The fifteen-year existence of the international film festival of popular science films proves that the popularization of science has its supporters across generations. Every autumn, CZU students, employees, and people from the surrounding area look forward to a screening of documentaries that will introduce them to the mysterious realm of science. It occurs in a funny and accessible way. However, the filmmakers' sights are ultimately on deeper issues, as this year's festival theme, "The Immersion", suggests. Prague Science Film Fest takes place in the CZU auditorium from 20 to 23 October.
For the jubilee year of the film festival, the organizers have prepared a selection of top documentaries from around the world, virtual reality screenings, and, as a bonus, a lecture by Czech Television presenter Daniel Stach in the university auditorium. A record 2,830 films from around the world entered the competition. Choosing the best from such a large number was definitely not easy. In the end, 21 films will compete in two competition sections: the International Competition and the Short Film Competition.
"We will entrust the evaluation of the films to a jury composed of leading representatives of our faculties and a student jury, where students from all six faculties and the CZU institute are involved. Thanks to this, the festival gains a dimension that connects experience with a young perspective," says Karolína Otcová, project coordinator for CZU.
How do you read pigs' emotions? What is it like in an aquarium, and how about addiction?
We can get answers to these and other questions at some of the festival screenings, or learn more from subsequent discussions with scientists and people who deal with the issue.
For example, the film Do Pigs Grunt in Bliss? is about research that used AI to decipher the sounds of domestic pigs, Kratom Collectors is about a comprehensive look at a widespread drug, and Fasting, a New Path of Medicine is about the benefits and risks of stopping eating for two weeks. The documentary Light Darkness Light shows what it is like to see again after thirty years, thanks to a new type of implant.
An attractive point of this year's program will be the presentation of virtual reality and several top VR films. For example, viewers will create a coral reef using only their phone, discover the real corals' beauty, and learn many interesting things about their ecosystems.
"A scientific documentary is one of the ways to communicate a wide range of research and social topics. It would seem that its domain is argumentation using images and sound. But what methods can a film use to affect all our senses? How can it allow us to immerse ourselves in it and move from the cinema hall to anywhere on the planet and beyond?" asks the festival director and chief dramaturg Zdeněk Rychtera.
According to him, the answers to the questions will start to surface when the cinema hall turns into a giant aquarium. "Together we will put oxygen tanks on our backs and through the goggles we will see that the film is much closer to diving than we thought."
Accompanying program for the public
Film workshops for students and the public from the MyStreetFilms workshop will also return. We can look forward to an outdoor screening for the first time in the festival's history. On the evening of Monday, 20 October, viewers in the area in front of the auditorium will watch the milestone action film Mad Max: Fury 7, which will show how to work with immersion and an engaging viewing experience outside of VR goggles. Daniel Stach's lecture in the CZU auditorium will open a discussion on how to communicate science through the media and how film can inspire and educate across generations. The unique atmosphere of the Prague Science Film Fest will traditionally enhance the environment of the "greenest" campus in the Czech Republic, in Prague-Suchdol.
Festival program HERE.
