It's the 40^th anniversary of Alien. It's the year in which Harrison Ford hunts down a fugitive group of synthetic humans as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner. And it's also the 20^th anniversary of The Matrix.

It's the latter which is bringing Andrew Mason to Canberra.

The executive producer on the now iconic movie will be at the National Film and Sound Archive on Saturday for a Q&A to mark the anniversary and to celebrate the many Australians who crafted this landmark film, which was shot mostly in Sydney.

In fact, according to Mason, if The Matrix had been shot in any other part of the world, it wouldn't have been the same film we know today.

"If it had not been made in Australia it would not have had the kind of attitude that the film had," he says.

"If it had been made in Los Angeles or New York ... then a whole lot more people [from the studio] might have taken a closer look. As it was the studio was kind of happy for it to be going on at a distance.

"They gave the Wachowskis [directors and writers Lilly and Lana] a level of freedom that would not have been possible anywhere else and you can see that feeling in the film. I think that kind of independent spirit of the film is a great deal of what made it so attractive to everybody."

The film proved to be highly influential. As Mason points out, many Australians received Oscars for their work on it, and many more went on to have successful careers over the next two decades, kicked along by their work on The Matrix.

And then there was the film itself. It was energetic, action-packed, smart and featured such a visually recognisable style that The Matrix is still frequently referenced in popular culture.

Plus, it was the movie which gave the visual effect Bullet Time its name.

"That technique had been seen in all sorts of things [before The Matrix] ... but no one had actually managed to put it in a feature film," Mason says.

"And the way they put it into a feature film, it wasn't just a cute shot - it was a perfect illustration of a plot point.

"If you have something where the film technique itself is a really important part of the conveying of an important story point, then that moment will really stick with people."

The Q&A - which follows a showing of The Matrix - launches the National Film and Sound Archive's Spectacular Sci-Fi season, which sees Alien, The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Blade Runner: The Final Cut on the big screen at Arc Cinema.