Thursday, November 8
Opening Night Feature | The End of Time
8 PM | Museum of the Moving Image
US PREMIERE
A unique take on the elusive subject of time and the limits of what can be expressed, The End of Time is an explorative journey from the particle accelerator at the CERN in Geneva, where scientists seek to probe regions of time we cannot see, to the lava flows in Hawaii which have overwhelmed all but one home on the south side of the Big Island, from the disintegration of inner city Detroit, to a Hindu funeral rite near the place of Buddha's enlightenment.
The End of Time
Preceded by:
The Present
Followed by:
Conversation between Director of The End of Time, Peter Mettler and Chief Curator of the Museum of the Moving Image, David Schwartz.
"Peter Mettler is an incomparable talent in Canadian cinema. The innovation and audacity of his work, his dedication to the cinematic art form, and his ability to conjure up images that remain permanently etched in one's mind, secures his place as one of this country's most distinguished contemporary filmmakers." From Piers Handling, Director of the Toronto International Film Festival Mettler is known for a diversity of work in image and sound mediums – foremost for his films such as "Picture of Light" and "Gambling, Gods and LSD" but also as a photographer and groundbreaking live audio/visual mixing performer. His work bridges the gap between experimental, narrative, personal essay, and documentary. He has collaborated with an extensive range of international artists and has been honored with awards and retrospectives worldwide. Mettler will talk about his latest film "The End of Time" which will have its US Premiere at the 5th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival. A freewheeling investigation into the nature of time becomes merely the jumping-off point for this high-minded documentary from the experimental filmmaker, visual artist and cinematographer Peter Mettler. Any sense of narrative momentum or intellectual focus quickly unravels as the film evolves into an almost wordless symphony of disconnected images, sounds and music. But the nature-heavy montages are mostly beautiful and bizarre enough to excuse the film's pretentious excesses.
8 PM | Museum of the Moving Image
US PREMIERE
A unique take on the elusive subject of time and the limits of what can be expressed, The End of Time is an explorative journey from the particle accelerator at the CERN in Geneva, where scientists seek to probe regions of time we cannot see, to the lava flows in Hawaii which have overwhelmed all but one home on the south side of the Big Island, from the disintegration of inner city Detroit, to a Hindu funeral rite near the place of Buddha's enlightenment.
The End of Time
Preceded by:
The Present
Followed by:
Conversation between Director of The End of Time, Peter Mettler and Chief Curator of the Museum of the Moving Image, David Schwartz.
"Peter Mettler is an incomparable talent in Canadian cinema. The innovation and audacity of his work, his dedication to the cinematic art form, and his ability to conjure up images that remain permanently etched in one's mind, secures his place as one of this country's most distinguished contemporary filmmakers." From Piers Handling, Director of the Toronto International Film Festival Mettler is known for a diversity of work in image and sound mediums – foremost for his films such as "Picture of Light" and "Gambling, Gods and LSD" but also as a photographer and groundbreaking live audio/visual mixing performer. His work bridges the gap between experimental, narrative, personal essay, and documentary. He has collaborated with an extensive range of international artists and has been honored with awards and retrospectives worldwide. Mettler will talk about his latest film "The End of Time" which will have its US Premiere at the 5th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival. A freewheeling investigation into the nature of time becomes merely the jumping-off point for this high-minded documentary from the experimental filmmaker, visual artist and cinematographer Peter Mettler. Any sense of narrative momentum or intellectual focus quickly unravels as the film evolves into an almost wordless symphony of disconnected images, sounds and music. But the nature-heavy montages are mostly beautiful and bizarre enough to excuse the film's pretentious excesses.
Friday, November 9
Panel | The Strange Science of Sleep and Dreams
In collaboration with NYAS' Science and the City and Center for Inquiry.
—DREAMACHINE INTRODUCTION—
A simple flicker machine. You look at it with your eyes shut and the flicker plays over your eyelids. Visions start with a kaleidoscope of colors on a plane in front of the eyes and gradually become more complex and beautiful, breaking like surf on a shore until whole patterns of color are pounding to get in. After awhile the visions were permanently behind my eyelids and I was in the middle of the whole scene with limitless patterns being generated around me. There was an almost unbearable feeling of spatial movement for a while but It was well worth getting through for I found that when it stopped I was high above the earth in a universal blaze of glory. Afterwards I found that my perception of the world around me had increased very notably. All conceptions of being dragged or tired had dropped away…" Brian Gyosin
PANEL:
With NYAS' Science and the City program, the 5th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival presents a panel that will unveil the inner dream world of the subconscious. What is the mind doing while we sleep and what do animals dream about?
With stellar scientists, filmmakers and science communicators, we will explore a melange of fiction and non-fiction narratives addressing this topic. The audience will experience a live demonstration of The Dream Machine, an early device created to simulate REM sleep and learn about the the most innovative brain imaging studies have transformed the way we define consciousness.
