The Sloan Film Summit begins tonight at 7:30 pm with a public screening of Academy Award-winning director James Marsh’s Stephen Hawking biopic, The Theory of Everything, followed by a Q&A with the film’s stars Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones and Professor of Physics David Kaplan.

The Summit, co-hosted by Film Independent and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, will celebrate the thriving nationwide Sloan film program, bringing together 150 screenwriters, directors and producers, as well as representatives from leading film schools and film organizations, who work to bridge the gap between science and popular culture.

On Saturday, the Summit will continue with a full day of private panels, workshops and networking sessions with esteemed scientists and industry professionals for all the Sloan supported filmmakers and organizations gathered in Los Angeles for this special event. Among the highlights will be presentations by four eminent scientists from the Science and Entertainment Exchange followed by four Sloan-winning artists responding with short, original pieces.

On Sunday, the Summit will be open to the general public for a full day event titled “Science and The Art of Storytelling,” a celebration of Sloan-winning works that will include a Keynote by Sloan-supported playwright and screenwriter Beau Willimon (House of Cards, The Ides of March), a shorts program, staged readings and a sneak peek at soon to be released Sloan films Basmati Blues (starring Scott Bakula, Brie Larson and Donald Sutherland); The Man Who Knew Infinity (starring Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel); and Experimenter (starring Peter Sarsgaard, Taryn Manning, Winona Ryder and Kellan Lutz), featuring exclusive footage and a discussion with the films’ producers.

To close things out, attendees will be treated to a sneak preview of Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game.

Sloan Science and Film Associate Editor Kate Patterson will be on the ground for the entirety of the Summit weekend and will have dispatches ready later next week.