When people think about science and film, they normally envision one of two things – either science fiction, like Star Wars, or TV documentary, like National Geographic. CineGlobe has screened films of both types, but this is not its bread and butter. CineGlobe is a different type of science film festival, and seeks out work that wouldn’t normally be thought of as science-related.
The most important distinction when trying to understand the CineGlobe festival is the concept of inspiration. Our goal is not to teach science – that is already done very well by schools and science centres. We want to demonstrate the inspiration that science can provide and to show how science and culture are both critical in understanding our society. We don’t shy away from difficult topics like climate change and the risks of social media; we try to engage with these through meaningful narratives that incite people to look further, to educate themselves, and to make their own decisions.
CineGlobe adopts a different theme for each edition. It isn’t the end of the story – we will sometimes choose films that are a little different if they present something that we think is important and topical – but we try to let the theme guide us. Our themes are very open to interpretation, however. We do this intentionally, in order to allow for some flexibility in choosing the best films. The themes from preceding editions of the CineGlobe Festival are:
