This grant provides ongoing support for the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), to maintain and improve the Sloan Science & Film website, scienceandfilm.org, for a further three years. The website, led by Sonia Epstein, remains the most up-to-date, comprehensive resource for the Sloan Film Program, and also offers over 200 articles and interviews with science filmmakers, plus an additional 20 articles about film written by scientists. Grant funds will allow MoMI to publish two new articles on the Sloan Science & Film site each week, for a total of 250 over the grant period; commission over 20 original articles by research scientists; produce at least 8 Science on Screen public events annually; curate at least one science-themed gallery exhibition at the museum; update the site with new Sloan-winning media; promote and disseminate a short film teacher’s guide and a feature film companion guide; form partnerships with science and cultural institutions; represent the initiative at festivals and events; host annual networking events, produce a lookbook of Sloan-winning films; produce a development catalog to become a community resource for the Sloan film community; and award the 2022 Sloan Student Prizes.

This grant provides continuing support for a series of activities by SFFILM, the organization that hosts the annual SFFILM Festival, to nurture, develop, and champion films that explore scientific or technological themes and characters. Supported activities include the awarding of two $35,000 Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowships each year to promising feature film or episodic screenwriters who are exploring scientific or technological themes in their work. SFFILM also gives an annual award, the Sloan Science in Cinema Prize, to the best science-themed feature film submitted to the San Francisco Film Festival and promotes the winning film at the festival with a ceremony, screening, post-screening panel, and reception. SFFILM compiles the Sloan Stories of Science Sourcebook, which includes the best science stories and the most up-to-date scientific discoveries of the year and offers awards to two filmmakers who can develop original scripts based on these stories or ideas. Lastly, SFFILM partners with the Black List to identify promising science-themed scripts and bring them to the attention of developers, producers, and other film industry executives. Grant funds support these activities and associated operational costs for the next two years.

This grant provides three additional years of support for a program at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama (CMU) that exposes top dramatic writing students to science and technology and awards prizes to student screenwriters who write science- or technology-themed scripts. The CMU program includes a fall symposium that brings scientists to the drama school to introduce students to recent developments in a variety of scientific disciplines; a year-long screenwriting workshop that meets weekly and focuses on the challenges and opportunities posed by incorporating science into dramatic or comedic narratives, a mentorship program that pairs film students with working scientists to help them depict science accurately in their work, an annual screenwriting competition that awards $45,000 total per year to the three best science-themed scripts submitted, and a yearly showcase in Los Angeles and New York to bring student filmmakers into contact with leading producers, directors, and distributors in the film and television industry.

The Sundance Film Institute hosts the Sundance Film Festival, the largest and most prestigious showcase of independent cinema in the U.S.  First held in 1978, the festival remains the first choice for both emerging and established independent filmmakers to premiere their work and an offers an unrivaled venue to showcase innovative filmmaking at the intersection of science and cinema. This grant supports a suite of awards and activities each year that have resulted in a widely recognized and fruitful 20-year partnership: the Sloan Commissioning Grant; the Sloan Episodic Fellowship; the Sloan Development Fellowship; the annual Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize (one of only six juried prizes at the Festival); a high-profile panel discussion with scientists and filmmakers; and a reception celebrating the Sloan winners at the Festival.

The Coolidge Corner Theatre is an independent cinema in Brookline, Massachusetts specializing in international, documentary, animated, and independent film selections. The Coolidge is also the leader of Science on Screen, a nationwide network of independent cinemas that invite scientific experts to screenings of popular or cult classic films to discuss with audiences the scientific or technological themes or issues the film raises. The series offers an unexpected, informative, and entirely fun entree into the relationship between science and film. Previous events used the zombie classic Night of the Living Dead as a springboard to discuss the role of the amygdala in cognitive processes and a screening of Fight Club as the beginning of the discussion of the roots of aggression. Grant funds will allow the Coolidge to make grants to 56 local theatres, bringing the total number of independent cinema houses that have participated in Science on Screen to well over 100. In addition, the Coolidge will promote the series through a new digital newsletter, a video for the National Week of Science on Screen, partnerships and sponsorships, and online marketing efforts.

This grant supports science and technology programming at the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Foundation-supported programming will include screenings of Oscar nominated and winning films focused on science and scientists, a selection of talks and panel discussions with filmmakers and scientists, and an exhibit exploring the accomplishments of six Black visual effects artists. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, host of the Academy Awards and a membership organization for preeminent film professionals, is opening this new museum in Los Angeles as the definitive showcase devoted to the art, science, and myriad creators of cinema. It will occupy 300,000 square feet across two buildings, including six floors of exhibition galleries and public spaces and two theaters, and will reach an estimated 600,000 visitors in its first year.