Conceived as a way to forge new links between the sciences and the arts, SCINEMA has explored ways to enhance communication to raise public and stakeholder excitement and trust in science through the medium of film, while also celebrating the scientific advances in film technology itself.

Inaugurated in 2000, SCINEMA opened as an internationally competitive festival playing in Canberra only, at the Center Cinema, to a paying audience. It was well attended, with sell-outs and repeat performances of its key event ‘Sexy Skivvy Science’ featuring Dean and Rob from the 1970s & 80s children’s television series The Curiosity Show talking about clips from the series and performing some of their more fun experiments (and, of course, wearing their trademark skivvies).

Visit our Archive of Past Programmes

In 2002 and 2003, a scaled-down version of SCINEMA ran over a week at the National Museum of Australia, playing a curated program of Australian and international science documentary film to full houses.

In 2004, with a grant from the Commonwealth Government to grow the scope of the festival, SCINEMA played in 45 venues around Australia, before an audience of 4,500.

Wanting to involve a school-aged audience in the excitement of film-making and science communication, we began the SCINEMA Student Short Science Film Competition with our 2004 festival, uncovering some truly inspired works from Primary, Secondary and tertiary institutions around Australia.

As word of SCINEMA spread, we found more venues wanting to take part, and our 2005 Festival played to audience figures of almost 10,000 at nearly 80 venues, with major new partners including the Museums of South Australia, Queensland and Melbourne, and new regional centres including Port Lincoln and Wagga Wagga.

In 2006, we returned to our internationally competition, screening over two weeks at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, as well as playing our Travelling Film Festival in 100+ venues across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, adding locations across India in 2008. 2008 also saw a second tour from International multimedia artist Peter McLeish.

From 2007 to 2011, SCINEMA has continued to grow a little each year, with 400+ venues taking part in 2012.

Visit our Archive of Past Programmes

2012 winners media release | List of 2012 winners | About our 2012 Jury |
About SCINEMA | 2012 Student Winners media release | Kristian Lang's visit to The Dish in Parkes |  Management | Volunteer

2012 winners media release

19 August 2012 MEDIA RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE CIRCULATION
2012 SCINEMA Film Awards announced

Sydney filmmaker Richard Smith was among the winning filmmakers in the 2012 SCINEMA Film Awards announced today in Canberra.

Smith’s four-part series AUSTRALIA: A TIME-TRAVELLERS GUIDE was judged Best Television Series at SCINEMA International Festival of Science Film, an annual competition that attracts over 600 entries from across the globe including some of the world’s most respected science factual producers, directors and programs. SCINEMA was conceived 10 years ago as a way of forging links between the sciences and creative industries and boosting public literacy in science.

Best Film was awarded to the compelling American documentary film INTO THE GYRE which follows a team of 34 volunteer researchers, scientists and sailors as they collect, count, and archive the plastic that washes down our drains and into the oceans. “The filmmakers help the viewer to feel the urgency of finding a solution,” says jurist Dr Jayne Keane, “A totally coherent film with the story of plastic pollution told well.”

A powerful documentary, POLAR EXPLORER from award winning Canadian Mark Terry was judged Best Scientific Merit for its research into climate change demonstrated in the Arctic. The film features an examination of the drastically changing eco system showing the infield research of some of the world’s most foremost polar scientists as they show how warmer temperatures are affecting the speed of melting glaciers, icebergs, pack ice and floes. Juror Nathanael Cooper felt he “was on board the journey with Terry and was mesmerised with the imagery as well as the power of the message.”

Students from Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community School in Western Australia took home the top prizes in the Festival’s student short film competition, which asked Australian students to produce a 5 minute film about sustainable energy. Sophia Clipperton, Mikah Bokelund & Sebastian Gardiner won Best Student Film with A DUMMIES GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, while classmates Zoe Kelly and Jessie De Been scored second place with their film YOU’VE GOT THE POWER.

SCINEMA 2012 WINNERS:
° Best Film INTO THE GYRE (USA Director Scott Elliot)
° Best Director OUT OF OUR MINDS (USA Director Kate Webbink)
° Best Animation CENTERFOLD (UK Director Ellie Land)
° Best Experimental COFFEE RING EFFECT (USA Director Kurtis Sensenig)
° Best Short Film REFLECTOR (USA Director Dave Hill)
° Award for Technical Merit ROBOT QUADRATORS PERFORM THE
   JAMES BOND THEME (USA Director Kurtis Sensenig)
° Award for Scientific Merit THE POLAR EXPLORER (Canada Director Mark Terry)
° Best Television Series AUSTRALIA: A TIME-TRAVELLERS GUIDE
   (Australia Director Richard Smith for Essential Media and Entertainment)
° BEST STUDENT FILM A DUMMIES GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (Sophie Clipperton,
   Mikah Bokelund & Sebastian Gardiner, Kalgoorlie WA) [2nd Prize YOU’VE GOT
   THE POWER Zoe Kelly & Jessie De Been, Kalgoorlie WA; Highly Commended
   REUSABLE RENEWABLE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ROBOTS Yusuf & Sudenaz Kiran,
   Preston NSW]

The SCINEMA International Festival of Science Films travelling shows will be screening at over 400 venues around Australia during Science week from August 13-21.

