Proxima is the second feature length movie by independent Spanish film maker Carlos Atanes. Both Proxima and his first film, FAQ (2004), have done the rounds of the independent film festivals and garnered much praise and many awards. Filmed in digital video HDV these are small-budget movies, but don't be put off by that: Atanes’ writing more than makes up for the limitations and constraints imposed by a small budget. Science fiction is the genre of ideas, but increasingly it is to independent film makers such as Atanes that we must turn for novelty and intelligence (and if any better proof were needed for this, you couldn't go past Shyamalan's latest and most abysmal offering, The Happening, which is utterly devoid of novelty and intelligence in spite of its large budget!).

We were fortunate to get hold of a review copy of this movie last year - if you didn't get to see it at one of the festivals, the good news is that it's now available on DVD (Region 0, PAL or NTSC) and can be purchased directly from the Proxima website. The DVD includes a 52 minute making of documentary.

You can read our review of Proxima here.