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Science on Screen

Ongoing

Science on Screen is an ongoing film series, started in 2017, that combines special screenings and conversations with scientists and filmmakers to offer new perspectives on film and scientific subject matter. The selection spans the silent era to new releases, including shorts, documentaries, and features. The series has presented the work of such filmmakers as Isabella Rossellini, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Barbara Hammer, and Alex Rivera, who have discussed topics including marine ecosystems, reproductive biology, epidemiology, and artificial intelligence with scientists such as Fabien Cousteau, Suresh Venkatasubramanian, and Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello.  

Science on Screen also presents a selection of films at MoMI’s annual First Look Festival, which has included the North American Premiere of Sasha Litvintseva and Beny Wagner’s Constant, Jenny Perlin’s Bunker, Terra Long’s Feet in Water, Head on Fire, and more.  

Thematic seasons of Science on Screen have included “Proceed with Caution, showcasing films and speakers focused on public health; “Outer Space Speculators,” which featured films from as early as 1925 set in outer space but grounded in scientific research of their time; and “Extinction and Otherwise,” with scripted and non-scripted films that depict extinction, survival, and life as it might be. 

Science on Screen is organized by Sonia Epstein, Curator of Science & Technology and Executive Editor, Sloan Science & Film.  

Made possible with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 

 

 

Past Films in Series

still from an animated film that shows a pink elephant-like creature next to two other cartoonish girl characters
still from an animated film that shows a pink elephant-like creature next to two other cartoonish girl characters
still from an animated film that shows a pink elephant-like creature next to two other cartoonish girl characters
Twin brothers sit at a restaurant—one with a red tie, one with a black tie—with a woman between them, all looking at camera.
In a kitchen, an older chef reaches across a plate in front of a younger chef, whom he is instructing.
A young man in glasses sits before a chess board and an old fashioned desktop computer in a black and white image
Close-up of a hairy underwater amoeba in black and white
Close-up of a hairy underwater amoeba in black and white
A nun stands in an empty medical facility looking at salamander cages
a mountain wth a blue shawled figure in the foreground
A red light flare streaks across a green woods against a blue sky
Images from animated films, on the left a white haired female character looks around at a fantastical green world; on the right, two sad stick figures in white stand against a blank black background
Horses stand in a windswept field, the sea in the distance
A man crouches on the ground with a gun, surrounded by men in uniform
A faded photograph of an owl looking at camera, surrounded by leaves
A fantasy spiral effect of an outdoor scene of two men in a green forest
A young boy holds a butterfly on his arm
Visual representations of HAL 9000 computer from 2001, and the voice from the movie Her.
A blonde mother hugging her ponytailed daughter and both smiling