Science in the Cinema - 2004 Schedule

Sylvia (2003)
Date: May 11
Start Time: 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.
Location: AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, Silver Spring, MD
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig, Jared Harris, Blythe Danner, Michael Gambon, Andrew Havill, Lucy Davenport, Liddy Holloway, David Birkin, Alison Bruce, Julian Firth, Jeremy Fowlds, Michael Mears, and Anthony Strachan
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Rating: Rated R for sexuality/nudity and language
Speaker: Norman Rosenthal, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown Medical School, Washington D.C.; and Medical Director, Capital Clinical Research Associates, Rockville, Maryland
Medical Science Theme: Depression, Suicide

Summary: Renowned American poet and novelist, Sylvia Plath (Gwyneth Paltrow), and her tempestuous relationship with English poet, Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig), are the focus of this romantic drama. Plath met Hughes while on a Fullbright scholarship at Cambridge. Their marriage was rocky, and they eventually separated in 1963 when Hughes broke her heart by taking another lover. Crushed, Plath committed suicide.

Dark Victory (1939)
Date: June 8
Start Time: 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.
Location: AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, Silver Spring, MD
Starring: Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan, Henry Travers, Cora Witherspoon, Dorothy Peterson, Virginia Brissac, Charles Richman, Herbert Rawlinson, Leonard Mudie, Fay Helm, and Lottie Williams
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 1 hour, 6 minutes
Rating: PG
Speaker: Cheryl Royce, MS, RNP, Adult Nurse Practitioner, Nero-Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH
Medical Science Theme: Brain Cancer

Summary: Studio head Jack Warner did not want to make Dark Victory, predicting that no audience would want to see "a story of a girl who dies." But Bette Davis changed his mind, and won her third Oscar nomination! As Judy Trahene, the fast-moving Long Island socialite whose world skids to a stop when she discovers she has less than a year to live, Davis is thoroughly captivating. She flirts with suicide as she progresses from belligerent drunken despair to exhilaration - determined to live her remaining months, in the words of her doctor/lover (George Brent), "beautifully and finely." Geraldine Fitzgerald is her friend and sanctuary, Humphrey Bogart speaks with a brogue accent as her Irish horse trainer, and Ronald Reagan plays her high-living, heavy-drinking suitor. But it is Davis' beautifully compelling performance that drives the film.

Miss Evers' Boys (1997)
Date: July 13
Start Time: 7:00 - 9:30 p.m.
Location: AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, Silver Spring, MD
Starring: Alfre Woodard, Laurence Fishburne, Craig Sheffer, Joe Morton, Obba Babatundé, Von Coulter, Thom Gossom Jr., Ossie Davis, E.G. Marshall
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 1 hour, 58 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Speaker: Vanessa Northington Gamble, M.D., Ph.D., Deputy Director for Education and Training, Morgan-Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions,Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
(former Chair of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Legacy Committee)
Medical Science Theme: Tuskeegee Syphilis Experiments, Human Subjects Research, History of Medicine

Summary: Based on the shocking true story. Miss Evers' Boys exposes a 40 year government-backed medical research effort on humans which led to tragic consequences. It is 1932 when loyal, devoted Nurse Eunice Evers (Alfre Woodard) is invited to work with Dr. Brodus (Joe Morton) and Dr. Douglas (Craig Sheffer) on a federally funded program to treat syphilis patients in Alabama. Free treatment is offered to those who test positive for the disease, including Caleb Humphries(Laurence Fishburne) and Willie Johnson (Obba Babatunde). But when the government withdraws its funding, money is offered for what will become known as "The Tuskegee Experiment"; a study of the effects of syphilis on patients who don't receive treatment. Now the men must be led to believe they are being cared for, when in fact they are being denied the medicine that could cure them. Miss Evers is faced with a terrible dilemma - to abandon the experiment and tell her patients or to remain silent and offer only comfort. It is a life or death decision that will dictate the course not only of her life, but the lives of all of Miss Evers' boys.


Science in the Cinema - AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center Location, Directions, and Parking


Where is the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center Located?

8633 Colesville Road
Silver Spring MD 20910

(At the intersection of Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring.)

How do I get there by car?

The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center is less than two miles south of Beltway exit 30 (Colesville Road) and exit 31 (Georgia Avenue) . The theatre is also convenient to the Bethesda area via East-West Highway, and a short drive from downtown Washington via 16th Street, NW.

Where do I park?

Convenient parking is available to AFI patrons behind the Lee Building at the corner of Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue ($ 3.00 for the entire evening). The lot can be entered from either Georgia Avenue or Fenton Street. The AFI Silver is also within easy walking distance of several public parking decks. The closest is one-and-a-half blocks from the theatre at Colesville Road and Spring Street. The public garages offer free parking on week- ends and metered rates of 50 cents per hour on weekdays.

How do I get there by Metrorail?

The AFI Silver Theatre is located on Colesville Road, just two blocks north of Metro's Red Line station in Silver Spring.

How do I get there by Metrobus?

The Silver Spring station is served by Metrobus routes 70, 71, J5, F4, F6, JH1, J2, J3, J4, Q2, S2, S4, Y8, Z5

How do I get there by Ride-On Bus?

The Silver Spring station is served by Ride-On routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 28

What if I have additional questions?

For information about ticketing, location, and directions, please contact the AFI Silver at (E-mail) silverinfo@afi.com , (Voice) 301.495.6720, or (Fax) 301.495.6777.

For further information about the Science in the Cinema film series, please contact the NIH Office of Science Education (OSE) at (E-mail) ose@science.education.nih.gov, (Voice) 301-402-2470, (Fax) 301-402-3034, or (TTY) 301-451-9706.