STUNNING STORIES OF SCIENCE & TECH @ SUNDANCE NOW

At Sundance, the Alfred P. Sloan Prize is awarded to the best film either focused on science and technology or with scientists, mathematicians, or engineers as major characters. The goal is to increase public visibility and understanding of science and technology.

The winning film receives the award and a $20,000 prize from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Recent projects to come through Sloan's development pipeline include: Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game, which received Sloan development funding through the Tribeca Film Institute. The 2014 Sloan Prize winner was Mark Cahill’s magnificent film I Origins.

Here are highlights from the 2015 contenders.

RACING EXTINCTION

In his new film, Racing Extinction, Academy Award-winning director Louie Psihoyos (The Cove) presents never-before-seen images that expose issues surrounding endangered species and mass extinction.

Psihoyos collaborates with scientists, nature photographers, and activists, to tell a poignant story about the destruction of nearly  one half of the world’s animal species.

The filmmaking team infiltrates black markets trading in both live endangered animals and their harvested parts. They dig deep into humanity’s negative impacts on the environment. And the promote not only a call for awareness, but also a call of action.

Despite its dire clarion, Racing Extinction, does focus on the positive. It reminds of the beauty of birds singing to their mates and whales conversing across vast swaths of ocean. It reminds us about the gorgeous imperative we have to sustain the lives of all remaining species on our planet in order to sustain our own lives.

Majorly funded by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Productions, the film follows activists whom, Psihoyos calls real-life superheroes, as they target the bad guys and offer us all ideas about what we each might do to stop the carnage.

THE VISIT

Presented as a “documentary from outer space,” The Visit, directed by Michael Madsen, films an event that never took place: a human encounter with intelligent extraterrestrials -- purportedly, its first.

The film focuses on the fictional UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, in a make believe UN-city within the city of Vienna, in the 1970s. It opens, as an animal reacts to the arrival of something unknown. A phone rings… and life, as humans know it, is about to change…

"Our scenario begins with the arrival. Your arrival."

ADVANTAGEOUS

Advantageous is a new sci-fi feature film, set in 2041, when poverty has been cured by economic excess.

Gwen and her daughter Jules, struggle to hold onto happiness as advances in artificial intelligence and neuroscience begin to destabilize the world around and the impact of singularity begins to significantly affect the lives of women and girls, in particular.

Beautifully shot and composed, the film was directed by Jennifer Phang, co-written with actor Jacqueline Kim, and funded through kickstarter.

THE AMINA PROFILE

The Amina Profile, directed by Sophie Deraspe, is both a love story and an international sociopolitical thriller. Amina Araff, a Syrian-American revolutionary, is having a virtual affair with a Montreal-based woman, Sandra Bagaria.

At the onset of the recent Syrian uprising, Arraf launches a blog called A Gay Girl in Damascus, which soon gains a huge following. As a result, she is abducted, allegedly by the Syrian secret police, which sparks an international movement, led by Bagaria, to save her from imminent atrocities.

The underlying theme of internet technology, enabling both the online affair and the gathering social storm, isn’t new, but it is presented here with fervor. The stunning cinematography, deep sensuality and passion, all throb to the beat of the revolution.

MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED

Most Likely to Succeed, directed by Greg Whiteley, tackles educational issues currently plaguing the United States, as now, more than half of all college graduates find themselves unprepared for the 21st century, unable to find employment.

The film investigates ideas about how this negative trend might be turned around. It proposes that the source of the problem is not so much a fault of our economy, but rather in our archaic educational system.

While technology and the outsourcing of labor have radically changed our marketplaces, and skills such as collaboration and critical thinking are now more important than ever, teaching methodologies have not kept pace.

As one promising example of a new paradigm, Most Likely to Succeed follows the stories of charter schools, like San Diego's High Tech High, which has found some success with project-based learning and a student-focused curriculum. The beautiful love of learning is reignited. We can only hope that the fire will spread.

SAM KLEMKE’S TIME MACHINE

When 17-year old American Sam Klemke decided to record his life story by filming every day of his life for the next 4 decades, it was merely a fascination with film’s ability to capture a story in real time. Without another sense of purpose, Klemke later finds himself with hundreds of hours of footage that beg the question of “why?”

Directed by Matthew Bate, Sam Klemke’s Time Machine explores the nature of humanity as it navigates successes and failures, with both narcissism and touching moments, to create a beautiful film that can teach us about more than simply one man’s life.

Z FOR ZACHARIAH

Set against a post-apocalyptic backdrop, Z for Zachariah is a film about three survivors who, out of dire necessity, form a love triangle, fraught with that structure’s typical melodramas, done with a fresh spin.

Part thriller, part romance, the story of Z for Zachariah deals with issues of jealousy, possession, and survival through its penetrating look into the beauty and ugliness of human nature.

This week we are celebrating Beautiful Stories, with most of our posts featuring films and performances making their debut right now at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. BeautifulNow will be bringing you stories on location, live from the Festival, so stay tuned here for posts and check our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr pages and BeautifulNow Sundance page for live updates.

Read more about Beautiful Stories, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including 10 Beautiful Stories Told Through New Films @ Sundance Now.                            

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Stories in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 02.1.15. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!

PHOTO CREDITS:

1. Image: Courtesy of the Ocean Preservation Society. Racing Extinction.
2. Image: Courtesy of the Ocean Preservation Society. Racing Extinction.
3. Image: Courtesy of the Ocean Preservation Society. Racing Extinction.
4. Image: Courtesy of Autlook Film Sales. The Visit.
5. Image: Courtesy of Autlook Film Sales. The Visit.
6. Image: Courtesy of Advantageous. Advantageous.
7. Image: Courtesy of Advantageous. Advantageous.
8. Image: Courtesy of Chicken Eggs Pics. The Amina Profile.
9. Image: Courtesy of One Potato Productions. Most Likely to Succeed.
10. Image: Courtesy of Visit Films. Sam Klemke’s Time Machine.
11. Image: Courtesy of Zik Zak Filmworks. Z For Zachariah.