David Randall | Writer, Reporter
David K. Randall is senior reporter at Reuters and an adjunct professor at New York University. His new book is, "Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep." From people committing murder while supposedly sleepwalking, to what sleep was like in medieval times, Dreamland provides a lively overview of the world's most popular nocturnal pastime.
Alan Berliner | Filmmaker
Alan Berliner's uncanny ability to combine experimental cinema, artistic purpose, and popular appeal in compelling film essays has made him one of America's most acclaimed independent filmmakers. The New York Times has described Berliner's work as "powerful, compelling and bittersweet… full of juicy conflict and contradiction, innovative in their cinematic technique, unpredictable in their structures… Alan Berliner illustrates the power of fine art to transform life.
Berliner is known for making personal, reflective films that deconstruct everything from his family name to his inability to sleep at night. A film that balances the precision of a Swiss watch with the messiness of a restless mind, WIDE AWAKE is filmmaker Alan Berliner's uniquely personal tour through his life-long obsession with insomnia.
Matt Wilson | Neuroscientist
Matthew Wilson is Sherman Fairchild Professor of Neuroscience and Picower Scholar at MIT. His lab is interested in teasing apart the mechanisms of sleep and arousal, and applications of neuroscience in engineering and the study of intelligence. Wilson investigates brain systems that contribute to learning, memory, spatial navigation, and decision-making and their possible involvement in neurological diseases and disorders. By monitoring the coordinated activity of ensembles of large numbers of individual neurons during active behavior, sleep, and quiet wakefulness he identified a process of memory reactivation that reflected both the content and the temporal linkage of events that could constitute the basis of episodic memory. These events may reflect the animal equivalent of dreaming.
Erin Wamsley | Instructor in Psychiatry
Erin J. Wamsley, Ph.D., is an Instructor at Beth Israel Medical Center/Harvard Medical School in Boston, where she studies how the brain processes memories during sleep, as well as the relationship of sleep-dependent memory processing to dream experiences. Her current work explores how spatial memories are transformed during sleep, how emotion modulates sleep-dependent memory processing, and how recent experiences are expressed in dreams.
Moderated by: Tim McHenry | Director of Public Programs & Performance & Producer Brainwave Series, Rubin Art Museum
Tim McHenry, the program producer at New York City's Rubin Museum of Art, presents theater-going audiences with what the Huffington Post has called "some of the most original and inspired programs on the arts and consciousness in New York City." His public programs explore the wider implications of the museum's collection and art exhibitions through music, film, performance, and intimate conversation. To mark the exhibition and publication of psychiatrist C.G. Jung's Red Book, for example, McHenry put Jungian psychoanalysts on stage with the likes of Alice Walker, Sarah Silverman and David Byrne. He brought physicists together with Philip Glass, Charlie Kaufman, Laurie Anderson and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur to explore the universe in connection with an exhibition on the cosmos in 2010. He has invited great minds such as Oliver Sacks, Mike Nichols and Ken Burns to come to the museum to "talk about nothing."
The museum's popular series of Brainwave talks, which McHenry just produced for the fifth year in a row, has paired renowned neuroscientists such as Eric Kandel and Daniel Kahneman with the likes of Tom Wolfe, Lou Reed, Moby, Amy Tan and Paul Simon. McHenry has also organized art experiences that break the traditional mold, such as the Dream-Over—a sleepover at the museum for grown-ups—and an event that converted the whole building into an olfactory Memory Palace.
In collaboration with NYAS' Science and the City and Center for Inquiry.
—DREAMACHINE INTRODUCTION—
A simple flicker machine. You look at it with your eyes shut and the flicker plays over your eyelids. Visions start with a kaleidoscope of colors on a plane in front of the eyes and gradually become more complex and beautiful, breaking like surf on a shore until whole patterns of color are pounding to get in. After awhile the visions were permanently behind my eyelids and I was in the middle of the whole scene with limitless patterns being generated around me. There was an almost unbearable feeling of spatial movement for a while but It was well worth getting through for I found that when it stopped I was high above the earth in a universal blaze of glory. Afterwards I found that my perception of the world around me had increased very notably. All conceptions of being dragged or tired had dropped away…" Brian Gyosin
PANEL:
With NYAS' Science and the City program, the 5th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival presents a panel that will unveil the inner dream world of the subconscious. What is the mind doing while we sleep and what do animals dream about?
With stellar scientists, filmmakers and science communicators, we will explore a melange of fiction and non-fiction narratives addressing this topic. The audience will experience a live demonstration of The Dream Machine, an early device created to simulate REM sleep and learn about the the most innovative brain imaging studies have transformed the way we define consciousness.
David Randall | Writer, Reporter
David K. Randall is senior reporter at Reuters and an adjunct professor at New York University. His new book is, "Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep." From people committing murder while supposedly sleepwalking, to what sleep was like in medieval times, Dreamland provides a lively overview of the world's most popular nocturnal pastime.
