Science + Cinema
The Science + Cinema initiative serves to highlight the intersection between film and science as a device for wide dissemination of scientific knowledge and to promote collaboration between film makers and scientists. Movies have helped change the way people view social issues, inspired people in their choice of a profession, helped us understand our rapidly changing world and sparked political reform. We think it’s time to move science and technology into the mainstream of our culture, to the point where we care about scientific breakthroughs almost as much as the outcome of a football game. Movies can help make that happen.
Initiative Programs
Food Evolution
Join C2ST and 2Blades for a film screening of the provocative documentary, FOOD EVOLUTION, followed by a discussion with a panel of experts in food technology, farming, and policy, including the director of the film, Scott Hamilton Kennedy.
Film Screening: Rise of the Warrior Apes
This event is a screening of the award-winning documentary Rise of the Warrior Apes, featuring a question and answer session with collaborating scientist Dr. John Mitani.
“Filmed over 23 years, Rise of the Warrior Apes tells the epic story of an extraordinary troop of chimpanzees in Ngogo, Uganda – featuring four mighty warriors who rule through moral ambiguity, questionable politics, strategic alliances, and destroyed trust. Continue reading “Film Screening: Rise of the Warrior Apes”
Science in Film: Lessons from the Movie Armageddon
The film Armageddon is fiction; it suggests that humanity was in mortal danger until heroic actions saved us. Did you know that there are people who observe and secure improved orbits for near-Earth asteroids EVERY DAY? Their efforts have eliminated the chances of an extinction-level asteroid impact with Earth over the next 100 years or so. Did the film spur action that helped achieve this incredible decrease in risk? Was this due to increased public consciousness of the risk? Continue reading “Science in Film: Lessons from the Movie Armageddon”
Urban Nature: Behind the Scenes
C2ST is pleased to present this event as part of our Science + Cinema initiative.
We go behind-the-scenes of the WTTW series Urban Nature with its producer and host, as well as one of the scientists featured in a segment filmed right here in Chicago.
American Denial
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY CINEMA AND ITVS.
Follow the story of foreign researcher and Nobel Laureate Gunnar Myrdal whose study, An American Dilemma (1944), provided a provocative inquiry into the dissonance between stated beliefs as a society and what is perpetuated and allowed in the name of those beliefs. Continue reading “American Denial”
Science + Cinema: New Screen Frontiers
From sci-fi to computer simulated graphics to mind-expanding documentaries, science and film have always gravitated toward one another.
Community Cinema Showcases ‘Makers: Women In Space’
Community Cinema, presented by WTTW and ITVS in partnership with Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, is excited to offer an advance screening of MAKERS: Women In Space, tracing the history of women pioneers in the space program and featuring the next generation of women engineers, scientists, mathematicians and astronauts.
Continue reading “Community Cinema Showcases ‘Makers: Women In Space’”
Cinema Slapdown Round 53: Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity
Is Gravity a realistic view of the hazards of intergalactic travel, or just a reboot of old movie serials with weightlessness thrown in? Is it an examination of solitude and the human need to connect with others, or a soporific woman’s weepie about the pains of unfulfilled motherhood? Gravitas or grasping for meaning?
Continue reading “Cinema Slapdown Round 53: Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity”