Science Geeks Unite!
TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund program manager Erin Hildebrand picks some science- and technology-related must-see films and upcoming events in New York City for the month of October. Get your calendars out and keep those inner geeks in you busy and entertained!
For those who love science, technology and cinema, October in New York is rife with opportunities to celebrate their intersection. Having abandoned a career in microbiology and medicine for film, it’s shaping up to be my kind of month in and around the City.
Today kicks off October with the opening of David Fincher’s The Social Network. The long anticipated, much buzzed about film premiered last week at the New York Film Festival. The TFI Sloan team was lucky enough to attend an early screening and think it lives up to the hype – and definitely cements Fincher as a chameleon of a director. Jesse Eisenberg nails it as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Rare is a character so unlikeable who, likewise, manages to inspire sympathy – but that is exactly the effect Eisenberg’s Mark has on his audience. While the film focuses more upon conflicts between Zuckerberg and partner Eduardo Saverin (the ridiculously talented Andrew Garfield of Red Riding) and his legal battle with the Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer), the technology behind Facebook is nonetheless at the core of the issue. Justin Timberlake, Rashida Jones, and Max Minghella round out the cast. Stylish, with pitch-perfect dialogue from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, and an energetic, moody score by Trent Reznor, The Social Network gets my vote as the film to catch this weekend. (Don't forget to check out our conversation with Dana Brunetti, one of the producers of The Social Network and of the 2010 TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund grantee, Midnight Sun!)
On Wednesday, October 6, catch Powers of Tenat the City University of New York Graduate Center,in celebration of 10/10/10. The documentary short by Charles and Ray Eames, whose telling original title was has influenced cinema from the opening scene of to the final frames of Men In Black. A discussion with architectural historian Beatriz Colomina, scientific historian D. Graham Burnett and the Eames’s grandson, filmmaker Eames Demetrios, will follow.
Next weekend, the TFI Sloan team is heading to the Hamptons International Film Festival (October 7 - 11), where I can’t wait to check out the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize Winner, Beneath Hill 60, and the Sloan Screenplay Readings highlighting two winning screenplays: Tube Wars and Bystander. Jeremy Sim’s Beneath Hill 60 tells “the true story of Australian mining engineers instrumental in changing the course of World War I,” and the panel following the screening on Friday, October 8 will feature engineering technology historians in addition to the film’s writer and producer. The scripts to be highlighted at the Readings demonstrate just how diverse stories featuring science and technology can be: Tube Wars, by Todd Krainin, tells the true story of TV inventor Philo Farnsworth and his struggle against RCA chairman David Sarnoff, and Robert Cohen’s explores the aftermath of a grisly rape and murder as a psychological researcher studies why 38 witnesses did nothing to intervene.
Mid-month, I’ll be back in the city, attending the Imagine Science Film Festival (October 15 - 22). Since Imagine’s mission to “showcase films that effectively incorporate science into a compelling narrative while maintaining credible scientific groundings” echoes our own, you bet I’m looking forward to it. Amongst the great lineup is the sweet short which I saw at Toronto, and a panel discussion following a special screening of Creation. I’m particularly looking forward to the filmmaker reception and to the closing night at Tribeca Cinemas!
Closing out the month is the CUNY Science & Arts Conference: Communicating Science to the Public Through the Performing Arts (October 29 - 30). With invited speakers include Columbia University’s Stuart Firestein and Science & Film expert Sidney Perkowitz, it should be an illuminating and engaging conference not to be missed.
Next time we’ll take a look at stories in science - why there aren't more of them on screen, where to find them, and more…
October 1 The Social Network in Theatres! http://www.thesocialnetwork-movie.com/
Powers of Ten http://web.gc.cuny.edu/sciart/Events/index.htm#2
October 7 - 11 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at the Hamptons International Film Festival http://hamptonsfilmfest.org/special-programs/alfred-p-sloan/
October 15 - 22 Imagine Science Film Festival http://imaginesciencefilms.com/festival/
October 29 - 30 CUNY Graduate Center Science & Arts Conference http://www.sciartconference2010.com/
Photo Credit: Powers of 10 Website
