Science in the Cinema 2000

What Is Science in the Cinema?

Science in the Cinema is a FREE film festival held each summer at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. One evening a week for six weeks, a film with a medical science theme is screened. Following each film, a guest speaker with expertise in the film's subject area leads a discussion with the audience about the science depicted in the film. The film series is sponsored by the NIH Office of Science Education. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

A picture of a skeleton in between two people who are sitting in a movie theater eating popcorn.

Last Summer (2000) Film Schedule

Last Summer (2000) Schedule - printer-friendly format

A Civil Action

July 13

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

July 20

** No film tonight **

July 27

Good Will Hunting

August 3

Yellow Jack

August 10

Girl, Interrupted

August 17

Not As A Stranger

August 24

	Map of the NIH Campus

Film Descriptions

A picture of the cover of the film, A Civil Action

A Civil Action
Date:	July 13
Time:	7:00 - 9:30 p.m.
Location:	Building 45, Natcher Auditorium, Bethesda, Maryland
Guest Speaker:	David F. Goldsmith, M.S.P.H., Ph.D., Associate Research Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Science Themes:	Environmental impact, toxic waste, leukemia

	This film is based on a true story about a woman, Anne Anderson (Kathleen Quinlan), whose son Jimmy died of leukemia in 1981. Anne was the first parent to suspect tainted water of causing illness in her Pine Street neighborhood of East Woburn, Massachusetts. Two wells supplying the drinking water for the town were found to be contaminated with industrial solvents. Huge toxic waste sites were discovered that year, leading to the suspicion that the pollution was caused by local industries. Eight families eventually filed suit against the industries, alleging that the improper handling and disposal of industrial solvents led to leukemia and other serious health problems suffered by them and their children. Jan Schlichtmann (John Travolta) is a brilliant personal injury lawyer with the heart of a world-class poker player. He loves making money. But acting as the plaintiffs' attorney, he will learn that nothing costs more than trying to prove what he believes to be the truth.

	Starring:	John Travolta, Kathleen Quinlan, Robert Duvall
	Genre:	Drama
	Year:	1998
	Run Time:	1 hour, 58 minutes
	Rating:	PG-13 (For some strong language)

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A picture of the cover of the film, Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Whose Life Is It Anyway?
Date:	July 20
Time:	7:00 - 9:30 p.m.
Location:	Building 45, Natcher Auditorium, Bethesda, Maryland
Guest Speaker:	Marion Danis, M.D., Head, Section on Ethics and Health Policy, Department of Clinical Bioethics, Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Science Themes:	Quality of life, depression, paralysis

	Ken Harrison (Richard Dreyfuss) is a young sculptor who survives an auto accident only to be permanently paralyzed from the neck down. Dr. Emerson (John Cassavetes) saves Harrison’s life - but to what purpose? This is the film's central question as the patient, knowing himself to be completely helpless for the rest of his days, makes a poignant plea to be removed from his life-sustaining equipment.

	Starring:	Richard Dreyfuss, John Cassavetes, Janet Eilber, Christine Lahti
	Genre:	Drama
	Year:	1981
	Run Time:	2 hours
	Rating:	R

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A picture of the cover of the film, Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting
Date:	August 3
Time:	7:00 - 9:30 p.m.
Location:	Building 45, Natcher Auditorium, Bethesda, Maryland
Guest Speaker:	Judith Rapoport, M.D., Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Science Theme:	Child prodigy

	Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is only twenty years old but already stands out in his rough, working-class neighborhood in South Boston. Like his friends, he does menial jobs between stints at the local bar - and run-ins with the law. He's never been to college, except to scrub floors as a janitor at MIT. Yet he can summon obscure historical references from a photographic memory and almost instantly solve math problems that frustrate Nobel Prize-winning professors. The one thing this remarkably bright, impossibly angry young man can't do - after his latest bar fight - is talk his way out of a pending jail sentence. His only hope is Sean McGuire (Robin Williams), a college professor-turned-therapist with an admiration for Will's emotional struggles and a keen understanding of what it's like to fight your way through life.

	Starring:	Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Stellan Skarsgard, Minnie Driver
	Genre:	Drama
	Year:	1997
	Run Time:	2 hours, 6 minutes
	Rating:	R (For strong language, including some sex-related dialog)

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A picture of U.S. Army doctor, Walter Reed

Yellow Jack
Date:	August 10
Time:	7:00 - 9:30 p.m.
Location:	Building 45, Natcher Auditorium, Bethesda, Maryland
Guest Speaker:	Michael Rhode, Chief Archivist, Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C.
Science Themes:	Walter Reed, yellow fever, infectious diseases, viruses, medical research, vaccines

	This film is based on the true story of U.S. Army doctor Walter Reed (Lewis Stone) and his quest to discover the cause of yellow fever. After the Spanish-American War, the United States occupied countries that suffered from many tropical diseases. In 1899 Walter Reed, who was stationed in Washington, D.C., was sent to Cuba to be part of a team investigating the cause of this disease. Cuban physician Carlos Finlay (Charles Coburn) hypothesized that mosquitoes might be responsible for transmitting the disease to humans. Walter Reed and his team of volunteers, some of whom died while conducting their research there, proved that Finlay’s hypothesis was correct. Ultimately, the research team's work made the construction of the Panama Canal possible a few years later.

	Starring:	Janet Beecher, Virginia Bruce, Charles Coburn, Alan Curtis, Andy Devine, Buddy Ebsen, Jonathan Hale, William Henry, Robert Montgomery
	Genre:	Drama
	Year:	1938
	Run Time:	1 hour, 23 minutes
	Rating:	Not rated

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A picture of the cover of the film, Girl, Interrupted

Girl, Interrupted
Date:	August 17
Time:	7:00 - 9:30 p.m.
Location:	Building 45, Natcher Auditorium, Bethesda, Maryland
Guest Speaker:	Danny Wedding, Ph.D., M.P.H., Professor of Psychiatry and Director, Missouri Institute of Mental Health, University of Missouri School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
Science Themes:	Borderline personality disorder, mental health

	Based on a true story and the best-selling book of the same name, this film is set in the changing world of the late 1960s. Depressed and directionless after high school, Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder) finds herself at Claymore - a renowned psychiatric institution for troubled women. Susanna must choose between the world of people who belong on the inside - like the seductive and dangerous Lisa (Angelina Jolie) - or the often difficult world of reality on the outside. Susanna's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist (Vanessa Redgrave) she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she spends nearly a year on the ward.

	Starring:	Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Vanessa Redgrave, Whoopi Goldberg
	Genre:	Drama
	Year:	1999
	Run Time:	2 hours, 7 minutes
	Rating:	R (For strong language and content relating to drugs, sexuality, and suicide)

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A picture of the cover of the film, Not As A Stranger

Not As A Stranger
Date:	August 24
Time:	6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Location:	Building 45, Natcher Auditorium, Bethesda, Maryland
Guest Speaker:	Peter Dans, M.D., Associate Professor, Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Science Themes:	Medicine, medical careers, medical students

	Stanley Kramer's directorial film debut is based on Morton Thompson's novel of the same name. This is a story about Kristina Hedvigson (Olivia de Havilland), a nurse who marries an aspiring physician and works to put her husband, Lucas Marsh (Robert Mitchum), through medical school. This film is a timeless depiction of the relational, financial, and emotional challenges faced by those who embrace the medical profession.

	Starring:	Olivia de Havilland, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford, Lon Chaney, Jr., Harry Morgan, Lee Marvin
	Genre:	Drama
	Year:	1955
	Run Time:	2 hours, 15 minutes
	Rating:	Not rated

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Science in the Cinema - Directions

Building 45
Natcher Auditorium,
45 Center Drive
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Maryland 20892

Metrorail:	Take the Red Line to the Medical Center station. As you exit the escalator or elevator, bear left and take the sidewalk toward Natcher Building (Building 45). Building 45 is the large white (modern) building with green-colored windows directly across from the National Library of Medicine.

From I-495	Take the Capital Beltway (I-495) to Route 355 (Rockville Pike/Wisconsin Avenue) south toward Bethesda. Go approximately 1 1/2 miles. Turn right onto Center Drive of the NIH campus. You will see the Natcher Building (Building 45) on your immediate right. Building 45 is the large white (modern) building with green-colored windows directly across from the National Library of Medicine. Note: Please DO NOT use the underground parking garage located under Natcher; the garage is closed and locked at 7:00 p.m. Parking is available in the Visitor Lot located across the street in front of the National Library Medicine, or you may park in lots that are designated for NIH Employees after 6:00 p.m.

From Washington, D.C. and Bethesda, Maryland	Take Wisconsin Avenue north through downtown Bethesda (Wisconsin Avenue becomes Rockville Pike). Turn left onto Center Drive of the NIH campus. You will see the Natcher Building (Building 45) on your immediate right. Building 45 is the large white (modern) building with green-colored windows directly across from the National Library of Medicine. Note: Please DO NOT use the underground parking garage located under Natcher; the garage is closed and locked at 7:00 p.m. Parking is available in the Visitor Lot located across the street in front of the National Library Medicine, or you may park in lots that are designated for NIH Employees after 6:00 p.m.

From Rockville, Maryland	Take Route 355 (Rockville Pike) south toward Bethesda (you will pass the exits for the Capital Beltway (I-495). Go approximately 1 1/2 miles. Turn right onto Center Drive of the NIH campus. You will see the Natcher Building (Building 45) on your immediate right. Building 45 is the large white (modern) building with green-colored windows directly across from the National Library of Medicine. Note: Please DO NOT use the underground parking garage located under Natcher; the garage is closed and locked at 7:00 p.m. Parking is available in the Visitor Lot located across the street in front of the National Library Medicine, or you may park in lots that are designated for NIH Employees after 6:00 p.m.

From Frederick, Maryland	Take I-270 south. When you come to where I -270 divides, stay to the left (heading toward Maryland). Stay in the far left lane and take the first exit, Route 355. Where the exit ramp divides, stay to the left and turn left at the light onto Route 355 south. Go approximately 1 1/2 miles. Turn right onto Center Drive of the NIH campus. You will see the Natcher Building (Building 45) on your immediate right. Building 45 is the large white (modern) building with green-colored windows directly across from the National Library of Medicine. Note: Please DO NOT use the underground parking garage located under Natcher; the garage is closed and locked at 7:00 p.m. Parking is available in the Visitor Lot located across the street in front of the National Library Medicine, or you may park in lots that are designated for NIH Employees after 6:00 p.m.

Need Additional Information About Science in the Cinema?

For further information about the

Science in the Cinema

film series, please contact the NIH Office of Science Education (OSE) at (E-mail)

KostiukJ@od.nih.gov

; (Voice) 301-496-1727; or (Fax) 301-402-3034. For TTY users/callers, please call the above number through the Federal Relay Service at 1(800) 877-8339; or the Maryland Relay at 711 (in-state), 1-800-735-2258 (out-of-state).

All films will be shown with captions. Interpreters and real-time captioning will be available for the post-film discussions. If you require other reasonable accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact OSE at (E-mail)

KostiukJ@od.nih.gov

; or (Voice) 301-496-1727; or (TTY) 301-496-9755; at least 5 days prior to the event.

NIH Office of Science Education

National Institutes of Health (NIH)