Alan Berliner | Filmmaker
Alan Berliner's uncanny ability to combine experimental cinema, artistic purpose, and popular appeal in compelling film essays has made him one of America's most acclaimed independent filmmakers. The New York Times has described Berliner's work as "powerful, compelling and bittersweet… full of juicy conflict and contradiction, innovative in their cinematic technique, unpredictable in their structures… Alan Berliner illustrates the power of fine art to transform life.
Berliner is known for making personal, reflective films that deconstruct everything from his family name to his inability to sleep at night. A film that balances the precision of a Swiss watch with the messiness of a restless mind, WIDE AWAKE is filmmaker Alan Berliner's uniquely personal tour through his life-long obsession with insomnia.
Matt Wilson | Neuroscientist
Matthew Wilson is Sherman Fairchild Professor of Neuroscience and Picower Scholar at MIT. His lab is interested in teasing apart the mechanisms of sleep and arousal, and applications of neuroscience in engineering and the study of intelligence. Wilson investigates brain systems that contribute to learning, memory, spatial navigation, and decision-making and their possible involvement in neurological diseases and disorders. By monitoring the coordinated activity of ensembles of large numbers of individual neurons during active behavior, sleep, and quiet wakefulness he identified a process of memory reactivation that reflected both the content and the temporal linkage of events that could constitute the basis of episodic memory. These events may reflect the animal equivalent of dreaming.
Erin Wamsley | Instructor in Psychiatry
Erin J. Wamsley, Ph.D., is an Instructor at Beth Israel Medical Center/Harvard Medical School in Boston, where she studies how the brain processes memories during sleep, as well as the relationship of sleep-dependent memory processing to dream experiences. Her current work explores how spatial memories are transformed during sleep, how emotion modulates sleep-dependent memory processing, and how recent experiences are expressed in dreams.
Moderated by: Tim McHenry | Director of Public Programs & Performance & Producer Brainwave Series, Rubin Art Museum
Tim McHenry, the program producer at New York City's Rubin Museum of Art, presents theater-going audiences with what the Huffington Post has called "some of the most original and inspired programs on the arts and consciousness in New York City." His public programs explore the wider implications of the museum's collection and art exhibitions through music, film, performance, and intimate conversation. To mark the exhibition and publication of psychiatrist C.G. Jung's Red Book, for example, McHenry put Jungian psychoanalysts on stage with the likes of Alice Walker, Sarah Silverman and David Byrne. He brought physicists together with Philip Glass, Charlie Kaufman, Laurie Anderson and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur to explore the universe in connection with an exhibition on the cosmos in 2010. He has invited great minds such as Oliver Sacks, Mike Nichols and Ken Burns to come to the museum to "talk about nothing."
The museum's popular series of Brainwave talks, which McHenry just produced for the fifth year in a row, has paired renowned neuroscientists such as Eric Kandel and Daniel Kahneman with the likes of Tom Wolfe, Lou Reed, Moby, Amy Tan and Paul Simon. McHenry has also organized art experiences that break the traditional mold, such as the Dream-Over—a sleepover at the museum for grown-ups—and an event that converted the whole building into an olfactory Memory Palace.
Saturday, November 10
Short Film Program | Science for Nanos
1 PM | New York Hall of Science
Visually provocative, this mixed program of short films investigate the role of the experimenter, including unseen footage created by scientists in laboratories and animations from around the world.
Short Film Program:
23 degrees, 5 minutes
Animation for Nanos
Avril 14th
Burt Talks to the Bees: Worker Bees
Cependant les instants etaient precieux
Cholesterol: Friend Before Foe
Colin Talks About Elephants
Hinterland
How to Draw Clouds
Spectacular Science: Life Cycle of a Mushroom
Material of Silence – Leap Records
Minus
Mirror
My Father's Garden
The People Who Never Stop
Pitch Drop Experiment
Scale Stairs to No End
Whale Fall
1 PM | New York Hall of Science
Visually provocative, this mixed program of short films investigate the role of the experimenter, including unseen footage created by scientists in laboratories and animations from around the world.
Short Film Program:
23 degrees, 5 minutes
Animation for Nanos
Avril 14th
Burt Talks to the Bees: Worker Bees
Cependant les instants etaient precieux
Cholesterol: Friend Before Foe
Colin Talks About Elephants
Hinterland
How to Draw Clouds
Spectacular Science: Life Cycle of a Mushroom
Material of Silence – Leap Records
Minus
Mirror
My Father's Garden
The People Who Never Stop
Pitch Drop Experiment
Scale Stairs to No End
Whale Fall
Feature | Colors of Math
5 PM | New School
To most people math appears abstract, mysterious. Complicated. Inaccessible. But math is nothing but a different language to express the world. Math can be sensual. Math can be tasted, it smells, it creates sound and color. One can touch it – and be touched by it…
Colors of Math
Preceded by:
The Lesson
Followed by:
Q & A with director of Colors of Math, Ekaterina Eremenko.