More information: www.scinema.com.au
Media enquiries: Cris Kennedy Festival Director 02 6246 4602 cris.kennedy@csiro.au

List of 2012 winners

The SCINEMA Jury congratulates our 2012 winners:

Best Film - INTO THE GYRE (USA)
Director: Scott Elliot
Producer: Scott Elliot
Our Jury said: Fantastically made and well told. Coherent filmmakering.

Best Director - OUT OF OUR MINDS (USA)
Director: Director Kate Webbink
Our Jury said: An interesting blend of philosophy and science told through a personal journey of the disconnect that exists in the sciences. A compelling way to talk about the cognitive sciences.

Best Animation - CENTERFOLD (UK)
Director: Ellie Land
Producer: Siobhan Fenton
Our Jury said: Voices construct and the tale but the animation tells the story in a beautiful way, making some difficult subject matter a wonderful film.

Best Experimental Film - COFFEE RING EFFECT (USA)
Director & Producer: Kurtis Sensenig
Our Jury said: A science paper distilled into a one-minute film, managing to be abstract and surrealist. 

Best Short Film - REFLECTOR (USA)
Director: Dave Hill
Our Jury said: A thoroughly enjoyable journey of young scientists with an obsession for the stars.

Award for Technical Merit - ROBOT QUADRATORS PERFORM THE JAMES BOND THEME (USA)
Director: Kurtis Sensenig
Our Jury said: What a geek-out! We love this film.

Award for Scientific Merit - THE POLAR EXPLORER (Canada)
Director: Mark Terry
Our Jury said: Brilliant and interesting to watch. We were mesmerised with the imagery as well as the power of the message.

Best Television Series - AUSTRALIA: A TIME-TRAVELLERS GUIDE (Australia)
Director: Richard Smith
Executive Producer: Chris Hilton for Essential Media and Entertainment
Our Jury said: Rarely is learning so entertaining. We learned things we never knew about our own country.

BEST STUDENT FILM - A DUMMIES GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (Sophie Clipperton, Micah Bokelund, Sebastian Gardiner - Kalgoorlie WA)
2nd Prize Student Film - YOU’VE GOT THE POWER (Zoe Kelly & Jessie De Been, Kalgoorlie WA)
Highly Commended Student Film - REUSABLE RENEWABLE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ROBOTS (Yusuf & Sudenaz Kiran, Preston NSW)

With many thanks to our 2012 finalists

About our 2012 Jury

The 2012 SCINEMA Jury convened at The Edge at The State Library of QLD on Saturday 7 July. Our Jury came from a range of disciplines and brought an interesting and lively debate to this year's selection of films. Our Jury 2012 included: Wilson Da Silva (Cosmos Magazine), Jan Grew (Gold Coast City Council), Brooke Harris-Reeves (Griffith University), Nathaniel Cooper (Courier Mail), Ben Lewis (RiAus), Jayne Keen (Inspiring Australia), Matthew Fallon (Director, The Edge), David Keane (QLD College of the Arts), AnneMarie White (SCINEMA Business Manager), Damian Harris (CSIRO, SCINEMA Technical Director), Cris Kennedy (CSIRO, SCINEMA Director), Natalie Darby (SCINEMA venues and films coordinator)

The SCINEMA Jury convene at The Edge at The State Library of QLD

About SCINEMA 2012

SCINEMA will screen across Australia from August 12 to 20, 2012, to celebrate National Science Week.  With 2012 being the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, expect a program exploring the things that make our engines turn.

Become a SCINEMA partner venue - SCINEMA is offered free to schools, libraries, art galleries and museums. Grab a copy of our venue application form.

GOLDFIELD KIDS WIN TRIP TO ENERGY CENTRE for TOP SCIENCE FILM

Students from the small Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community School in Western Australia took home the top prizes in the student section of the SCINEMA International Festival of Science Film, announced two weeks ago.

SCIENEMA is an annual competition that attracts over 600 entries from across the globe including some of the world’s most respected science factual producers, directors and programs. SCINEMA was conceived 10 years ago in CSIRO as a way of forging links between the sciences and creative industries and boosting public literacy in science.

The Festival’s student short film category asked Australian students to produce a 5 minute film about sustainable energy. Year 5 students, Sophia Clipperton, Micah Bokelund and Sebastian Gardiner won Best Student Film with A Dummies Guide to the Galaxy, while fellow classmates Zoe Kelly and Jessie De Been scored second place with their film You’ve got the Power.

Their first prize is a trip to the CSIRO Energy Centre in Newcastle, the state-of-the-art research facility specialising in renewable energy. Teacher and mentor Suzanna Webber says, “the students are very excited about making the trip across Australia and seeing the research into sustainable energy first hand.” However this win has also given Ms Webber an unexpected additional award.

“By supporting your initiative, it has earned me the Excellence in Education Award in the Goldfields in recognition of the achievements of the students in the SCINEMA short film competition,” says Ms Webber.

