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Imagine Science Film Festival’s Science of Cinema
When uttered in the same breath, the words “science” and “cinema” will more often than not elicit images of light saber swordplay, viscous green creatures and wildly inconceivable viruses.
However, Imagine Science Film Festival director and founder Alexis Gambis has his own notions about the unique combination, potentially explosive for both scientists and moviemakers alike. The Parisian transplant took some time to chat with MM about the film festival, set for October 15 - 24 in the Big Apple.
Elissa Suh (MM): You are both a moviemaker and a scientist. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Alexis Gambis (AG): I studied both biology and film when I was and undergrad. I’m originally from Paris but I came to study at Bard College in upstate New York, a small liberal arts school which allowed me to study theater and film and also biology. I ended up majoring in biology with a heavy focus in film as well.
Also my parents were both artists; my mom’s a filmmaker and my dad’s a painter, so I had this artist streak in me.
MM: What led to the creation of Imagine Science Films? Was the festival part of the initial creation of the organization as well?
AG: After I went back to France to do a master’s in biology and came back to New York to do a Ph.D. at Rockefeller University, in my second year I became the coordinator the Rockefeller Film Series. The goal when I took over was to show science films to scientists and have them discuss the accuracy of science in the film, how to make it credible, how to portray science in an accurate way that would make it compelling in a film; avoiding stereotypes of a sort of a “bad science film.”
From there I decided it would be a good idea to contact other schools and see whether or not they would be interested in hosting screenings, and that’s sort of how the idea came about.
Last year I started contacting NYU. Actually, I contacted NYU film school because I finished my Ph.D. and I’m going to NYU Tisch film school in September. So I contacted NYU, New York Academy of Sciences, CUNY Graduate Center and everybody was very interested in this idea of a science film festival in New York, just because it doesn’t exist and so they were all on board.
The idea was also to show science films in different types of venues around the city to reach out to as many different types of people as possible. Last year it was in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. We had screenings at NYU, Rockefeller University and CUNY. We had some venues in bars as well. There’s a bar called Union Hall in Park Slope and we showed a film there.
The film festival became kind of a big deal and we got a lot of coverage. We started forming a team of people and then I decided to create a nonprofit organization and we slowly built the team. Last year we also got Nature Magazine, one of the premier science magazines, to [sponsor] two awards: The Nature Scientific Merit Award and the Nature People’s Choice Award.
This year we are probably five times bigger; we are associated with Tribeca Cinemas and have many, many sponsors, both in films and science. We also have the Mayor’s Office of Film and Television’s support. It’s the second year and it’s growing. We have many more submissions as well. We have 200 films, so it’s really exciting.
MM: What are the entries like? Are they primarily from moviemakers who like science, or scientists who want to make movies?
AG: Primarily it’s non-scientists who submit films, but we are trying to get more scientists. It makes sense because scientists don’t have time to make films, so we are trying to encourage them by giving out awards. The Scientist Award will be given to the best film made by a scientist.
The idea is to have both scientists and non-scientists submit films; we have no bias. We just try to encourage people to make films about science. The goal is also to incorporate scientists in narrative filmmaking. A lot of people send us documentaries because, when you think science, you think Discovery Channel; but we are more interested in fiction.
Some of the films are absolutely amazing and we also have films from all around the world. We have a film about cloning; it’s called The Clone Returns Home. It’s a Japanese film and it was at Sundance and it’s mind-boggling, simply amazing.
If there is a love story, a drama or a thriller and you incorporate science into it, it’s easier for the public to digest instead of a lecture.
MM: You’ve made clear what it is you look for in the films thematically, but are there any logistical specifications such as running time?
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Airjordanpremium on 8/10/09 at 12:17 am
Yes, when uttered in the same breath, the words “science” and “cinema” will more often than not elicit images of light saber swordplay, viscous green creatures and wildly inconceivable viruses.
- Comment by Fire science on 9/13/09 at 11:31 pm
Why aliens always attack USA and Europe and never Africa in science fiction films?
I’ve never seen a film where aliens attack africa.The attack scene always occurs at White House,London etc bt never at Njamena
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