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Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Coolidge Corner Theatre Announce 2013 Science on Screen Grant Recipients

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Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Coolidge Corner Theatre Announce 2013 Science on Screen Grant Recipients

Popular Program That Pairs Films with Science Speakers Continues Successful National Expansion as 20 Independent U.S. Cinemas Receive $140,000 in Grants

Brookline, MA,  - The Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation recently named the 20 independent nonprofit cinemas that will receive grants to participate in the national Science on Screen initiative. Originating in 2005 with and overseen by Boston’s Coolidge Corner Theatre, Science on Screen pairs film screenings with lively discussions by science and technology experts. Each film serves as a jumping off point for the speaker to explore a related science or technology topic in a way that engages popular culture audiences.

Past programming examples have included marrying Wes Anderson’s quirky coming-of-age tale Rushmore with a presentation on the adolescent brain. Another popular installment paired It Came From Beneath the Sea, the 1955 creature feature in which a gigantic octopus terrorizes San Francisco, with a talk on cephalopod biology.

This year’s Science on Screen grant recipients span the U.S, and represent markets large and small, from Los Angeles, CA to Athens, OH.  The 2013 grantees are as follows: Amherst Cinema, Amherst, MA, Athena Cinema, Athens, OH, Athens Ciné, Athens, GA, Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, TN, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Brooklyn, NY, California Film Institute, San Rafael, CA, Cinefamily, Los Angeles, CA, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM, Coral Gables Art Cinema, Coral Gables, FL, Dairy Centre for the Arts, Boulder, CO, Enzian Theatre, Maitland, FL, Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul, Minneapolis, MN, Hollywood Theatre, Portland, OR, Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, NY, The Little Theatre, Rochester, NY, Michigan Theater , Ann Arbor, MI, Nickelodeon Theatre, Columbia, SC, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, SIFF Cinema, Seattle, WA, and The State Theatre of Modesto, Modesto, CA.

“We are delighted to join Coolidge in expanding its pioneering Science on Screen program to dozens of independent theaters across the country and to offer the filmmakers we support a wonderful distribution channel for their work,” said Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “This original viewing of popular films through a scientific lens shows how science and technology permeate not just every aspect of modern life but also the very structure of the cinematic imagination and mise en scene.”

Recipient theaters create their own programming that takes advantage of scientific resources in their communities. Georgia’s Athens Ciné screened Sleepwalk with Me followed by a discussion on sleep disorders by a Georgia State neurological and sleep impairment expert. Hartford’s Real Art Ways paired a Yale University seismologist with 1990’s Tremors. At Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theatre, a University of Michigan physicist discussed the physics of baseball (complete with live demonstrations using a beach ball and leaf blower) at a sold-out screening of Moneyball.

Each grantee receives $7,000 and is required to implement at least three Science on Screen programs over the course of the 10-month grant period.  At least one of the films shown must be a past recipient of the annual Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology—such as Steven Bernstein’s Decoding Annie Parker, Diane Bell’s Obselidia, and Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly—or the recipient of a Sloan Screenplay Development grant—such as Rob Meyer’s A Birder’s Guide to Everything, Jenny Deller’s Future Weather, Jake Schreier’s Robot & Frank, and Andrew Bujalksi’s Computer Chess.

Since the program expanded nationally in 2011, the Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have awarded 48 Science on Screen grants totaling $336,000.

About the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

The New York based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, founded in 1934, makes grants in science, technology, and economic performance. Sloan’s program in public understanding of science and technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, theater and new media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience.

Sloan’s Film Program encourages filmmakers to create more realistic and accurate stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination.  Over the past 15 years, Sloan has partnered with some of the top film schools in the country – including AFI, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, NYU, UCLA and USC – and established annual awards in screenwriting and film production, along with an annual best-of-the best Student Grand Jury Prize administered by the Tribeca Film Institute  The Foundation also supports screenplay development programs at Sundance, Tribeca, Hamptons International Film Festival and Film Independent’s Producer’s Lab and has developed such film projects as Rob Meyer’s A Birder’s Guide to Everything, Musa Syeed’s Valley of Saints, and Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess.

The Foundation also has an active theater program and commissions over a dozen science plays each year from the Ensemble Studio Theater and Manhattan Theatre Club as well as supporting select productions across the country. Recent grants have supported Nell Benjamin’s The Explorer’s Club, Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, Sharr White’s The Other Place, Lucas Hnath’s Isaac’s Eye, and Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51.

About the Coolidge Corner Theatre

The Coolidge Corner Theatre is one of the nation’s most prominent independently operated movie theatres, run by the not-for-profit Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation. A beloved movie house, the Coolidge has been pleasing audiences with the best in cinematic entertainment since 1933. In addition to contemporary art house and independent film, the Coolidge presents the prestigious annual Coolidge Award, Science on Screen, high-definition broadcasts of live opera, ballet, and theater performances, Big Screen Classics, midnight screenings, kids’ programs, and sneak previews and discussion of upcoming films as part of Talk Cinema. The Coolidge has won numerous awards and honors for its creative programming. Contact for Sloan Foundation:

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