"Les Maîtres du temps (1982) is a landmark of French animation, an uncompromising piece of adult science fiction that broke away from the domestic industry’s youth-oriented norms. Adapted from Stefan Wul and visually engineered by Moebius, the film builds a sharp, stripped-down universe where narrative tension and graphic precision carry the entire dramatic weight.
Its director, René Laloux, stands at the core of this achievement. He emerged from the same creative ecosystem that reshaped European SF, collaborating first with Roland Topor, icon of Hara-Kiri, and later with Moebius, whose work in Métal Hurlant defined a new visual grammar for futuristic worlds. The influence of Métal Hurlant radiated far beyond France. Moebius’s designs shaped Ridley Scott’s Alien, fed early concepts for Tron, and impacted creators from George Lucas to Katsuhiro Otomo.
Les Maîtres du temps sits in that lineage. Laloux’s films grew directly out of this avant-garde network, where illustration, comics, and experimental animation fed into each other with rare intensity. The film remains strikingly contemporary with a minimalist storytelling, a moral opacity and a bold world-building. Its visual DNA still echoes across cinema, comics, and games, and its thematic clarity keeps it relevant.
If you’ve never seen it, this screening is the perfect entry point. A rare chance to experience a foundational work of French animated SF, still razor-sharp, still visionary, still ahead of its time."
Door: 18:00
Uus Laine • Vana-Kalamaja tänav 1, 10412 Tallinn, Harju maakond, Eesti
