Mark your calendars, science fans! The Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) is continuing its ongoing “Science on Screen” series with special screenings.
Focusing on the theme “Extinction and Otherwise,” the “Science on Screen” series presents scripted and non-scripted films that show extinction, survival, and life as it might be. Films in the series, organized by Sonia Epstein, Associate Curator of Science and Film, are paired with newly commissioned writing by filmmakers, scientists and scholars that are published on MoMI’s Sloan website scienceandfilm.org.
“Science on Screen” is a part of MoMI’s Sloan Science & Film initiative, which includes the current gallery exhibit Twitch, Pop, Bloom: Science in Action, which has been extended through Sept. 18, 2022. The exhibit features some of the first films utilizing time-lapse, slow motion, and micro-cinematography, one of the earliest color films, popular early nature films and more.
On Aug. 21 at 5 p.m., MoMI visitors can watch Jessica Kingdon’s Oscar-nominated documentary “Ascension,” which takes a hard look at the Chinese industrial complex. The screening will also feature an interview with Kingdon as well as a screening of “Europium,” an essay film centered on the rare-earth element Europium.
On Sept. 25 at 3 p.m., ticketholders can check out a screening of the classic sci-fi film “Soylent Green.” Set in New York City in 2022, the film — starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors, Joseph Cotten, Brock Peters, Paula Kelly, and Edward G. Robinson — follows the city as it is overpopulated, hot, thirsty and short on food, and Detective Thorn (played by Heston), who has an affluent life compared to that of the average New Yorker, who live off of a synthetic product called Soylent. The film will be introduced by renowned scientist and educator Bill Nye, who will place the movie into context about what we know about climate change from the film’s release in 1973 to today.
Lastly, on Oct. 23 at 5 p.m., the museum will screen “Earth II.” Starring Keanu Reeves, Matt Damon, Will Smith, and Jeff Goldblum, “Earth II” is a supercut that draws from the past four decades of blockbusters in which civilization and the world itself are collapsing, and villains scheme their way into survival. The screening will feature a Q&A with Anti-Banality Union as well as an essay by acclaimed author and researcher Britt Wray.
All screenings will take place in the Sumner M. Redstone Theater or the Celeste and Armand Bartos Screening Room at MoMI, located at 36-01 35th Ave. in Astoria. Tickets are free for MoMI members at the Senior/Student level and above; $15 for the public with discounts for seniors, students, and youth. Advance tickets are available online at movingimage.us.
