THE third annual Imagine Science Film Festival (ISFF) starts in New York City this week, celebrating science through film. From some 350 submissions the festival has chosen 38 films to show at venues across the city between 15 and 22 October.
The festival includes everything from animated shorts to feature-length documentaries. The science in some of the films is extremely subtle; in others it takes centre stage.
Films range from Higgs, a documentary about the search for the Higgs particle at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, to Green Porno, which features Isabella Rossellini dressed up as various insects while narrating and acting out their mating rituals. But the thread that ties this diverse collection of films together is the importance of storytelling.
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鈥淓veryone responds to stories,鈥� says the festival鈥檚 founder, film-maker Alexis Gambis. 鈥淪tories hold people captive, whether it is documentary or fiction. Even if the science isn鈥檛 heavy, the stories touch on scientific issues and spark an interest in the science. It鈥檚 about getting as many people interested in science as possible.鈥�
To foster the relationship between science and storytelling, the ISFF has created a programme called Film Lab. This provides grant money and film equipment to scientists and film-makers who wish to collaborate on a film. Any films made will be showcased at next year鈥檚 festival.
I had the chance to preview the films which will be shown at the ISFF and was amazed by their diversity and artistry. Here are a few of my favourites.