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The Cinema Arts Program

Approaching movies as an active viewing experience, staff in the Cinema Arts Program view the projection screen as a portal to investigation. We engage with filmmakers who create works that inspire the imagination and instigate conversation. Animation, documentary, poetic observations, and abstract visuals serve a broad spectrum of curious audiences while blending the methods and aesthetics of artists and scientists. Through our programming, we aim to provide an opportunity for visitors to explore the compelling people, places, and ideas that extend through the museum and beyond. Our collection of films and events offer a rich resource for public audiences, and also provide an important research collection for both our teaching programs and exhibit development teams.

Upcoming Events

Film still from Attraction by Emily Scaife
Glow Cinema: Illuminated Frames

Thursday, November 17, 2022–Sunday, January 29, 2023

The dimmed atmosphere of the microcinema sets the perfect scene to luxuriate in these abstract, transportive, and luminescent motion pictures.

Past Events

After Dark: Thursday, November 17, 2016
Cinema Arts and Everything Matters

Thursday, November 17, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

See Occupy the Farm, a film about the controversy surrounding a publicly owned local research farm. Also, consider sulfur’s ancient reputation, essential role in cell biology, and current promise in rechargeable battery research in Everything Matters: Sulfur. Plus, have dinner and drinks by the Bay, crawl through our Tactile Dome, play with exhibits, and explore. 

Gibson + Recoder: Powers of Resolution

Friday, November 11–Sunday, December 18, 2016 • See below for viewing hours

Lightplay—a series of artists engagements focused on light interventions—begins with Gibson + Recoder: Powers of Resolution, which celebrates the elusive and delicate beauty revealed through immersive experiences with light.

After Dark: Thursday, November 10, 2016
Cinema Arts and Pairings

Thursday, November 10, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

Join us as Cinema Arts presents Attention, a world premiere of new work by Pamela Z with the Del Sol String Quartet. Also tonight, cultivate a taste for science through food at Pairings: Long Live the Olive. Plus, explore our pitch-black Tactile Dome, hundreds of exhibits, and an array of demonstrations. 

La Région Decentrale (2016): A Prepared Projection Performance for Michael Snow’s La Région Centrale (1971) by Gibson + Recoder

Tuesday, November 8, 2016 7:30 p.m.

Crafted from the four reels of Michael Snow’s three-hour masterwork of structuralist cinema La Région Centrale, La Région Decentrale condenses, reframes, and restructures Snow’s work into an expanded cinema experiment. 

Saturday Cinema: Spooky Celluloid

Saturday, October 29, 2016 • 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.

Get ready for some Halloween mischief! Experience the classics with your kids as Felix the Cat, Betty Boop, and creepy characters appear on in stories filled with fright and delight.
Members-Only Screening: Spooky Celluloid

Saturday, October 29, 2016
10:30 a.m. | Spooky Festivities and Treats
10:45 a.m. | Costume Parade
11:00 a.m. | Film Screening

Accordionist Rob Reich plays along with classic animations to set the mood for Halloween mischief. Felix the Cat, Betty Boop, and others appear in stories filled with fright as well as delight.

After Dark: Thursday, October 27, 2016
Cinema Arts and Full-Spectrum Science

Thursday, October 27, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

Join us for a Cinema Arts shorts program—outside on the Embarcadero. And if you’ve ever wondered where your flying car is, find out at Full-Spectrum Science. Also, explore our pitch-black Tactile Dome and an array of demonstrations.
Saturday Cinema: Eye Sight

Saturday, October 22, 2016 • Noon and 2:00 pm

Explore optical mechanisms through our classic Explainer-led demonstrations—creating your own pinhole camera and viewing a cow eye dissection—and a short film that revels in the aesthetic wonder of light and sight.

After Dark: Thursday, October 20, 2016
Cinema Arts and Everything Matters

Thursday, October 20, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

Learn the novel and nefarious uses of phosphorus at Everything Matters, or take a look at revolutionary visual storytelling from the ’60s and ’70s in the Cinema Arts program Seasons of Unrest: Activist Filmmaking in the Vietnam Era. Also, enjoy our pitch-black Tactile Dome, hundreds of exhibits, and an array of demonstrations. 

Saturday Cinema: Made to Persuade, Part II

Saturday, October 8, 2016 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

Investigate merry ways animation has been drafted to deliver targeted messages, from questionable paeans to industry to the patriotic—and occasionally subversive—WWII adventures of Donald Duck.
Saturday Cinema: Made to Persuade, Part I

Saturday, September 17, 2016 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

In this lighthearted program, explore how films convince us to believe what we see, whether by using beloved cartoon characters or cleverly edited ruses that blend fiction and nonfiction together.
The Sea Ranch Songs

Thursday, September 15, 2016 • 7:30 p.m.

The Sea Ranch Songs is a lush contemporary composition by composer Aleksandra Vrebalov performed by Kronos Quartet that features documented sounds from the coastal community, coupled with an evocative cinematic exploration by videographer Andrew Lyndon.

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. 

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