Masks are required for all visitors 2+. Vaccines recommended. Plan your visit
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.
Saturday, June 18–Monday, September 5, 2022
Celebrate the spirit of playfulness in moviemaking. These shorts explore creative uses of familiar materials, revealing imaginative landscapes, humorous inventions, and curious surprises.
Saturday, July 9, 2022 • 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. PT
An array of animated and kinetic short films explore the inventive ways that amateurs, artists, and tinkerers manipulate the moving image in surprising and/or captivating ways.
Saturday, July 16, 2022 • 1:00 p.m. PT
In celebration of our summer exhibition The Art of Tinkering, we are pleased to be joined by filmmaker Mark Decena for the Bay Area theatrical premiere Me & My Robot, which documents the 2018 World Robot Olympiad in Thailand.
October 1–30, 2015 • Dates and times vary. Please see description for details.
Simple, centuries-old technology reframes the recognizable San Francisco Bay in Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder’s Obscurus Projectum, a temporary art installation transforming the Exploratorium’s Kanbar Forum into a giant camera obscura.
Friday, September 18, 2015 • 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Discover the neuroscience and social science exploring the idea that we can shape who we are in The Science of Character (2014, 8 min.), a “cloud film” made collaboratively with people all over the world.
Saturday, July 18, 2015 • 2:00 p.m.
See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world, and explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. See fascinating stories of marine minutiae with the producers of KQED’s Deep Look YouTube series.
Saturday, July 11, 2015 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
Join us for a vibrant afternoon of unusual and unexpected film color. See celluloid images separated into RGB through lenses, filters, dyes, and elaborate technical processes, and then recombined into dazzling, artistic visions.
Thursday, June 18, 2015 • 7:00 p.m.
This intimate documentary follows a wayward pelican from her “arrest” on the Golden Gate Bridge into care at a wildlife rehabilitation facility, and from there explores pelicans’ nesting grounds, Pacific coast migration, and survival challenges.
Saturday, June 13, 2015 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
With the summer solstice just around the corner, pause to consider the shifts in the season and rejoice in the promise of summer.
Saturday, May 23, 2015 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
A family-friendly introduction to alternative cinema, this playful program features historic examples of avant-garde filmmaking as well as new works highlighting technological and narrative innovations.
Thursday, May 21, 2015 • 7:30 p.m.
A real-life science fiction movie, The Creeping Garden is a feature-length, creative documentary following the work of fringe scientists, mycologists, and artists engaged with the extraordinary plasmodial slime mold.
Saturday, May 16, 2015 • 2:00 p.m.
Students from Cal State Monterey Bay’s environmental filmmaking class present five short documentaries about endangered species.
Thursday, May 14, 2015 • 7:00 p.m.
Counting from Infinity is a study of Zhang's unexpected and unconventional rise from obscurity and a disadvantaged youth to mathematical celebrity.
Saturday, May 9, 2015 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
Short animations illustrate the complexities of mothers’ relationships with their children, and historic home movies highlight immediately recognizable aspects of the universal family experience.
Saturday, May 2, 2015 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.
Unexpected twists, red herrings, and visual trickery take center stage in this surprising collection.