The third annual World Science Festival Brisbane will come alive for five days and four nights with an epic program of science and art from 21 – 26 March.
This year’s program of events includes an exceptional film line-up including the world premiere of Close Encounters of the Third Kind featuring an 84-piece orchestra and 80-voice choir. This stunning international collaboration between World Science Festival Brisbane, Film Concerts Live! And Columbia Pictures brings together cinema, science and live music in one spectacular evening of extra-terrestrial excitement.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND IN CONCERT: WORLD PREMIERE | 24 March
Nominated for eight Academy Awards® including Best Original Score, Steven Spielberg’s 1977 masterpiece Close Encounters of the Third Kind remains as engrossing and inspiring today as it was 40 years ago. Now for the first time ever, audiences will experience John Williams’ magnificent score performed in its entirety by an 84-piece orchestra and 80-voice choir live and in sync with this extraordinary film.
THE EMPIRE OF SCENTS (LE NEZ): FILM & DINNER |24 March
Film plus Two course tasting menu with matched wines. Following the screening enjoy a specially crafted meal inspired by scent at the GOMA Restaurant devised by Head Chef Aaron Holt and hear from sensory scientist Dr Sandra Olarte Mantilla (University of Queensland) as well as commentary by a guest sommelier to guide diners through a unique evening of food and wine.
THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS (2017) | 25 March
SCREENING & TALK
Exploring the true story of an African-American woman who became the unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s. This special event screening will be followed by a talk by research scientist Professor Jennifer Stow (University of Queensland) who will discuss the incredible impact Henrietta Lacks’s cells have had on cancer research.
BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY 2016 | 25 March
Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr came to fame in the 1930s and 40s. She was often billed as the ‘world’s most beautiful woman’. In 1941 she invented a radio system which became the technological precursor to WiFi and Bluetooth. The documentary includes audio interviews with Lamarr and builds a compelling narrative of her life from a Jewish émigré who escaped her marriage to an arms dealer in Nazi Austria to Hollywood icon who became an inventor who fought to overcome the stigma of her beauty and gain recognition for her brains.
LE NEZ (The Empire of Scents) 2014 | 21 March
Le Nez (also known as The Empire of Scents) poetically captures the profound impact smell has on our memory, emotions and our interaction with each other. From Turkish Saffron farmers to secretive Italian truffle hunters The Empire of Scents 2014 interviews a range of participants on their olfactory experience including chefs, perfumers and a writer who found losing her sense of smell changed her entire world. Astronaut Chris Hadfield describes the smell of space, a chef speaks of his desire to capture the fragrance of the sea that reminds him of his childhood and sommelier François Chartier, a pioneering researcher in food and wine harmonies, discusses the sound of flavours.
FERMENTED 2017 Fermentation is a guide to the beauty of rot. | 24 March
Celebrated chef Edward Lee travels across countries and cultures to explore the ancient art of fermentation. Exploring the process of making cheese, bread and charcuterie he also talks sauerkraut with fermentation guru Sandor Katz and the art of craft beer with brewing leader Nick Floyd. In the Japanese countryside he speaks with artisans who employ traditional fermentation methods for producing soy and miso that have been passed down and refined across many generations.
SHORTS FOR SHORTIES | 24 March |25 March
A selection of short animated films for ages two and over that playfully narrate the importance of environmental balance and the natural processes that underpin our world. A raindrop journeys from ground into sky in Achoo!; with hungry chicks to feed Eagle Blue is tempted by the rubbish of a nearby town, Casse-Croûte is a journey through a forest of creatures looking for a snack and in Papa Cloudy’s Orchestra Papa Cloudy enlists the help of his animal friends to save the polar bears’ home.
BEFORE THE FLOOD (2016) Leonardo Di Caprio Documentary Movie | 24 March
A passionate, rousing documentary on climate change hosted by long-time environmental advocate Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by documentary producer Fisher Stevens (The Cove).
THE FARTHEST 2017 (PG) | 23 March
In 1977 two spacecraft were launched to gather information on our solar system and planets then beyond into interstellar space. The spacecraft each hold a ‘Golden Record’, an audio recording designed to encapsulate who we are as the human race and carry a message to alien life. The film fascinatingly captures humanity’s deep yearning to know our place in the universe as well as our fragile hope to communicate with the unknown.
EXPERIMENTER: THE STANLEY MILGRAM STORY 2015 (M) | 23 March
In 1961 Professor Stanley Milgram of Yale University devised a radical new science experiment in which participants were asked to deliver a series of electric shocks to a stranger they could hear but not see in an adjacent room. The shocks, at first mild, increased to howls of pain as the experiment progressed. At a time when the world was reeling from World War II and desperate to understand Nazi torture chambers, Milgram’s behaviour experiments were designed to test the willingness of ordinary people to obey authoritative orders.
THE FARTHEST 2017 (Education Program) | 22-23 March
Documentary The Farthest 2017 delves into one of our most audacious scientific achievements: the Voyager mission into space. In 1977 two spacecraft were launched to gather information on our solar system and planets then beyond into interstellar space. The spacecraft each hold a ‘Golden Record,’ an audio recording designed to encapsulate who we are as the human race and carry a message to alien life. The film poetically captures humanity’s deep yearning to know our place in the universe as well as our fragile hope to communicate with the unknown.
LIFE, ANIMATED (PG)| 21 March
Owen Suskind, who at three years old, retreated from the world and stopped talking. Owen was later diagnosed as autistic and over the years his parents tried everything to communicate with him. The family reached an impossible-seeming breakthrough when they discovered that Owen’s passion for Disney animated movies held the key to speech and even a way for Owen to navigate the world.
World Science Festival Brisbane 2018
21–25 March 2018
Queensland Museum, Brisbane
www.worldsciencefestival.com.au
