilly Shecter
females in The anime world / Raz Greenberg
Urban legends / Ran Arad
Real Illusions in history and culture / Michael Gorodin
Crime in science fiction / Guy Becker
Vampires and Vampirism: Myth and Reality / Roey Tzezna
Intelligence and security services in SF – main motifs and seeds of inspiration / Tal Inbar

Workshops and Other activities

Lectures and overviews for "Beginners": activities that provide the general public with the place to start their journey though all the worlds of illusion and imagination hosted at Icon: SF literature, TV and film, comics, anime, role-playing, astronomy and more. Some workshops are intended specifically for children, while others are intended for a more mature audience. Some are even designated for parents who would like to better understand their child's world and hobbies.
Creative Workshops: Model and miniature building, comics and animation drawing, costuming and make-up, live-action role-playing and much more.
Writing, Editing and translation workshops: Intended to encourage original Israeli writing in the SF genre.
The Eshkol Payis building will also house an inflatable planetarium, where there will be workshops to get to know the night sky and space, with the courtesy of the National Museum of Science, Technology and Space in Haifa