When the Apollo astronauts made their "one small step" in 1969, the collective understanding of space travel shifted -- science fiction morphed to become science fact. Cinema quickly absorbed the change in perception and the '70s produced a glut of space travel films. With the achieved reality of Apollo, gone were ray guns, little green men and threats to Man, replaced by films exploring the dawning realisation of the vast distances and isolation of space -- and the relative insignificance of humans.

As the BFI highlights the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society, a month of Future Human films includes a selection exploring the role of space travel on man's psyche. Douglas Trumbull, who was involved in both 2001: A Space Odyssey (which is being screened in Kubrick's own 70mm restoration on 1, 18 and 21/07) and The Andromeda Strain, also created Silent Running (17 and 30/07), in which has Bruce Dern slowly succumb to madness in a struggle to maintain the orbiting biosphere "ark" containing the earth's remaining plant life. Tarkovsky's Solaris (19, 22 and 25/07), meanwhile, remains the apex of space travel's isolating effect on man. Conversely, Nic Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth (30 and 31/07) turns the tables, examining the effect that Earth exerts on the psyche of David Bowie's lonely alien visitor.

NB: the Future Human Part I season runs till 31/07 and Future Human Part II runs till 31/08. Both seasons include films, Q&As and panel events.