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The Cinema Arts Program

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

Mar
2

A figure is silhouetted in front of a colorful display of projected light. Event: After Dark 3-2-2023
After Dark: Extended Cinemas

Thursday, March 2, 2023 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

The passive act of watching turns to listening, peering, touching, and interacting as Exploratorium Cinema Arts takes over museum spaces to provide experiences created by artists and filmmakers from the Bay Area and beyond.

Past Events

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. 

Saturday Cinema: Powers of Observation

Saturday, September 10, 2016 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

With a little patience, our powers of perception deliver information, surprises, and deeper understanding. Join us for a series of inspiring short films and watch as wonders are revealed.

Saturday Cinema: Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land

Saturday, August 27, 2016 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

From music to sculpture, Donald’s misconceptions about math are transformed through fun, whimsical, and (uh-oh!) educational vignettes.

After Dark: Thursday, August 18, 2016 After Dark: Thursday, August 18, 2016
Cinema Arts: Too Big for the Building

Thursday, August 18, 2016

This shorts program, inspired by Theo Jansen’s work, featured imaginative creatures and inventions that embodied a larger-than-life attitude. Lucky guests experienced cartoonish destruction, mechanical mayhem, and absurd inventions that were too big for the building—and took the movies outdoors.

Saturday Cinema: Endo Machina

Saturday, August 13, 2016

This collection of short films explored the poetry of mechanical motion with a series of cinematic portraits capturing the inner workings of various automated machines—from industrial glass bottle-makers to whimsical kinetic sculptures.

Botanicollage and Other Strategies: The Films of Caryn Cline

Sunday, July 24, 2016 • 4:30 p.m.

Caryn Cline handcrafts intimate films that reframe the familiar through experiments in scale and context. This free program showcases her “botanicollage” technique of creating direct animation films using botanical elements.

“Botanicollage” Filmmaking Workshop with Caryn Cline

Sunday, July 24, 2016

This extraordinary workshop with filmmaker Caryn Cline explored the “botanicollage” technique mastered by experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage.

After Dark: Thursday, July 21, 2016 After Dark: Thursday, July 21, 2016
Cinema Arts: A Boy’s Dream

Thursday, July 21, 2016

This film followed Jansen as he embarked on the beests’ first North American tour. Faced with the pragmatic needs of an ambitious tour, Jansen must confront his philosophical anxieties related to releasing his creatures to a wider audience and an art world with financial underpinnings, raising questions about the relationships between artists and their audiences.

After Dark: Thursday, July 14, 2016
Pairings and Cinema Arts

Thursday, July 14, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

Reinvent your Thursday nights at After Dark. Discover the emotional core of 1970s after-school specials with Jesse Hawthorne Ficks at Cinema Arts: Summer After-School Special, or take a global tour of insect cuisines with entomologist Ralph Washington, Jr. at Pairings.

After Dark: BYOBeest After Dark: BYOBeest: July 7, 2016
BYOBeest

Thursday, July 7, 2016

This event celebrated strandbeests and their mutant relations with a menagerie of creatures inspired by Theo Jansen’s kinetic art. Visitors encountered wondrous walking machines, and some brought a beest they built from a kit or from their own design. 

Theo Jansen Fixing a Joint (detail), Scheveningen, The Netherlands (2011). © Lena Herzog.
Saturday Cinema: Evolutionary Edges

Saturday, July 2, 2016

These short films were inspired by Theo Jansen’s passions and evocative, wind-powered beests. Elemental worlds of evolution, optics, and kinetics were explored through imaginative animations and immersive documentaries.

Cinema Arts: Cameraman's Revenge
Saturday Cinema: Unnatural Histories

Saturday, June 25, 2016

From real-life animals behaving in decidedly unnatural ways to faked biological explorations that teeter uncannily close to the real, this shorts program spanned more than a century of cinematic artistry.

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The Kanbar Forum
The Kanbar Forum

Experience our state-of-the-art venue for films, music, and more.

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For questions about the Exploratorium Cinema Arts Program, please contact us at:
cinemaarts@ exploratorium.edu

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