Darwin Film Fest Kicks Off UC's Darwin Sesquicentennial

UC kicks off a year of celebrating Charles Darwin with a free film festival in TUC's MainStreet Cinema. This year celebrates the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species.

The Darwin/Evolution Film Festival runs from Feb. 9–13 at MainStreet Cinema with

free

admission

for all films. The film series is composed of critically acclaimed and award-winning films including the Discovery Channel's

Planet Earth

series and 2006 Academy Award nominee

Darwin's Nightmare

.

Schedule

Monday, Feb. 9
5 p.m. — Planet Earth: Pole to Pole
6 p.m. — Planet Earth: Mountains

Tuesday, Feb. 10
Noon — Planet Earth: Great Plains and Nova Presents: Evolutionary Arms Race
5 p.m. — Planet Earth: Ice Worlds
6 p.m. — Nova Presents: Great Transformations

Wednesday, Feb. 11
5 p.m. — Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial

Thursday, Feb. 12 — Happy 200th Birthday Charles Darwin!
Noon — Nova Presents: Darwin's Dangerous Idea
5 p.m. — Darwin's Nightmare

Before or after the noon movie on Thursday, stop by the TUC Atrium on the third floor for free birthday cake, enjoy a visit from a Charles Darwin impersonator, and see some special visitors with an HMS Beagle theme! All this will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m!

Friday, Feb. 13
7 p.m. — Planet of the Apes

The Emmy award and Peabody Award-winning Planet Earth Series is narrated by Sigourney Weaver and was one of Discovery Channel's most highly rated and viewed programs in the channel's history.

Movie descriptions:

Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial is a Peabody award-winning gripping NOVA documentary featuring recreations of courtroom scenes and interviews with judge, witnesses and lawyers of the historic and landmark 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover case that decided what should be taught in science classrooms. Variety magazine gave the documentary a positive review, saying it was one of the year's most important television projects, that it "should be shown not just in every U.S. high school but in houses of worship as well."

Planet of the Apes (2001) is a science fiction film and remake of the 1968 film of the same name. Tim Burton directed the film, which stars Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti and Estella Warren. Planet of the Apes tells the story of astronaut Leo Davidson landing on a planet inhabited by intelligent humanoid apes. The apes treat humans as slaves, but with the help of a female ape named Ari, Leo starts a rebellion. The film is the third-highest grossing science fiction remake of all time, behind War of the Worlds and I Am Legend.

Darwin's Nightmare is a 2004 French-Belgian-Austrian documentary film written and directed by Hubert Sauper, dealing with the environmental and social effects of the fishing industry around Lake Victoria in Tanzania. It premiered at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, and was nominated for the 2006 Academy Award for Documentary Feature at the 78th Academy Awards.

Nova: Evolution series offers a "groundbreaking and definitive view of the extraordinary impact [that] the evolutionary process has had on our understanding of the world around us."

Darwin's Dangerous Idea —Why does Charles Darwin's "dangerous idea" matter more today than ever, and how does it explain the past and predict the future of life on Earth? This show interweaves the drama of Darwin's life with documentary sequences, introducing key concepts of evolution.

Great Transformations — What underlies the incredible diversity of life on Earth? How have complex life forms evolved? The journey from water to land, the return of land mammals to the sea and the emergence of humans all suggest that creatures past and present are members of a single tree of life.

Evolutionary Arms Race — Survival of the fittest: Raw competition? Intense cooperation? Both are essential. Interactions between and within species are among the most powerful evolutionary forces on Earth, and understanding them may be a key to our own survival.

Regular concessions will be sold, including candies, freshly popped popcorn, and Pepsi products.

The film series is a celebration of Charles Darwin's 200th Birthday on Feb. 12 and is part of UC's year-long celebration of the life and achievements of Charles Darwin. Students can find additional information about the celebration at Darwin 2009 — Evolution: Evidence & Impact.