Women of Science

House of Grucci(en)

An illuminating look inside the lives of the Grucci family, whose Long Island-based fireworks business has been lighting up night skies around the world with spectacular displays since the 1800s.

Microcosmos(fr)

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

Root of All Evil?(en)

In this two-part Channel 4 series, Professor Richard Dawkins challenges what he describes as 'a process of non-thinking called faith'. He describes his astonishment that, at the start of the 21st century, religious faith is gaining ground in the face of rational, scientific truth. Science, based on scepticism, investigation and evidence, must continuously test its own concepts and claims. Faith, by definition, defies evidence: it is untested and unshakeable, and is therefore in direct contradiction with science. In addition, though religions preach morality, peace and hope, in fact, says Dawkins, they bring intolerance, violence and destruction. The growth of extreme fundamentalism in so many religions across the world not only endangers humanity but, he argues, is in conflict with the trend over thousands of years of history for humanity to progress to become more enlightened and more tolerant.

Kingdom of Saturn: Cassini's Epic Quest(en)

Before the joint NASA/ESA Cassini-Huygens mission, humanity only knew what had been learned, decades earlier, with the previous limited, rapid "fly-by" Pioneer and Voyager missions. Cassini-Huygens spent more than 13 years in wildly varied orbits around Saturn, allowing the spacecraft to pass near many of its moons, as well as execute a soft-landing of its Huygens lander on the moon Titan. By mission end, it accumulated a mountain of imagery and scientific data that will continue to be studied for years to come. This film is a testament to the amazing efforts of the scientists who planned and executed the mission. It combines breathtaking images, movies, and a variety of animations to take the viewer into Saturn's complex system of rings and moons, as well as stepping viewers through some of the more exciting scientific discoveries made over the course of the elaborately complex mission.

Small Town Universe(en)

An intimate portrait of life in Green Bank, West Virginia, home to the world's most sensitive radio telescope and the only U.S. town where Wi-Fi and cell phones are banned. In this radio-quiet community, scientists search for signs of extraterrestrial life while residents share everyday moments of joy and loss. But when government defunding threatens the telescope's future, the town must consider which connections matter most.

Lise Meitner: The Mother of the Atom Bomb(de)

To historians, physicist Lise Meitner deserves to be placed on a par with Einstein, Heisenberg and Otto Hahn. In the 1930s on the verge of World War II, she led a small group of scientists who discovered that splitting the atomic nucleus of uranium releases enormous energy. This extraordinary film tells the story of a woman who was far ahead of her time as a scientist and a pioneer of feminism.

WEED(en)

This 1971 color anti-drug use and abuse film was produced by Concept Films and directed by Brian Kellman for Encyclopedia Britannica. “Weed: The Story of Marijuana” combines time-lapse, montage, illustrations, animation (by Paul Fierlinger and emigre Pavel Vošický) and dramatized, documentary-style interviews to survey the evolving role of cannabis in U.S. society, with emphasis on the legal risks faced by young people. A unique score of experimental synthesizer music is provided by Tony Luisi on an EMS VCS 3 “Putney”

Attacking the Devil: Harold Evans and the Last Nazi War Crime(en)

Before the internet. Before social media. Before breaking news. The victims of Thalidomide had to rely on something even more extraordinary to fight their corner: Investigative journalism. This is the story of how Harold Evans fought and won the battle of his and many other lives.

The Meteor(sv)

A large iron meteorite is found by two enthusiasts. But who owns it? A subtle film about property rights that develops into a philosophical and slightly absurd story.

Perseverance, une année sur Mars(fr)

Testerep(en)

A team of scientists search for the lost island of Testerep in front of the Belgian coast, venturing into artificial landscapes and virtual realities.

Solaride: Courage to Do the Impossible(et)

The Estonian national team is the first Baltic team to participate in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, the solar car world championship in Australia. This is a competition with a 35-year history, which has been launched to push the boundaries of both green technology and the capabilities of young talents. The documentary follows young Estonian engineers and software developers and tells the story through their eyes of how the solar car is developed, built and prepared for the challenge in one of the most complex competitions in the world. Young people have to face tough competition conditions, technical and mental challenges and competitors from the world's top universities.

Under The Shoreline(en)

With rising sea levels, land reclamation runs rampant in Singapore. Labrador Park is one such waterfront facing this change, and both the ecosystem and frequent fishermen have often been overlooked. This documentary seeks to explore the park's development from a scientific, economic and sociological perspective, produced in collaboration with SOTA and NUS.

Cosmic Dawn(en)

For over three decades, NASA and an international team of scientists and engineers pushed the limits of technology, innovation, and perseverance to build and launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful space observatory ever created. Cosmic Dawn brings audiences behind the scenes with the Webb film crew, and never-before-heard testimonies revealing the real story of how this telescope overcame all odds.

The Magical World of Moss(fr)

They have no roots, no seeds, no flowers, but mosses show immense survival capacities and can suspend their biological activity for long periods. Today, researchers are exploring the exceptional resistance of these archaic organisms. British ecologists have even resurrected a "zombie" moss that has been trapped in the permafrost for 1,500 years. Associated with decay and disliked in Europe, mosses are deified in Japan. With 25,000 species worldwide, bryophytes - their scientific name - are the seat of real ecosystems, and can develop in inhospitable landscapes, through an extravagant reproduction cycle.

The Venom Interviews(en)

A crash course in the professional and scientific work related to the field of venomous herpetology. The film covers diverse topics, including biochemistry, biology, law and public policy, conservation, venom collection, animal husbandry, antivenom production, emergency medicine, veterinary medicine, toxicology and toxinology. The film follows the personal and working lives of prominent experts in the field, beginning with their childhood interest through their professional careers, with particular emphasis on the sciences related to their work.

Red Glory(en)

Documentary about humankind’s first walk on the moon with Apollo 11, NASA’s first test mission of Orion for beyond low-space orbit, and Mars 1, the upcoming first manned mission to the red planet.

Free Will(en)

An in-depth investigation featuring world renowned philosophers and scientists into the most profound philosophical debate of all time: Do we have free will?

Hawking: Can You Hear Me?(en)

A documentary telling the remarkable human story of Stephen Hawking. For the first time, the personal archives and the testimonies of his closest family reveal both the scale of Hawking's triumphs and the real cost of his disability and success.

Why Dinosaurs?(en)

A dinosaur-obsessed teen and his filmmaker father travel the world interviewing paleontologists about the latest discoveries, tracking down the crew of Jurassic Park, digging up 150-million-year-old bones, and meeting dino fanatics of all walks of life.