Fusing the best of science-themed cinema with engaging post-film conversations, Science on Screen is hosted by North Bay journalist and playwright David Templeton. Known for his long-running film column Talking Pictures, Templeton is the author of the short novel “Mary Shelley’s Body,” adapted into a play in 2017, and the award-winning robot-themed science fiction drama Galatea.
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Science on Screen 2021 kicks off with Rob Meyer’s 2013 indie film A BIRDER’S GUIDE TO EVERYTHING featuring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ben Kingsley and Katie Chang. The film follows a band of high school bird enthusiasts on a wilderness quest to identify a rare duck believed to be extinct, and their unexpected competition with a group of older birders looking to take credit for the teenagers’ find. Rated PG-13 Director: Rob Meyer (US 2013) 86 min.
The film will be followed by a conversation with Mark Dettling, an Avian Ecologist with Point Blue Conservation Science.
Mark Dettling’s work with Point Blue involves researching birds in the riparian ecosystems of coastal California and training young field biologists at the Palomarin Field Station in the Point Reyes National Seashore. His passion for birds began in his home state of Michigan, where he graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, before earning a master’s degree in Natural Resources at Cornell University. He has worked for Point Blue in various locations around California since 2006.
THURSDAY, JUNE 10 • 7:00
$12.50 General | $9. Senior • Youth • Matinée | $7 CFI Members
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Science on Screen 2021 continues, with Caroll Ballard’s 1983 film NEVER CRY WOLF featuring Charles Martin Smith, Samson Jorah and Brian Dennehy. Set in the Canadian Arctic, the gorgeously photographed film follows a naïve biologist sent by the government to determine if wolves are to blame for declining caribou populations. Isolated in the wilderness, he forms an unexpected attachment to a pair of wolves, experiences a number of life-altering encounters with nature, and sets out to prove that it is not the wolves that are responsible for the dwindling caribou herds, but a far more dangerous predator. Rated PG. Director: Carroll Ballard (US 1984) 105 min.
The film will be followed by a conversation with Milo Burcham, a wildlife photographer and terrestrial biologist working on Prince William Sound in Alaska.
THURSDAY, JUNE 17 • 7:00
$12.50 General | $9. Senior • Youth • Matinée | $7 CFI Members
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Science on Screen wraps up with Luis Llosa’s 1997 adventure film ANACONDA featuring Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Danny Trejo and Owen Wilson. A documentary film crew sets out on a journey up the Amazon River, where they encounter a snake-hunter in pursuit of a giant anaconda. The film, now considered a cult classic, inspired renewed worldwide interest in anacondas, though the unstoppable Jaws-style creature in the movie is not quite a fully accurate depiction of real anaconda behavior. Rated PG-13 Director: Luis Llosa (US 1997) 89 min.
The film will be followed by a conversation with Phil Tacata, an instructor with the Petaluma Wildlife Museum, and Bella Sessi, the Museum’s animal care tech.
The nonprofit Petaluma Wildlife & Natural Science Museum, a multi-room institution on the campus of Petaluma High School, is largest student-run museum of its kind in the U.S. Its collection includes over 100 taxidermy animals and dozens of live species, including a large number of snakes.
THURSDAY, JUNE 24 • 7:00
$12.50 General | $9. Senior • Youth • Matinée | $7 CFI Members
This presentation is part of SCIENCE ON SCREEN®, a series pairing film screenings with lively scientific discussions – an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre
with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.