Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative Spotlights Three SFFILM Festival Titles

San Francisco, CA – April 10, 2024 –Today, SFFILM announced the program slate of the Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative at the 67th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM Festival) which runs April 24–28. Presented in partnership between the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and SFFILM, this year’s programs include three films and participation by Sloan Fellows and grant recipients at events throughout the Festival. “We are thrilled to partner with SFFILM on our continuing Science in Cinema initiatives,” said Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “This year’s program features three original films, each of which recounts a very personal journey that links to broader scientific themes and addresses universal questions. We’ll be joined on the ground by the 2023 SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Fellows, and recipients of our Stories of Science Development Fund grantees who are all at the screenwriting phase of filmmaking. I am excited to have filmmakers from every part of the process together to benefit from each other and from audience interaction.”

Curated programs include three titles, selected by Jessie Fairbanks, SFFILM’s Director of Programming. “It is thrilling to present such a strong slate of Sloan titles at the festival. The stories, places, and protagonists could not be more different but each film incorporates disciplines of science as a critical tool for the main characters,” she said. “What I love about this group of films is that they are all beautifully lensed, with universal themes, and revelatory performances by young actors. Even more impressive is how each film centers on a youth in need of a framework to understand their circumstances, and it is the rather unexpected introduction of botany, biological evolution, and biophysics that propels their narrative development.”

First is the World Premiere of On the Invention of Species from director Tania Hermida, also being honored as the 2024 recipient of the SFFILM Sloan Science on Screen Award. This annual award carries a $5,000 cash prize and celebrates the compelling depiction of scientific themes or characters in a narrative feature film. The program includes an onstage conversation featuring the film’s cast and crew, and Noah Whiteman, an evolutionary biologist and Professor of Genetics, Genomics, Evolution and Development at the University of California Berkeley. On the Invention of Species follows Carla, while on the cusp of womanhood and grappling with the loss of her brother, finds herself adrift on the historic archipelago that led to Charles Darwin’s breakthrough studies on adaptation.

As part of an exciting and diverse slate within the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative, the Festival will present two additional films and events. First is the World Premiere of Nicholas Ma’s Mabel, the story of a young, frustrated girl attempting to find her place after a recent family move. Callie loves plants and not much else. When substitute teacher Ms. G (Judy Greer) starts a botany unit, she becomes the point of inspiration for Callie into the world of scientific experimentation. Mabel is a family friendly film for ages 8 and up. Mabel also received the Sloan $100K Feature Film Production Award at NYU in 2019 and the Sloan Screenplay Award from the Tribeca Film Institute in 2020.

Finally, SFFILM is thrilled to honor Oscar-nominated actor, screenwriter, and director Chiwetel Ejiofor with a tribute celebrating his career and the West Coast Premiere of his most recent directorial feature Rob Peace. He co-wrote and co-stars in the story of its talented titular character (Jay Will)—a young New Jersey science prodigy headed for the Ivy League, but heavily impacted by his past. Ejiofor was the recipient of the 2019 Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for his directorial debut, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

“We are thrilled to celebrate so many wonderful filmmakers this year who embrace and present themes of science and discovery through a humanistic lens,” said SFFILM Executive Director Anne Lai. “Our partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation provides unique paths of support to help filmmakers discover, develop, and present screenplays and films to audiences around the world. And this year’s Festival demonstrates a robust collection of these supported films and filmmakers which we hope brings attention and exposure to the beautiful work they are creating. ”

In addition to presenting completed films as part of this initiative in this year’s festival, SFFILM will welcome Sloan Fellows and Grant Recipients to the 67th San Francisco International Film Festival. Both the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship and SFFILM Sloan Stories of Science Development Fund offer other opportunities for SFFILM to provide bespoke resources to filmmakers who are in earlier stages of developing screenplays that capture science through the narrative language of cinema. In 2023, Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowships were awarded to Vivienne Shaw and Fradique, while three screenwriters—Sahand Nikoukar, Katherine Burns, and James Séamus Bearheart—received support through the Sloan Stories of Science Development Fund.

