exploratorium

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.

Daytime Tickets
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Plan Your Visit

Upcoming Events
At Home: Prelinger Archives Home Movie Collection

Tuesday, January 7–Sunday, February 2, 2020

These selections showcase personal stories with universal appeal. From families traveling to far-flung landscapes to birthday parties for toddlers, these intimate films made by strangers feel quite familiar.

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Cinema Arts: Color Visions

Saturday, February 1, 2020 • Noon and 2:00 p.m.

In this collection of shorts, watch vibrant colors pop off the screen that reflect the pigments of the natural world, conjure saturated landscapes, and creatively display the rainbow spectrum. 

Feb
2
Cinema Arts: Color Visions

Sunday, February 2, 2020 • Noon and 2:00 p.m.

In this collection of shorts, watch vibrant colors pop off the screen that reflect the pigments of the natural world, conjure saturated landscapes, and creatively display the rainbow spectrum. 

Past Events
Off the Screen: Impossible Light

Thursday, September 25, 2014 • 7:30 p.m.

Gather outside on the Exploratorium Bay Observatory Terrace to watch the drama of creating The Bay Lights installation unfold in the new documentary Impossible Light, while the artwork itself glimmers just beyond the screen.
Saturday Cinema: Experimental Films by Kids from the Film-Makers’ Cooperative

Saturday, September 20, 2014 • 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.

This program focuses on two nearly forgotten films from the collection of the New York–based Film-Makers’ Cooperative. Created by youths raised by artists, their works demonstrate levels of skill and complexity that belie their ages.
Off the Screen: Technicolor N.G.

Thursday, September 18, 2014 • 8:00 p.m.

The haunting effects of a Technicolor printing error take center stage in this performance and talk by John Klacsmann and Walter Forsberg. In Technicolor N.G., a misprinted Western reveals cyan ghosts and cinema’s psychedelic underpinnings.
Saturday Cinema: The Mascot

Saturday, September 6, 2014 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

One of the greatest short films ever made, The Mascot is an inventive stop-motion animation featuring a troupe of charismatic puppets and a stuffed dog’s quest to bring his dying owner an orange.
Saturday Cinema: Exploratorium!

Saturday, August 30, 2014 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

Join us for a glimpse of the Exploratorium’s early years with the 1974 film Exploratorium. Commissioned by founder Frank Oppenheimer, the film presents a tone poem of space in motion foregrounded by exhibits and visitor interactions, highlighting innovation and wonder.
Off the Screen: Imagine Science Film Festival

Friday, August 22, 2014 • 7:00 p.m.

New York–based Imagine Science Films brings their first West Coast program to the Exploratorium. “Experiments on Film” presents inventive takes on the science experiment. The evening concludes with an informal panel discussion.
Saturday Cinema: Kinder Kino with Canyon Cinema

Saturday, August 16, 2014 • 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.

For decades, San Francisco–based Canyon Cinema has been a key distributor of avant-garde and artist-made films. This mind-expanding program introduces audiences to the pleasures of experimental cinema.
Saturday Cinema: Things

Saturday, August 9, 2014 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

Uncover the charisma of everyday objects. From artful studies of the complex ways that seemingly simple objects are constructed to comical glimpses of people clearing paths through clutter, these films focus on stuff.
Saturday Cinema: Spin

Saturday, August 2, 2014 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

From tops to turntables, these films take objects for a whirl. Featured filmmakers create and record spinning motion to present dizzying views of the world.
Saturday Cinema: Serious Fun

Saturday, July 26, 2014 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

Full of mischief, tomfoolery, and whimsy, these cinematic spectacles lend gravity to levity, inspiring curiosity and a deeper engagement with our natural impulse to play.
Saturday Cinema: Seeing Sounds

Saturday, July 19, 2014 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

Treat your eyes to an earful with these synaesthetic shorts. Translating sound into responsive and harmonized imagery, these works of visual music revolve around innovative and memorable soundtracks
Off the Screen: Madison Brookshire—Selected Works

Thursday, July 17, 2014 • 7:00 p.m.

Los Angeles–based artist Madison Brookshire presents a two-part program of his cinematic works concluding with his ambitious, cameraless Color Series. Exploring the tactile elements of the cinematic experience, Brookshire’s films produce complex, unexpected physical reactions.

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