A bit of film trivia has resurfaced on Twitter today after a user singled out a particular flag from the 1997 sci-fi horror film Event Horizon.
Event Horizon follows a crew of astronauts in the year 2047, who are sent on a rescue mission after a missing starship, the Event Horizon, suddenly reappears in orbit after seven suss years in deep space.
What could go wrong???
Honorary Australian Sam Neill starred in the film alongside Laurence Fishburne, Kathleen Quinlan, Richard T. Jones, and Jason Isaacs.
According to a Sydney Morning Herald article from 1997, the film’s director – Paul W.S. Anderson – encouraged actors to wear the flags of their characters’ countries on their uniform.
Neill, a Kiwi, played an Australian in the film. But instead of just using the Aussie flag of the past and present, Neill had it changed to what he believed it should look like in 2047.
For his version, the Aboriginal flag replaced the Union Jack in the upper-left corner.
The film trivia popped up on Twitter on Wednesday after user @Jayfuz shared it.
Today I learnt:
For the Sci-Fi Horror film ‘Event Horizon’ Sam Neill requested that the Australian flag on his character’s uniform remove the Union Flag from the corner & for it to be replacedwith the Aboriginal flag, the way he thought it should look in 2047. pic.twitter.com/S9L83aQKic
— Jayfuz (🗣️Rufus, but Jay) 🏴 (@Jayfuz) September 1, 2020
This wasn’t the only change to flags in the film, though. The United States flag can be spotted with 55 stars on it, instead of 50. Another flag, pictured below, sort of looks like the EU one, which was supposed to represent a united Europe.
Joey Richardson in Event Horizon.
Event Horizon is available to stream on Netflix Australia. It’s also being turned into a TV series by Paramount, and set to premiere on Amazon Prime at some point in the future.
The Aboriginal flag has been the centre of headlines over the past few weeks, and for good reason too. WAM Clothing, a non-Indigenous company, holds the exclusive worldwide licensing agreement to use the Aboriginal flag on clothing, and has issued multiple infringement notices to sporting codes and Aboriginal businesses that use the flag on apparel. The company was founded in 2018.
Clothing The Gap, an Aboriginal-owned social enterprise and clothing label, is leading the campaign to Free The Flag. Clothing The Gap were handed a cease and desist notice from WAM Clothing last June for using the Aboriginal flag on merchandise and were given three business days to sell all flag stock.
You can read more about Clothing The Gap’s work to free the flag, right HERE.
