Science on Screen Festival 2021- Film Schedule

Feature Film: Cooked: Survival By Zip Code

In 1995, Chicago was hit by an extreme, record-breaking heat wave, so hot that roads melted, rail lines warped, and the lives of 739 residents were lost in a single week; mostly poor, African-American, and elderly residents. Using this tragedy as a springboard, this searing, offbeat doc connects the dots to more recent natural disasters, provocatively exploring the ways in which class, race and zip code predetermine our chances of survival during environmental crises and asking why we don’t treat that as a disaster.

To view the trailer – please click here

Short Documentary:  “Science in Exile” | TWAS

This short documentary follows the stories of four scientists in developing countries, committed to a life of research. Focused on fields ranging from agriculture to climate change and medical care to economics, they are pursuing discoveries and innovations that will improve life for the people in their countries, and their regions. It explores how recent violence in Syria, Yemen and Iraq has threatened the lives of these researchers, forcing them to suspend their work and flee their homelands. The same decision has confronted uncounted thousands of their colleagues globally – scientists, engineers, doctors and medical researchers, advanced science students. To view the trailer – please click here

The Patient Effect

Directed by Mia Mullarkey and produced by Alice McDowell both of Iskha Films, this Irish documentary follows three personal stories, which reflect the power of including public and patient voices in planning and conducting research. Paul Ryan, father to Sophia who was born premature at 25 weeks, is contributing to a major research programme called NEPTuNE – exploring the most effective methods to monitor and manage babies with neonatal brain injury.  Cameron Keighron lives with type 1 diabetes and has been heavily involved in developing a new way of delivering healthcare to young people with diabetes. Connecting up with Margaret Devaney and the Swinford Arthritis Walking Group has provided first-hand insight of the impact of chronic pain on their day-to-day life to medical device developers at NUI Galway, inspiring the latter in their research endeavours.

A Tiny Spark

Directed by Niamh Heery and produced by Caroline Kealy, with a mixture of dramatic first person accounts and beautiful animation sequences by Eric Dolan highlighting the functions of the various parts of the brain, A Tiny Spark is a film about science’s ability to affect real change for human life. A Tiny Spark focuses on stroke and cerebrovascular research being led by Neuroscientist, Dr Karen Doyle from CÚRAM and Galway Neuroscience Centre in NUI Galway, which involves analysis of removed blood clots to see what information they may yield.

Bittersweet

Bittersweet is a half-hour documentary film which follows the personal stories of young people who are living with diabetes and their daily struggle to manage it. It also follows the work that CÚRAM Investigator Prof David Brayden, based at UCD is carrying out to improve the treatment of the disease. BITTERSWEET is directed by Hugh Rodgers, and produced by Anna Rodgers and Zlata Filipovic, all of Invisible Thread Films.

Feats of Modest Valour

Tom, Milena and Brian live clockwork existences, dictated by a strict regime of medication and the challenging physical reality of living with Parkinson’s Disease. Meanwhile, Éilís and her team of scientists are developing a new medical device, which could potentially cure the devastating disease. Woven together with observation and animation, this short documentary invites you to witness the story of groundbreaking medical science and offers a contemplation of life and mortality. Co-directed and Co-produced by: Mia Mullarkey & Alice McDowell

Winner of the Scientist Award and runner-up People’s Choice Award at Imagine Science Film Festival (New York) 2017

Winner of the Professional Documentary > 10 Minutes Award at Raw Science Film Festival (Santa Barbara) 2017

Mending Legends

‘Mending Legends’ explores the physical and psychological impact of tendon injuries amongst athletes and will visit the team of Galway-based scientists who are trying to design a new type of tendon implant – in the form of the world’s first 3D cell assembled tendon prototype. Sports fanatic and seasoned sports presenter, Máire Treasa Ní Dhubhghaill, presents a number of informative interviews with scientists involved in this field of research and through the personal experiences of amateur and professional sports people. Contributors include Galway footballing legend, Pádraic Joyce, former Ireland and Munster rugby player, Denis Leamy, and London 400 metre relay runner and London 2012 Olympian, Jessie Barr. Mending Legends is Directed by Paul Webster and produced by James Ryan of County Galway-based StationHouse Media.