Alexander Payne’s new film DOWNSIZING stars Matt Damon as a man who shrinks to five inches tall. At that size, his money buys more and his carbon footprint lessens as well. Museum of the Moving Image’s Science on Screen series presented an event with the film’s writer Jim Taylor (who has co-written other films with Payne such as SIDEWAYS and ELECTION), and NYU bioethicist S. Matthew Liao who authored a paper urging consideration of human engineering techniques such as making people smaller to help mitigate climate change. The discussion was moderated by Heather Berlin, a cognitive neuroscientist and psychiatry professor at Mount Sinai. It took place at the Museum the day before the film’s theatrical release on December 21, by Paramount Pictures.

DOWNSIZING is currently in theaters, and stars Kristen Wiig, Rolf Lassgård, Laura Dern, Hong Chau, Jason Sudeikis, Christoph Waltz, and Matt Damon.

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