5 PM | New School
To most people math appears abstract, mysterious. Complicated. Inaccessible. But math is nothing but a different language to express the world. Math can be sensual. Math can be tasted, it smells, it creates sound and color. One can touch it – and be touched by it…
Colors of Math
Preceded by:
The Lesson
Followed by:
Q & A with director of Colors of Math, Ekaterina Eremenko.
Short Film Program | Avant-Garde Science
9 PM | The Wooly
Since the early days of celluloid, science and cinema have shared an strong relationship. Avant-Garde Science presents films that are experimental and innovative with respect to their take on science.
"As I lay inside the box in the pitch blackness waiting for the show to begin, I wonder if the operator forgot to start it. Nothing is happening – no sound, no sights…nothing at all. Ah, wait, did I just hear something? Maybe, although perhaps that was just part of the box's machinery I am not supposed to hear. But now I'm hearing it again, more distinctly – a raspy visceral groaning"
Film Program:
25km2
Burt Talks to the Bees: Queen Bee
The Coffee Ring Effect
Data Dance
Holy Chicken of Life and Music
Insertion Series: Six Composite Acts
Lamina
Lit Tree
Magnetic ReconnectionMicroScope
Doctor Teller Strange Loves
Peanut Man
Piattaforma Luna
Re-collection
Resolution
Still Life
Sonic Physiognomy
Tube
Videorative Portrait of Randall Okita
9 PM | The Wooly
Since the early days of celluloid, science and cinema have shared an strong relationship. Avant-Garde Science presents films that are experimental and innovative with respect to their take on science.
"As I lay inside the box in the pitch blackness waiting for the show to begin, I wonder if the operator forgot to start it. Nothing is happening – no sound, no sights…nothing at all. Ah, wait, did I just hear something? Maybe, although perhaps that was just part of the box's machinery I am not supposed to hear. But now I'm hearing it again, more distinctly – a raspy visceral groaning"
Film Program:
25km2
Burt Talks to the Bees: Queen Bee
The Coffee Ring Effect
Data Dance
Holy Chicken of Life and Music
Insertion Series: Six Composite Acts
Lamina
Lit Tree
Magnetic ReconnectionMicroScope
Doctor Teller Strange Loves
Peanut Man
Piattaforma Luna
Re-collection
Resolution
Still Life
Sonic Physiognomy
Tube
Videorative Portrait of Randall Okita
Sunday, November 11
Short Film Program | From One Bit to the Next
1 PM | Liberty Science Center
Immerse yourself in thought-provoking and entertaining insights into the rich spectrum of human existence, from the DNA level, to the expanse of the solar system. This collection of rare and unseen short films captures unique glimpses of both the microscopic and macroscopic worlds, raising questions about mysteries that science and technology endeavor to address.
Short Film Program:
18 Things You Need To Know About Genetics
aDiatomea
Armstrong's Thumb
Binary
Brain Power
Creature Cast: Corn
Creature Cast: Doliolids
Creature Cast: Echinoderm Skin
Creature Cast: How to Hide
Creature Cast: Gingko
Creature Cast: Lancet Liver Fluke
Creature Cast: Round
Don't Swim After Lunch
Evolution
Invisible
Microscopic Worlds: Life We don't See
Slow Derek
Organopolis
Origins
Teen Brain
Voltage
1 PM | Liberty Science Center
Immerse yourself in thought-provoking and entertaining insights into the rich spectrum of human existence, from the DNA level, to the expanse of the solar system. This collection of rare and unseen short films captures unique glimpses of both the microscopic and macroscopic worlds, raising questions about mysteries that science and technology endeavor to address.
Short Film Program:
18 Things You Need To Know About Genetics
aDiatomea
Armstrong's Thumb
Binary
Brain Power
Creature Cast: Corn
Creature Cast: Doliolids
Creature Cast: Echinoderm Skin
Creature Cast: How to Hide
Creature Cast: Gingko
Creature Cast: Lancet Liver Fluke
Creature Cast: Round
Don't Swim After Lunch
Evolution
Invisible
Microscopic Worlds: Life We don't See
Slow Derek
Organopolis
Origins
Teen Brain
Voltage
Feature| People of a Feather
3 PM | Liberty Science Center
US PREMIERE
People of a Feather explores the world of the Inuit people of Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay. A unique cultural relationship with the Eider duck connects their past, present and future. Eider down, the warmest feather in the world, allows both Inuit and bird to survive harsh Arctic winters. Both people and eiders face the challenges posed by changing sea ice and ocean currents disrupted by the massive hydroelectric dams powering Eastern North America. The eyes of a remote subsistence culture challenge the world to find energy solutions that work with the seasons of our hydrological cycle.
People of a Feather
Preceded by:
A Death on the Frontier
Followed by:
Q & A with director of People of a Feather, Joel Heath.
3 PM | Liberty Science Center
US PREMIERE
People of a Feather explores the world of the Inuit people of Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay. A unique cultural relationship with the Eider duck connects their past, present and future. Eider down, the warmest feather in the world, allows both Inuit and bird to survive harsh Arctic winters. Both people and eiders face the challenges posed by changing sea ice and ocean currents disrupted by the massive hydroelectric dams powering Eastern North America. The eyes of a remote subsistence culture challenge the world to find energy solutions that work with the seasons of our hydrological cycle.
