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Space

Understated sci-fi drama traverses themes of immigration and identity

Moin Hussain's debut feature film Sky Peals sees a man discover his father may be from outer space. Part sci-fi, part family drama, part coming-of-age tale, it is odd and otherworldly

By Miriam Balanescu

16 October 2024

HANDOUT:.. Adam (Faraz Ayub) in Moin Hussain's SKY PEALS

Umer (Faraz Ayub) wonders if he is not of this world

Lisa Stonehouse/Escape Films

Sky Peals
Moin Hussain
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In film and TV, aliens have come in all shapes and sizes. Among them are the seven-limbed floating heptapods of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival and, much less ethereal, Adam Sandler’s talking arachnoid companion in Spaceman. Thanks to the Alien franchise alone onscreen extraterrestrials gained an additional two dozen guises.

It is slightly more unusual for them to assume human form, as is the case in…

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