The AntiFan Films

While most Australian fans have heard of the AntiFan films, very few fans had the opportunity to see them from the middle of the nineteen eighties until quite recently. This was because the location of the original 16mm films was unknown and there were few copies available in any format in Australia.

Thanks to America fan jan howard finder (aka The Wombat) and Victorian Science Fiction Conventions, Incorporated, the AntiFan films were repatriated to Australia in 2000. Since 2001, the original 16mm films have been held by ScreenSound Australia at the National Screen and Sound Archive in Canberra.

Thanks to ScreenSound Australia, VSFC has a master copy of the AntiFan films in Digital Betacam format. Digital Betacam is a production quality video format from which copies in other media, such as VHS or Video CD, can be made. Eighteen VHS copies of the AntiFan films were made in 2001 and sold at cost to fans in Australia and the United States. Copies of the AntiFan films were made available in DVD format in 2005 and a small number of copies in both DVD and VHS formats are still available.

Although the two films are generally referred to as the AntiFan films, the title of the first AntiFan film was actually Aussie Fan. It was made in Melbourne in 1972 to publicize the Australian bid to host the 1975 World Science Fiction Convention (or Worldcon). Aussie Fan premiered in Sydney in August 1972 at Syncon 72. The 16mm print was then flown to the United States and shown at LACon 72, the 1972 Worldcon. Between LACon 72 and Torcon 2, the 1973 Worldcon in Toronto, Canada, that would decide the location of the 1975 Worldcon, Aussie Fan was shown at conventions across North America. The Australia in 1975 bid succeeded at Torcon 2 and Aussiecon, the first Australian Worldcon, was held in Melbourne in 1975.

The second AntiFan film was made in Sydney in 1980. Called The Anti-Fan Strikes Back, it was made to publicize the Australian bid to host the 1983 Worldcon in Sydney. The Anti-Fan Strikes Back also premiered in Sydney, at Syncon 80, before going on to conventions in North America. The Australia in 1983 bid was unsuccessful but Australia ultimately hosted a second Worldcon, Aussiecon Two, in Melbourne in 1985.

Email Mark Loney if you are interested in obtaining your own VHS or DVD copy of the AntiFan films.

ScreenSound Australia - www.screensound.gov.au
Catalogue Numbers in the National Screen and Sound Archive:
Aussie Fan - Cover Title No. 482835
The Anti-Fan Strikes Back - Cover Title No. 482045
(see also 491006, 491007, 491008)

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