People of a Feather
Preceded by:
A Death on the Frontier
Followed by:
Q & A with director of People of a Feather, Joel Heath.
Short Film Program| Microbial Beings and Their Many Traits
7 PM | Rockefeller University
he program will is a homage in film expression to Doctor Norton Zinder's contributions to science – from the bacteriophage to the human genome project. A beautiful 1960s program Stop or Go: An Experiment in Genetics will also bring us into Dr. Zinder Rockefeller's lab in 1969. As interlude, we will present portraits of the microorganisms capturing the idiosyncrasies in animation and microscopy.
Dr. Zinder was an American biologist famous for his discovery of genetic transduction. Working as a graduate student with Joshua Lederberg at Rockefeller, he discovered that bacteriophage can carry genes from one bacterium to another. Initial experiments were carried out using Salmonella. Zinder and Lederberg named this process of genetic exchange transduction. Later, Zinder discovered the first bacteriophage that contained RNA as its genetic material.
Film Program:
Stop or Go: An Experiment in Genetics
Bacteriophage
Micro Empire
Macro Kingdom III
Captivation
7 PM | Rockefeller University
he program will is a homage in film expression to Doctor Norton Zinder's contributions to science – from the bacteriophage to the human genome project. A beautiful 1960s program Stop or Go: An Experiment in Genetics will also bring us into Dr. Zinder Rockefeller's lab in 1969. As interlude, we will present portraits of the microorganisms capturing the idiosyncrasies in animation and microscopy.
Dr. Zinder was an American biologist famous for his discovery of genetic transduction. Working as a graduate student with Joshua Lederberg at Rockefeller, he discovered that bacteriophage can carry genes from one bacterium to another. Initial experiments were carried out using Salmonella. Zinder and Lederberg named this process of genetic exchange transduction. Later, Zinder discovered the first bacteriophage that contained RNA as its genetic material.
Film Program:
Stop or Go: An Experiment in Genetics
Bacteriophage
Micro Empire
Macro Kingdom III
Captivation
Monday, November 12
Short Film Program| Death, Diseases, and Devotion
7 PM | IndieScreen
An otherworldly program of shorts that will study and explore the nature of death, diseases and consciousness.
Film Program:
38-39 degrees
America's Dead Sea
A Point Just Passed
Blood Film
Brainy
Combustion
Dinosaur Eggs in My Living Room
Dying Without A Sound
Lazarov
Move
Restoring Sight in Bangladesh
Resuscitation
Snow
Una Furtiva Lagrima
Vovo
7 PM | IndieScreen
An otherworldly program of shorts that will study and explore the nature of death, diseases and consciousness.
Film Program:
38-39 degrees
America's Dead Sea
A Point Just Passed
Blood Film
Brainy
Combustion
Dinosaur Eggs in My Living Room
Dying Without A Sound
Lazarov
Move
Restoring Sight in Bangladesh
Resuscitation
Snow
Una Furtiva Lagrima
Vovo
Tuesday, November 13
Film Program| Global Consciousness
4 PM | Anthology Film Archives
Collectively, the films explore the age-old struggle to define what makes us human and the role of imagination in propelling conscious thought.
abNormal
Everything is a Remix – System Failure
Love, Hate, & Everything Else in Between
4 PM | Anthology Film Archives
Collectively, the films explore the age-old struggle to define what makes us human and the role of imagination in propelling conscious thought.
abNormal
Everything is a Remix – System Failure
Love, Hate, & Everything Else in Between
Retrospective Feature| Gattaca
6:30 PM | CUNY Graduate Center
A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.
GATTACA
PANEL:
John Quackenbush | Professor of Biostatistics and Computational Biology
John Quackenbush is an American computational biologist and genome scientist. He is the Professor of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Professor of Cancer Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer.
Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH | Robert Henry Levi & Ryda Hecht Levi Professor of Bioethics & Public Policy, Johns Hopkins University
Jeffrey Kahn is Deputy Director for Policy and Administration at the Johns Hopkins University Berman Institute of Bioethics. Prior to joining the Johns Hopkins faculty in August 2011, he was director and professor in the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, positions he held from 1996-2011. He works in a variety of areas of bioethics, exploring the intersection of ethics and health/science policy, including research ethics, ethics and public health, and ethical issues in leading edge biomedical technologies.
Moderated By: Michael Rosenfeld | Head of Television and Film, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Michael Rosenfeld, an award-winning documentary producer and former president of National Geographic Television, will lead the $60 million science documentary initiative announced earlier this year by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
6:30 PM | CUNY Graduate Center
A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.
GATTACA
PANEL:
John Quackenbush | Professor of Biostatistics and Computational Biology
John Quackenbush is an American computational biologist and genome scientist. He is the Professor of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Professor of Cancer Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer.
Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH | Robert Henry Levi & Ryda Hecht Levi Professor of Bioethics & Public Policy, Johns Hopkins University
Jeffrey Kahn is Deputy Director for Policy and Administration at the Johns Hopkins University Berman Institute of Bioethics. Prior to joining the Johns Hopkins faculty in August 2011, he was director and professor in the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, positions he held from 1996-2011. He works in a variety of areas of bioethics, exploring the intersection of ethics and health/science policy, including research ethics, ethics and public health, and ethical issues in leading edge biomedical technologies.
Moderated By: Michael Rosenfeld | Head of Television and Film, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Michael Rosenfeld, an award-winning documentary producer and former president of National Geographic Television, will lead the $60 million science documentary initiative announced earlier this year by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
Wednsday, November 14
Imagine Consciousness - Microwave Fest Hong Kong
All Day
Imagine Science Films is thrilled to announce their involvement in the 10th Annual Microwave Festival by curating a program entitled Controlled Experiments.
Microwave Festival began in 1996 as an annual video art festival of Videotage, a local media art organization. But as technology progressed and became more accessible, video art slowly evolved to involve other media; thus Microwave began to embrace the wider range of new media art. As the first and only art festival in Hong Kong dedicated to new media art, Microwave has steadily grown into a well-established festival that brings thought provoking and cutting-edge works to Hong Kong, further cementing its status as a thriving technological hub. Microwave strives to introduce Hong Kong artists to international institutions and curators, providing a platform for them to develop their skills. Apart from the grand annual festival, Microwave also endeavours to nurture a rising local new media arts community, organising various programmes such as educational workshops, seminars, forums and exhibitions.
All Day
Imagine Science Films is thrilled to announce their involvement in the 10th Annual Microwave Festival by curating a program entitled Controlled Experiments.
Microwave Festival began in 1996 as an annual video art festival of Videotage, a local media art organization. But as technology progressed and became more accessible, video art slowly evolved to involve other media; thus Microwave began to embrace the wider range of new media art. As the first and only art festival in Hong Kong dedicated to new media art, Microwave has steadily grown into a well-established festival that brings thought provoking and cutting-edge works to Hong Kong, further cementing its status as a thriving technological hub. Microwave strives to introduce Hong Kong artists to international institutions and curators, providing a platform for them to develop their skills. Apart from the grand annual festival, Microwave also endeavours to nurture a rising local new media arts community, organising various programmes such as educational workshops, seminars, forums and exhibitions.
Short Film Program & Performance| Controlled Experiments
8 PM | The Bell House
In collaboration with Secret Science Club
—BIOBUS GUEST APPEARANCE – 5-7pm—
Challenging the boundaries of fictional narratives and imaginative experiments, this film program explores various ways for visualizing data. From photo microscopy, to time-lapse imaging, take advantage of this rare chance to see some of the first images of microscopic life, captured by historic fine art photographer Roman Vishniac in the 1960s.
Film Program:
Compressed 03
Vishniac Lab
Roman's Vishniac's Cinemicroscopy
Periodic Table Table
X inactivation and Epigenetics
Whiskey Water Trick
Locus Solus
Flutter
Optical Illusion
Insane in the Chromatophores Discovering Mount Gorgonosa
SpacePart12
Legs-atavism
Microscopic Opera
Superluminal Neutrinos in 5 minutes
HP – Hit print
Poems on the Underground
Lego Technic Super 8 Projector
Huber Experiments – Vol. 1
Deconvolution Microscopy
A Rogue Idea
Lord Cry Cry
Myxococcus Xanthus colony
Followed by:
An experiment by Luis Nieto
Prof Nieto's passion for video has never left him and he continues to film all his experiences and experiments. In 2009, he co-directed with the primatologist Prof. Shibuya, an experimental protocol on animal communication in Japan. They taught the cinematographic language to a monkey named "Capucine". This successful process led to Capucine getting the title of the first monkey filmmaker in the world.
For his Imagine Science New York debut, Prof Nieto a unique and mind-blowing surprise for the Bell House. Expect the unexpected from this unique evening where science and the surreal become happy bedfellows!
8 PM | The Bell House
In collaboration with Secret Science Club
—BIOBUS GUEST APPEARANCE – 5-7pm—
Challenging the boundaries of fictional narratives and imaginative experiments, this film program explores various ways for visualizing data. From photo microscopy, to time-lapse imaging, take advantage of this rare chance to see some of the first images of microscopic life, captured by historic fine art photographer Roman Vishniac in the 1960s.
