Nov 2, 2015
Artist Development
San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) announced today that it has won a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to initiate programs that nurture, cultivate and champion films that explore scientific or technological themes and characters. The two-year, $417,500 grant will be used to develop new film exhibition and filmmaker support programs that enhance public understanding of science through the language of cinema. Consisting of three primary programs, the Science in Cinema initiative will kick off in late 2015.
“The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has made a dramatic impact on the kinds of films and television being made and celebrated today,” said SFFS Executive Director Noah Cowan. “Their emphasis on science at the core of our daily lives and in the most treasured stories of our past perfectly matches the San Francisco Film Society’s goal to help create and champion cinema that reflects the culture of technological and scientific innovation here in the Bay Area.”
“We are delighted to start a new partnership with the San Francisco Film Society and expand our nationwide science and film program to the Bay Area where science and technology-and scientists, engineers and mathematicians-drive so much innovation,” said Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “SFFS is a nationally recognized leader with a terrific team and together we are launching an exciting year-round program to support outstanding filmmakers and to develop original films that dramatize science and technology themes and characters. With the Film Society’s distinguished track record and exceptional talent pool and with the Sloan-supported film pipeline having helped develop 15 feature films in the past few years, we believe this new partnership offers a unique opportunity to bridge the two cultures and create extraordinary new work that reflects our extraordinary times.”
The Science in Cinema initiative will develop and present new feature films and episodic content that portray fully-drawn scientist and technologist characters; immerse audiences in the challenges and rewards of scientific discovery; and sharpen public awareness of the intersection of science, technology and our daily lives. Leveraging its position in the heart of the innovation capital of the world, the Film Society will seek to forge meaningful links between the artistic and scientific communities through a suite of new programs. The initiative launches later this year and will focus on three main project areas: the Science in Cinema Prize, which will be awarded each year to a new film in release with significant scientific themes; the Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowship, supporting filmmakers developing science-themed screenplays; and Science in Cinema at SFIFF, a new spotlight program at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Science in Cinema Prize
In addition to supporting emerging filmmakers, the Film Society will present a new award annually in the fall to a finished film released in that year. The prize will be awarded to a narrative feature for its achievements in rendering the worlds of science and technology through the language of film. Focusing on dramatic and entertaining films that illuminate the relevance of science and technology to our daily lives or challenge existing stereotypes about scientists, engineers or mathematicians, the Film Society and Sloan will seek to spotlight an important new film and provide a platform to celebrate science during the end-of-year awards season. Consisting of a public screening event, a moderated discussion with Bay Area thought leaders and an awards presentation, the Science in Cinema Prize will add a significant new highlight to the Film Society’s Fall Season programming and in the run-up to the various end-of-year awards events in film. Prize recipients will be selected by a panel of Bay Area filmmakers; local scientists, mathematicians and engineers; and Film Society staff.
Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowship
Under the auspices of its Filmmaker360 program, the Film Society will award fellowships to filmmakers developing screenplays that tell a story related to science and technology. Winners of the Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowship will receive a $35,000 cash grant and a two-month residency at FilmHouse, the Film Society’s suite of production offices for local and visiting independent filmmakers. The Film Society will provide consultation support by working with selected filmmakers to engage a primary science and technology advisor for their project and facilitate connections between Science in Cinema Fellows and leaders in the Bay Area’s science and tech communities. Fellows will be selected in the first year by Sloan and Filmmaker360 staff, followed by an open call for applicants in year two.
Science in Cinema at SFIFF
Starting in 2016, the Film Society will present a new spotlight during the San Francisco International Film Festival consisting of at least two narrative feature or episodic programs that explore scientific storylines or feature central scientist, mathematician or engineer characters. Scientists, engineers and other experts related to the subjects of the films will join post-screening discussions in order to provide commentary and insight into the scientific world and characters each film portrays. Festival screenings will also be accompanied by a special presentation featuring a current Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellow-either a staged reading of their current work-in-progress or a screening of the Fellow’s previous work.
The Science in Cinema Initiative represents a formalization of the San Francisco Film Society’s long-standing support and celebration of science and technology in cinema. The 2015 San Francisco International Film Festival featured a number of presentations with scientific and technological themes, including Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, Alex Gibney’s documentary portrait of the tech icon; Michael Almereyda’s Experimenter, about famed social psychologist Stanley Milgram; Alex Winter’s Deep Web, which follows Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of the online black market website Silk Road; a master class on immersive journalism led by Nonny de la Peña which used cutting-edge virtual reality technology to plunge viewers into documentary stories; and an insightful State of Cinema Address by Douglas Trumbull, the pioneering visual effects artist, inventor and engineer.
Filmmaker360 currently supports a number of filmmakers investigating science and technology subject matter. In 2015, the Film Society awarded a SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grant to Ryan Piers Williams, whose film Staring at the Sun follows an elite group of United Nations aid workers after a massive solar event knocks out the world’s technological structure. The Film Society recently awarded FilmHouse residences to Jennifer Phang-who is following her award-winning science fiction film Advantageous with Canopy, the story of a climate scientist who has recently disappeared-and Elena Greenlee, who is spending her 12-month residency writing Dark Forest, the story of a young psychiatric fellow drawn into the world of Amazonian shamanism.
For more information about the San Francisco Film Society’s exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs, visit sffs.org.