Attending the Festival helps these supported filmmakers sharpen their craft through participation in filmmaker focused networking meetings called Industry Days, and as featured panelists at the California Academy of Sciences Earth to NightLife program on Thursday, April 25, at 6 pm, moderated by SFFILM Director of Artist Development, Masashi Niwano. Tickets are available at www.calacademy.org/nightlife/earth-to-nightlife. Learn more at calacademy.org.

The 67th San Francisco International Film Festival: Sloan Science on Screen Programs

Sloan Science on Screen Award

Sloan Science on Screen Award: “On the Invention of Species”
Sat Apr 27 at 7:30 pm PT at Vogue Theatre
Tania Hermida (Ecuador 2024, 91)
World Premiere
Narratives: International

Presented through a partnership between SFFILM and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Sloan Science on Screen Award is a recognition that celebrates the compelling depiction of science in a narrative feature film.

This screening will feature the presentation of the Sloan Science on Screen Award and an enhanced Q&A after the film with cast and crew alongside Berkeley biology professor Noah Whiteman.

On the Invention of Species

When Carla’s dad drags her to the Galapagos Islands for a convention on conservation and species evolution, she is less than thrilled. On the cusp of womanhood and grappling with the loss of her brother, Carla finds herself adrift on the historic archipelago that led to Charles Darwin’s breakthrough studies on adaptation. Befriending two young boys who become her emotional foils, Carla pretends to be a different version of herself in order to surmount this emotional and physical journey. In this stunningly lensed lyrical debut, Tania Hermida deftly toys with parables while exploring the evolving relationship between man and nature. With Terrence Malick stylings, hints of Agnès Varda observational irony, and a dash of Alice Rohrwacher magical-realism, this tender film is a celebration of the shared sentient experience—biological and emotional.

Tania Hermida
Director

A native of Cuenca, Ecuador, Tania Hermida studied film direction at Cuba’s International Film and TV School of San Antonio de las Banos, creative writing at Madrid’s School of Letters, the aesthetics of cinema at the University of Valladolid, and earned a master’s in cultural studies from the University of Azuay. Her features include How Much Further (2006), winner of the Havana Film Festival’s Opera Prima award and the Montreal World Film Festival’s Silver Zenith, and In the Name of the Girl (2011).

Sloan Science on Screen

A Tribute to Chiwetel Ejiofor + “Rob Peace” (Sloan Science on Screen)
Sat Apr 27 at 7 PM at Premier Theater
Chiwetel Ejiofor (USA 2024, 146)
Narratives: USA

Join us as we pay tribute to actor, director, and writer Chiwetel Ejiofor with an intimate conversation celebrating his new feature Rob Peace.

Chiwetel Ejiofor
Honoree + Director/Writer/Actor

BAFTA Award-winning actor, writer and director, Chiwetel Ejiofor has a breadth of critically acclaimed work across stage and screen. He was most recently seen in Rob Peace, a film he also directed and co-wrote with a script based on the bestselling book by Jeff Hobbs. In March 2019, Ejiofor’s critically acclaimed directorial debut The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, an adaptation of William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer’s book, premiered on Netflix.

In 1996, Chiwetel caught the attention of Steven Spielberg who cast him in his debut in the critically acclaimed Amistad. Since then, Ejiofor has amassed more than 60 film and TV credits over the years. A small sampling includes The Pod Generation (Festival 2023); The Man Who Fell to Earth (2022); The Lion King (2019); Doctor Strange (2016); The Martian (2015); 12 Years a Slave (2013), which garnered Chiwetel Academy Award®, Golden Globe, and SAG nominations and won him a Best Actor BAFTA; Talk to Me (2007), for which he won a best supporting male Film Independent Spirit Award; and Dirty Pretty Things (2002), for which he won British Independent and Evening Standard Film Awards for best actor.

In 2008, he starred in the Donmar Warehouse production of Othello, for which he won best actor Olivier and Evening Standard Theatre Awards. His other stage credits include A Season in the Congo (2013), Blue/Orange (2000), and Romeo and Juliet (2000).