Film Program:
Compressed 03
Vishniac Lab
Roman's Vishniac's Cinemicroscopy
Periodic Table Table
X inactivation and Epigenetics
Whiskey Water Trick
Locus Solus
Flutter
Optical Illusion
Insane in the Chromatophores Discovering Mount Gorgonosa
SpacePart12
Legs-atavism
Microscopic Opera
Superluminal Neutrinos in 5 minutes
HP – Hit print
Poems on the Underground
Lego Technic Super 8 Projector
Huber Experiments – Vol. 1
Deconvolution Microscopy
A Rogue Idea
Lord Cry Cry
Myxococcus Xanthus colony
Followed by:
An experiment by Luis Nieto
Prof Nieto's passion for video has never left him and he continues to film all his experiences and experiments. In 2009, he co-directed with the primatologist Prof. Shibuya, an experimental protocol on animal communication in Japan. They taught the cinematographic language to a monkey named "Capucine". This successful process led to Capucine getting the title of the first monkey filmmaker in the world.
For his Imagine Science New York debut, Prof Nieto a unique and mind-blowing surprise for the Bell House. Expect the unexpected from this unique evening where science and the surreal become happy bedfellows!
Thursday, November 15
Short Film Program| Space Confessions
7:30 PM | NYU Cantor Center
Through animations, sci-fi and documentary, experience the world and hear the confessions of the outer world.
The Afronauts
Beyond Expression Bright
Beyond the Spheres
The Cosmonaut
Into Deep Space
No Gravity
Starfield
7:30 PM | NYU Cantor Center
Through animations, sci-fi and documentary, experience the world and hear the confessions of the outer world.
The Afronauts
Beyond Expression Bright
Beyond the Spheres
The Cosmonaut
Into Deep Space
No Gravity
Starfield
Friday, November 16
Feature| Welcome to the Machine
5 PM | SVA Theater
NEW YORK PREMIERE
An exploration into the increasing role of technology in human civilization, especially a future in which people and machines become ever more intertwined.
Welcome to the Machine
Preceded by:
Humanoids
Followed by:
Q & A with director of Welcome to the Machine, Avi Weider.
5 PM | SVA Theater
NEW YORK PREMIERE
An exploration into the increasing role of technology in human civilization, especially a future in which people and machines become ever more intertwined.
Welcome to the Machine
Preceded by:
Humanoids
Followed by:
Q & A with director of Welcome to the Machine, Avi Weider.
Closing Night Film Program| Imagine Consciousness
7:30 PM | SVA Theater
In collaboration with Neuwrite.
A premier selection of short films addressing the subject of consciousness and imagination. Through these works we examine the age-old struggle to define human consciousness, from Aristotle and Plato to Einstein and modern philosophers. This unique selection from international film-makers looks at what it is that makes us human and the role of imagination in propelling conscious thought.
Film Program:
Amygdala
Anosmia
The Biological Advantage of Being Awestruck
How To Eat Your Own (Chocolate) Brain! The Centrifuge Brain Project
In Dreams
Limbic
Love Competition
Motion Painting
My Mind's Eye
Remains
Visions
Soft Sciences
Schizophrenia
I Do Not Know Who I am
The Human Factor
PANEL:
With filmmakers, scientists and artists, we will discuss the age-old struggle to define human consciousness. What it is that makes us human and the role of imagination in propelling conscious thought and what scientific and narrative tools exist to express consciousness in scientific research, visual arts and film. This panel will the closing act of the 5th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival, celebrating our 5 years trying to bridge the divide between art and science through the film medium.
Stuart Firestein | Neuroscientist, Chair of Columbia University's Department of Biological Sciences
Dr. Stuart Firestein studies the vertebrate olfactory receptor neuron as a model for investigating general principles and mechanisms of "signal transduction" — the ways in which chemicals, such as neurotransmitters, hormones, and peptides with membrane receptors, exert their influence in the brain and nervous system. He hypothesizes that the olfactory neuron is uniquely suited for these studies since it is designed specifically for the detection and discrimination of a wide variety of small organic molecules, i.e. odors.
Walter Murch | Sound designer, Film Editor, Writer
Walter Murch is an American film editor and sound designer. He has won three Oscars. He has been nominated in sound and or editing categories eight times. His films include Apocalypse Now, all three Godfather films, The English Patient, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Ghost and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Murch is a man of many interests. He composes music, translates Italian poetry in his spare time and if you spend enough time with him, you're likely to hear him quote French philosophers or string theorists. But his definition of what he does is simple. Murch is currently working on a feature documentary, Particle Fever, about CERN's Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland.
Joseph LeDoux | Neuroscientist, Musician
Joseph LeDoux is a Professor and Member of the Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology NYU. His work is focused on the brain mechanisms of emotion and memory. In addition to articles in scholarly journals, he is author of "The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life" and "Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are." He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the New York Academy of Science, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the recipient of the 2005 Fyssen International Prize in Cognitive Science. LeDoux is also a singer and songwriter in the rock band, The Amygdaloids.