“Not only have I benefitted from this experience, but it has definitely increased the students’ scientific knowledge and it has provided many learning opportunities for them to explore the sciences through the use of multimedia. So a great big thank you on my behalf as well as the students,” she adds.

The winners of all categories in the 2012 SCIENEMA International Festival of Science film will be shown in over 400 venues throughout Australia during Science week from 13th to 21st August.

For further information: www.scinema.com.au

Past winners

20 March 2009 - Kristian Lang, winner of our 2008 Festival, was the subject of an ABC TV Catalyst episode. Check out Kristian trooping the SCINEMA colours and wearing our 2008 T-Shirt. Congratulations Kristian. Watch the Catalyst episode.

Kristian Lang - our winning 2009 filmmaker - reports on his prize (an internship at The Dish)

From top: Kristian Lang with Siding Springs Director Bob Dean at the Coonabarabran Siding Springs facility; The Dish in Parkes; Kristian on the Dish's collecting dish; Kristian on the platform immediately below the collecting dish in Parkes; and Kristian and parents Tim & Tina get a personal tour from Parkes communications manager Chris Hollingdrake. Photos: Tina McCarthy & Cris Kennedy

"In 2009 I won the Best Student Film category in the Scinema CSIRO science film competition. As the prize, Scinema, along with CSIRO organized for me to go and visit Australia’s leading observatories: the Siding Spring optical telescope, the Parkes “Dish” and the Tidbinbilla Deep Space tracking centre. This was a really great thing for me to do, as I love space and astronomy.

I set out from Melbourne with my parents for Siding Spring Observatory. I was taken around the facility by manager Mr. Bob Dean. We saw all of the experimental machines, built and designed by CSIRO – clever people! The actual telescope was huge and I got the chance to return that night and see astronomers working and making observations about the magnetic fields of distant stars. I also was taken around the outside of the telescope (six stories up) and got a fantastic view of the Milky Way – it was a bit scary. Mr. Dean told me that the original computer that ran the telescope was 32 kilobytes and was 35 years old and was the most reliable computer in the world. It had never crashed.

Next, we set off for Parkes. We met up with the director of Scinema, Cris Kennedy and the director of the visitors centre, at the Dish, Chris Hollingdrake. Mr Hollingdrake showed us the control room of the Dish and we got to talk to some of it’s operators. We went back outside and found that the Dish was tilted right down to the ground and we were asked to climb aboard! The dish started to tilt up into the air! When the dish reached vertical, or ‘stow’ position, we got to have a walk around on top of all 64 metres across the Dish. Parts of the Dish were only made of aluminium and steel mesh. I could see the ground far far below and could feel the mesh flex below my feet – it was pretty scary. We climbed back down into the dish and got shown around the internal workings of the telescope. The Parkes Dish was instrumental in helping with both the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 moon missions and relayed information to NASA, from the astronauts.           

We finished up at Parkes and headed south again for Canberra. Candy Bailey is the manager of the Visitors Centre at Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking Centre and she gave us a great tour. We went into the control centre and had a look around, we also saw the Honeysuckle Creek radio telescope that received and sent the first pictures of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon. That was pretty cool! Tidbinbilla is NASA’s base in Australia and is used to monitor deep space satellites and probes – unlike Parkes, it can receive AND send information. It’s main telescope is a little larger than the Dish and measures 70 metres across. As a side trip, my parents and I decided to take the trek out to the original Honeysuckle Creek site to see where the original telescope was based, it was pretty cool to feel the history of the place and know what happened there just over 40 years ago.

It was an amazing trip and I’d like to thank all of the people at Scinema, CSIRO and at the telescopes. It was a really great experience and I want to win Scinema again this year so I can experience another amazing adventure." Kristian Lang - April 12, 2010..

Who runs SCINEMA

SCINEMA^TM is a partnership between Australia's CSIRO, Ri Aus, and Cosmos Magazine.

SCINEMA Director - Cris Kennedy Ph 02 6246 4602
Technical Director - Damian Harris Ph 07 3327 4477
Festival coordinator - Tim Winowich, Natalie Darby (CSIRO)

SCINEMA Advisory Board 2011 - Cris Kennedy (CSIRO), Damian Harris (CSIRO Education), Tim Winowich (CSIRO), Steve Kern (RiAus), Lisa Bailey (RiAus), Wilson da Silva (Cosmos Magazine) and Kylie Ahern (Cosmos Magazine).

SCINEMA^TM has to date run on sourced grants and sponsorships, through the hard work of a mostly voluntary staff, so that we can provide our event free-of-charge to our 400+ venues, and that they in turn may make visiting SCINEMA a free and exciting experience. Many thanks to the Australian Government's National Science Week crew around Australia and the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. Thanks to our major sponsors CSIRO and RiAus, and to major promotional partner COSMOS Magazine.

How can I become a part of SCINEMA?

SCINEMA would love to hear from people wishing to volunteer their time to promote our festival. We need people in each of our venue cities to hand out flyers and assist with media enquiries. Contact us for more information.

|

Enter Your Film | Watch Our Trailer | Sponsors | Links | Contact Us | Join Our Mailing List
Past programs - 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

This page last updated on 16 April 2013
© Copyright 1994-2013, CSIRO Australia