Rob Peace

In an acting tour de force, Jay Will plays the talented titular character, a young New Jersey science prodigy headed for the Ivy League, but heavily impacted by his past. While Rob is still an adolescent, his father (another impeccable turn from writer-director Chiwetel Ejiofor) is convicted of homicide and the boy devotes himself to proving his dad’s innocence. As a budding scientist excelling in biophysics, Rob enters Yale, attempting to negotiate this elite new environment alongside his connection to family and community. Based on Peace’s Yale roommate Jeff Hobbs’ bestselling biography, Ejiofor’s exquisite drama details the collision of a life lived under immense pressure. The film features terrific supporting performances by Mary J. Blige as Rob’s caring mother and Mare Winningham as a Yale professor who grants him special lab access.

Sloan Science on Screen: “Mabel”
Sat Apr 27 at 5 pm PT at Vogue Theatre
Nicholas Ma (USA 2023, 84)
World Premiere
Narratives: USA

Biracial Callie (Lexi Perkel) loves trees and plants and little else in Nicholas Ma’s warm debut feature. Surly with her parents and intolerant of people who don’t share her interest, she’s also unhappy about changing schools after her family relocates. But as luck would have it, substitute teacher Ms. G (Judy Greer) is starting a botany unit in science class, and Callie wangles her way in. Held rapt by Ms. G’s lectures and online speeches, Callie develops an experiment raising chrysanthemums in darkness and manages to lure Agnes, her ebullient younger neighbor, into working on the project with her. Precocious, determined, and wryly funny, Callie is a unique protagonist who leverages her love of botany to propel herself into adolescence.

Recommended for ages 8 and up.

SFFILM Sloan Science In Cinema Initiative: Artist Development

Earth to NightLife
Thu Apr 25 at 6 PM at California Academy of Sciences
21+
Tickets at calacademy.org/nightlife/earth-to-nightlife

Attention Earthlings: Our planet’s calling, and it’s time to answer. In honor of Earth Month we’re rolling out the green carpet for a night of collective action and environmental activism. Connect with local environmental justice organizations, tune into panel discussions led by community activists and filmmakers, catch scientific short films, and more. Featuring special programming by Earth Sessions, KQED Deep Look, and SFFILM.

In conjunction with the 2024 SFFILM Festival, hear how filmmakers are bridging the gap between art and science to create greater impact for the public and scientific community.

Panel featuring: Fradique (HOLD TIME FOR ME), James Séamus Bearheart (VISIBLE), Katherine Burns (HENRY), Sahand Nikoukar (CENTAUR), and Vivienne Shaw (KILLING JAR). Grant recipients from the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative, a partnership between SFFILM and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Moderated by Masashi Niwano, SFFILM’s Director of Artist Development.

Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowships

Two filmmakers have been selected to receive Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowships, which will support the development of their narrative feature screenplays. The fellowship is designed to ensure that narrative feature films that tell compelling stories about the worlds of science and technology continue to be made and seen. From an open call for submissions, the 2023 Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowships have been awarded to two outstanding filmmakers.

Vivienne Shaw | KILLING JAR
After her mother’s abrupt death, an obsessive insect researcher thrown into a confusing web of family lies and secrets decides to undertake her own forensic entomology investigation to uncover the truth.

Fradique | HOLD TIME FOR ME
An Angolan photographer seeks a vanished Cuban biologist in a surreal, environmentally-crisis-ridden world where Luanda drifts away from the mainland.

Recipients of the Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowship will receive a $35,000 cash grant and residency at FilmHouse, SFFILM’s suite of production offices for local and visiting independent filmmakers. The residency program provides filmmakers with artistic guidance, office space, a vibrant creative community, and mentorship from established filmmakers and members of the independent film industry. To strengthen their film’s portrayal of science or technology, each fellow will be connected to a science advisor with expertise in the subjects at the center of their screenplays, as well as leaders in the Bay Area’s science and technology communities.

SFFILM Sloan Stories of Science Development Fund

The Sloan Stories of Science Development Fund supports the screen adaptation of specific scientific articles and discoveries, cataloged in the Sloan Stories of Science Sourcebook as inspiration for filmmakers. These recipients each receive a $20,000 cash grant and access to FilmHouse, SFFILM’s suite of production offices for local and visiting independent filmmakers. The residency program provides filmmakers with artistic guidance, office space, a vibrant creative community, and mentorship from established filmmakers and members of the independent film industry. To strengthen their film’s portrayal of science or technology, each fellow will be connected to a science advisor with expertise in the subjects at the center of their screenplays, as well as leaders in the Bay Area’s science and technology communities.

