The 18th annual Science New Wave Festival (SNW XVIII) – presented by Labocine – took place this past weekend at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema in New York. Since its inception in 2008, the festival has brought filmmakers, scientists, and audiences together to celebrate the latest in science cinema. For the second year in a row, the festival’s opening night selection was the work of a Sloan grantee. Mark Levinson’s THE UNIVERSE IN A GRAIN OF SAND kicked off the 17th edition last year. Levinson previously earned Sloan grants in 2014, 2016, and 2019 for his projects PARTICLE FEVER, THE GOLD BUG VARIATIONS, and THE BIT PLAYER respectively.
This year Sloan grantee Ian Cheney opened the festival with his latest documentary, OBSERVER. Cheney’s documentary PICTURE A SCIENTIST (co-directed by Sharon Shattuck) won an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Grant in 2020 and he has remained prolific since. His subsequent feature documentary THE ARC OF OBLIVION, was released by Abramorama in 2024 following its world premiere at SXSW 2023. Sloan Science and Film’s Sonia Epstein sat down with Cheney last year to discuss the film and his thoughts on visualizing science. Check out that interview here.
Produced by The Wonder Collaborative, the Science Communication Lab’s feature film unit, OBSERVER brings a diverse group of observers around the world to spark conversation about how humans perceive the world around them. Read more about the film below and stay tuned for further coverage on this title as it continues its United States tour.
About OBSERVER:
In OBSERVER, filmmaker Ian Cheney embarks on an experiment in which he brings a series of keen-eyed observers - scientists, artists, a hunter - to a range of locations around the world, often without telling them where they are going, and asks them simply to describe what they see. What unfolds is a deep exploration and celebration of the power of observation: what happens when you find new ways to sense and perceive the world around you? With customary whimsy and a small painted red square that Cheney brings on every journey, the film is an invitation to viewers to find beauty and meaning in even the most quotidian of locales.
FILMMAKERS
TOPICS
SHARE