Catherine Chalmers | Photographer, Artist
Catherine Chalmers holds a B.S. in Engineering from Stanford University and an M.F.A. in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London. She has exhibited her artwork around the world, including MoMA P.S.1, New York; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Kunsthalle Basel; Kunsthalle Vienna; MOCA Taipei; among others. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Out New York, ArtNews and Artforum. She has been featured on PBS, CNN, NPR, and the BBC. Two books have been published on her work: FOOD CHAIN (Aperture 2000) and AMERICAN COCKROACH (Aperture 2004). Her video "Safari" received a Jury Award (Best Experimental Short) at SXSW Film Festival in 2008. In 2010 Chalmers received at Guggenheim Fellowship. She was an Artist-in-Resident at Pilchuck Glass School in the summer of 2011 and is currently an Artist-in-Resident at Imagine Science Films, an organization focused on the intersection of science, film and art. Chalmers lives and works in New York City.
Carl Zimmer | Popular science writer and blogger
Carl Zimmer is a science writer, especially regarding the study of evolution and parasites. The New York Times Book Review calls Carl Zimmer "as fine a science essayist as we have." In his books, essays, articles, and blog posts, Zimmer reports from the frontiers of biology, where scientists are expanding our understanding of life. He has written several books and contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times and Discover. He is a popular speaker at universities, medical schools, museums, and festivals, and he is also a guest on radio programs such as Radio Lab and This American Life.
7:30 PM | SVA Theater
In collaboration with Neuwrite.
A premier selection of short films addressing the subject of consciousness and imagination. Through these works we examine the age-old struggle to define human consciousness, from Aristotle and Plato to Einstein and modern philosophers. This unique selection from international film-makers looks at what it is that makes us human and the role of imagination in propelling conscious thought.
Film Program:
Amygdala
Anosmia
The Biological Advantage of Being Awestruck
How To Eat Your Own (Chocolate) Brain! The Centrifuge Brain Project
In Dreams
Limbic
Love Competition
Motion Painting
My Mind's Eye
Remains
Visions
Soft Sciences
Schizophrenia
I Do Not Know Who I am
The Human Factor
PANEL:
With filmmakers, scientists and artists, we will discuss the age-old struggle to define human consciousness. What it is that makes us human and the role of imagination in propelling conscious thought and what scientific and narrative tools exist to express consciousness in scientific research, visual arts and film. This panel will the closing act of the 5th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival, celebrating our 5 years trying to bridge the divide between art and science through the film medium.
Stuart Firestein | Neuroscientist, Chair of Columbia University's Department of Biological Sciences
Dr. Stuart Firestein studies the vertebrate olfactory receptor neuron as a model for investigating general principles and mechanisms of "signal transduction" — the ways in which chemicals, such as neurotransmitters, hormones, and peptides with membrane receptors, exert their influence in the brain and nervous system. He hypothesizes that the olfactory neuron is uniquely suited for these studies since it is designed specifically for the detection and discrimination of a wide variety of small organic molecules, i.e. odors.
Walter Murch | Sound designer, Film Editor, Writer
Walter Murch is an American film editor and sound designer. He has won three Oscars. He has been nominated in sound and or editing categories eight times. His films include Apocalypse Now, all three Godfather films, The English Patient, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Ghost and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Murch is a man of many interests. He composes music, translates Italian poetry in his spare time and if you spend enough time with him, you're likely to hear him quote French philosophers or string theorists. But his definition of what he does is simple. Murch is currently working on a feature documentary, Particle Fever, about CERN's Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland.
Joseph LeDoux | Neuroscientist, Musician
Joseph LeDoux is a Professor and Member of the Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology NYU. His work is focused on the brain mechanisms of emotion and memory. In addition to articles in scholarly journals, he is author of "The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life" and "Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are." He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the New York Academy of Science, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the recipient of the 2005 Fyssen International Prize in Cognitive Science. LeDoux is also a singer and songwriter in the rock band, The Amygdaloids.
Catherine Chalmers | Photographer, Artist
Catherine Chalmers holds a B.S. in Engineering from Stanford University and an M.F.A. in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London. She has exhibited her artwork around the world, including MoMA P.S.1, New York; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Kunsthalle Basel; Kunsthalle Vienna; MOCA Taipei; among others. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Out New York, ArtNews and Artforum. She has been featured on PBS, CNN, NPR, and the BBC. Two books have been published on her work: FOOD CHAIN (Aperture 2000) and AMERICAN COCKROACH (Aperture 2004). Her video "Safari" received a Jury Award (Best Experimental Short) at SXSW Film Festival in 2008. In 2010 Chalmers received at Guggenheim Fellowship. She was an Artist-in-Resident at Pilchuck Glass School in the summer of 2011 and is currently an Artist-in-Resident at Imagine Science Films, an organization focused on the intersection of science, film and art. Chalmers lives and works in New York City.
Carl Zimmer | Popular science writer and blogger
Carl Zimmer is a science writer, especially regarding the study of evolution and parasites. The New York Times Book Review calls Carl Zimmer "as fine a science essayist as we have." In his books, essays, articles, and blog posts, Zimmer reports from the frontiers of biology, where scientists are expanding our understanding of life. He has written several books and contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times and Discover. He is a popular speaker at universities, medical schools, museums, and festivals, and he is also a guest on radio programs such as Radio Lab and This American Life.