Three screenwriters, Sahand Nikoukar, Katherine Burns, and James Séamus Bearheart have been selected to receive funding through SFFILM’s Sloan Stories of Science Development Fund, which is part of a suite of screenwriting programs that cultivate narrative feature films exploring scientific or technological themes and characters. This artist support program was developed in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the nonprofit dedicated to bridging the cultures of science and the humanities, and focuses on the adaptation of important scientific and technological discoveries to the big screen.

Sahand Nikoukar | CENTAUR
What if an AI ran for President—and won? When a band of irreverent tech visionaries launches their AI algorithm as a mock presidential candidate, they inadvertently trigger a nationwide phenomenon. As the AI contender outwits seasoned politicians, exposes hypocrisy, and reveals flaws in the system, this campaign mockumentary examines the future of politics and humanity itself.

Katherine Burns | HENRY
Dee Peralta (37) has left Hollywood behind to play the titular role in a stage production of Henry V, searching for a feeling of connection that she has been missing. But when she discovers that the production is being run by a new AI chatbot, she must grapple with what connection really means—and perhaps find it in an unlikely place.

James Séamus Bearheart | VISIBLE
A scientist’s remarkable observation of the glass frog’s unique behavior is continually dismissed as unimportant by her peers. The scientist must dig deep to believe in herself and show the world how important this discovery is.

Tickets + Member Benefits

Tickets are on sale at sffilm.org. Ticket prices for General Admission programs are $20, and $16 for SFFILM Members. Senior, student, and ADA are $19, and Children 14 and under are $11. See specific program listings for premium priced programs and events.

Ticket Packs are the most flexible way to see SFFILM events at a discount, and may be redeemed for any regular, non-rush screening or event priced up to $25. 6-Packs are $115 for General, and $95 for SFFILM Members. 10-Packs are $175 for General, and $145 for SFFILM Members.

An all access Cinevisa is the best way to support SFFILM, and it includes entry to the priority line at all film screenings and access to the Festival Lounge. Cinevisas are $1,800.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a New York based, philanthropic institution that makes grants for research in science, technology, and economics; quality and diversity of scientific institutions; and public engagement with science. Sloan’s program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, theater, and new media to bridge the two cultures of science and the humanities. The program also supports special initiatives that strengthen science as a social good. The Foundation works with about 20 film school and film festival partners and has supported over 800 film projects, including over 30 feature films. For more information visit sloan.org or follow @SloanPublic on Twitter or Facebook.

67th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM Festival)

The San Francisco International Film Festival presented by SFFILM runs April 24–28 at venues in San Francisco and Berkeley. The official program—curated from nearly 5,000 submissions and invitations—includes premieres, eagerly anticipated award titles, debut work from emerging storytellers, international narrative and documentary films, shorts, and the Golden Gate Award juried competition. Filmmakers will be networking at industry meetings and talks, and everyone will get to celebrate the magic of cinema with SFFILM’s prestigious Persistence of Vision, Mel Novikoff, Sloan Science in Cinema Award, and a tribute to a special honoree.

The SFFILM Festival always centers the Bay Area with selections by local creators and crews, and serves students, teachers, and families with Youth Works, family friendly workshops, and educational screenings through Schools at the Festival that reaches thousands of students each year. The SFFILM Festival Encore Days program runs at the Roxie Theater Thursday through Saturday, May 2–4 with award winners and selections from the main Festival program.
SFFILM
SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM inspires and connects audiences, students and teachers, and filmmakers through film exhibition, youth education, and artist development programs. Annual public film programs presented by SFFILM include the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM Festival) which is the longest running film festival in the Americas, Doc Stories documentary series, special events with the best and brightest in contemporary film, and family programming. SFFILM Education serves more than 15,000 students and educators with learning opportunities designed to cultivate media literacy, global citizenship, and a lifelong love of movies. SFFILM Makers supports the careers of independent filmmakers from the Bay Area and beyond with grants, residencies, and other creative development services.

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