Given the current recommendation to stay home and practice social distancing, we at the Chicago International Film Festival are looking at past selections from each year of the Festival that you can stream now from home. Stream our past selections as we look forward to the 56th Chicago International Film Festival this October 14-25, 2020. Find the full 56 Films for 56 Years selections here.

Today’s #56Films entry comes from the 8th Chicago International Film Festival in 1972 and is recommended by programmer Sam Flancher. Legendary filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris is an essential, enduring work and a space epic unlike any other.

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SOLARIS

Directors: Andrei Tarkovsky
8th Chicago International Film Festival

A landmark piece of science fiction and cinema, legendary director Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris is a space epic unlike any other. When a small crew of scientists orbiting the distant planet Solaris fall into mysterious, unexplainable emotional crisis, a psychologist is dispatched from Earth to investigate. Sent to rescue the crew and ultimately shut the mission down, he encounters trouble when he becomes afflicted by the elusive phenomenon. An elemental, cosmic spectacle of indescribable proportion, Solaris turns toward the cosmos as it voyages into the murky recesses of human consciousness and spirituality. An essential, enduring work that stands as one of the greatest films ever made. – Sam Flancher, Programmer

Streaming Details:
Solaris is streaming now on The Criterion Channel or available for digital rental.