The SCINEMA International Science Film Festival is an Australian film festival celebrating international science-related drama and documentary films. The festival was founded with the aim of forging links between the sciences and the arts. SCINEMA accepts entries from all over the world. It is a program of Australia's Science Channel, operated by the Royal Institution of Australia.
History The festival was founded in 2000 by Rebecca Scott and Damian Harris, with the aim of forging links between the sciences and the arts. The inaugural edition took place at the Center Cinema in Canberra in 2001, hosted by CSIRO.
In 2005, the director of the festival was Chris Kennedy, of the CSIRO. In that year, films covered diverse topics, including the history of asbestos, the use of lithium for psychiatric conditions, the evolution of beer, and, from Melbourne filmmaker Klaus Toft, a film about the relationship between orcas and humans in Killers in Eden.
After a hiatus from 2014 to 2015, the Royal Institution of Australia took over hosting the festival. The 2016 festival received over 1,300 submissions from over 80 countries, with 240 screenings around Australia and one on the Davis Station in Antarctica.
In 2017, the festival hosted 317 events around Australia, involving more than 37,000 people participants.
Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia from 2020, live screenings were limited, but streaming screenings attracted over 100,000 viewers.
Description The festival also hosts a community screening program as part of National Science Week, where community groups and schools can register to run their own screening program.
Reception One reviewer said of the 14th edition of the festival in 2017: "The most noticeable thing about the films is that, collectively and individually, they are less explicitly about science and more about us. These are very human stories about how we engage with the world — with the things in it, and with each other."
Award-winners
Film title Filmmaker YearCategory WonOWSIA (Darkened Water)Alireza Dehghan2017Best FilmFix and ReleaseSimon Dobson (Canada)2017Best DocumentaryEinstein-RosenOlga Osorio (Spain)2017Best Short FilmThe Purple PlainKim Albright2017Best DirectorThink Like a Scientist: Natural Selection in an OutbreakNathan Dappen and Neil Losin (US)2017Best Experimental/AnimationNexPhilipp Buschauer, Michael Loithaler and Marlene Raml (Austria)2017Award for Technical MeritPangolins in Peril: A Story of Rare ScalesMuhammad Ali Ijaz (Pakistan)2017Award for Scientific MeritTest Tube BabesAlice Wade2017Special Jury AwardMARATUS Simon Cunich (Australia)2016Best FilmHilleman – A Perilous Quest to Save the World's Children Donald Mitchell (US)2016Best DocumentaryThe Amazing Life Cycle of the European Eel Sofia Castello y Tickell (UK)2016Best Short FilmMetamorphosis of Plants Urszula Zajączkowska (Poland)2016Best Experimental/AnimationCorpus Marc Héricher (France)2016Award for Technical MeritWonders of Life – Size Matters Paul Olding (UK)2016Award for Scientific MeritStem Cell Revolutions2013Best FilmClouded Leopard Kill2013Best animationNight of the Crysal MutantsAnimator and sound by Dr Claire Pannell2013Best ExperimentalCritical Thinking SeriesJames Hutson2013Best short filmThe Measure of ThingsSeries directed by Mike Cunliffe2013Award for Technical MeritInto The Gyre (USA)Director: Scott Elliot
Producer: Scott Elliot2012Best FilmOut of Our Minds (USA)Director: Director Kate Webbink2012Best Director Centrefold (UK)Director: Ellie Land
Producer: Siobhan Fenton2012Best Animation Coffee Ring Effect (USA)Director & Producer: Kurtis Sensenig2012Best Experimental FilmReflector (USA)Director: Dave Hill2012Best Short FilmRobot Quadrators Perform the James Bond Theme
(USA)Director: Kurtis Sensenig2012Award for Technical MeritThe Polar Explorer (Canada)Director: Mark Terry2012Award for Scientific MeritAustralia: A Time-Travellers Guide
(Australia)Director: Richard Smith
Executive Producer: Chris Hilton for Essential Media and Entertainment2012Best Television SeriesThe Lightbulb ConspiracyDirector: Cosima Dannoritzer
Producers: Alexandre Piel and Joan Ubeda2011Best FilmThe City DarkDirector: Ian Cheney2011Best Director and Award for Technical MeritWonders of the Solar SystemProducer: Paul Olding2011Award for Scientific MeritWhere the wild things wereDirector: Amber Cherry Eames2011Award for CinematographyDo you know what time it is? Director Paul Olding2010Award for Scientific MeritHoneybee BluesStefan Moore2010Festival Director's AwardWhatever! The Science of TeensD. L. Faber, D. Ortega, A Delaney.2010Best Television Series[null Breu]D. Jeronimo Rocha.2010Award for Technical Merit.An Eyeful of SoundCanada, Netherlands, UK. D. Samantha Moore.2010Best Animated FilmNano YouSpain, UK. D. Tom Mustill.2010Best Short FilmHow Kevin Bacon Cured CancerD. Annamaria Talas.2010Best FilmSheep thing + Ladder = OneNicholas Kallincos2001Best Student FilmArchmede (Mad Cow)Ex Nihilo2001Award for Excellence in ScienceAtom Bond - The Atom with the Golden ElectronClassroom Video2001Award for Most Innovative FilmSilent SentinelsABC-TV Science Unit2001Best Environmental FilmAustralia: Eye of the StormABC TV - Natural History Unit2001Best Film
References
External links