A Swedish Film Festival Is Screening a Sci-Fi Film from Inside Sealed Coffins

There will be no reclining seats or super-sized cupholders at screenings of Aniara at the Göteborg Film Festival in Sweden. Instead of maximizing comfort, the showing is designed to intentionally put viewers on edge by locking them in a coffin for the duration of the film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The so-called "sarcophagus screenings" are one of the less conventional events on the program for the 2019 festival. For 33 showings of Aniara, eight moviegoers at a time will be led to special coffins with screens and speakers built in. The boxes will also come with air vents and panic buttons in case viewers want to bail out before the credits roll.

Aniara, based on the Harry Martinson poem of the same name, is a Swedish-language sci-fi movie about a spaceship that is knocked off course on its way to Mars while fleeing the apocalypse on Earth. The festival staff collaborated with the directors Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja to create a viewing experience that enhances the sense of isolation and claustrophobia portrayed in the film.

The Göteborg Film Festival won't be the first group to mix live interment with entertainment. During the 2018 Halloween season, Six Flags St. Louis invited guests to spend 30 hours in a coffin in exchange for season passes. This time around, viewers just have to make it through Aniara's 106-minute runtime.

The sarcophagus screenings kick off with the Göteborg festival premiere of Aniara on January 27, and will continue through the end of the month.