Best of InScience (press release)

Why do people need science? What does science make possible? Is everything scientifically possible also desirable? These are the questions the InScience Film Festival is all about. The annual event in Nijmegen is one of the largest festivals for scientific documentary films in Europe, with over 50 films and more than 150 participating experts. The shared goal of the festival is to promote dialogue between science, art and society.

Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences partnered with festival organisers for the first time last year. Among other things, this new partnership includes a “Best of InScience” event on the German side of the border. “This collaboration shows just how important cross-border regional activities are to us and that we, as a university, want to take advantage of every opportunity to communicate scientific topics to broader audiences”, says Dr Heide Naderer, President of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. Johan van de Woestijne, InScience Festival Director, adds: “This partnership helps expand both communication and an ever important exchange of information on these important topics.”

A selection of the festival’s four most acclaimed films will now be shown for the first time outside the Netherlands in a very special setting: immediately after the annual Open Campus Day in Kleve. Each film will conclude with an audience discussion led by an expert from Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. “This event underscores our conscious efforts as a university to bring scientific content to the public time and time again. Open Campus Day offers the perfect backdrop,” explains Dr Naderer. Van de Woestijne is also impressed: “This combination will help us reach an even wider audience. The films should be fun, inspiring and appealing to emotions. What's really special is the open-air cinema atmosphere for the late show.” Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences obtained valuable support from cinema expert Reinhard Berens, part of the management team at Tichelpark Cinemas in Kleve. This film festival is unique not only to Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, but to the German university landscape as a whole.

The selected films are full of impressive pictures and sequences, exciting dialogues and interesting commentary:

“Bill Nye Science Guy” (4 p.m., Main Lecture Hall, Building 1, in English) - An exciting portrait of the well-known US children's television presenter who also works as an ambassador for science at a time when religious beliefs and “alternative facts” take precedence over logic. Bill Nye is a man on a mission: to stop the spread of anti-scientific thinking all over the world. The audience discussion will be moderated by Alexander Gerber, Professor of Science Communication at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.

“Food Evolution” (5:30 p.m., Main Lecture Hall, Building 1) - The debate about genetically manipulated food is both persistent and polarized. In search of solutions to the global food shortage, the film takes viewers to the papaya plantations of Hawaii, the banana farms of Uganda and the corn fields of Iowa. These vistas form the stage for the heated discussion between supporters and opponents of genetic engineering, where arguments are pitted against emotions in an unequal battle.

“The Farthest” (7 p.m., Main Lecture Hall, Building 1) - With more than 19 billion kilometres on the odometer, Voyager 1 is the first man-made object to ever enter deep space. Combining interviews and never before seen archive footage, “The Farthest” is a tribute to those who, through curiosity, reason and a will to discover the universe, have brought science farther than ever thought possible. This is a documentary about courage, dreams and emotions.

“Chasing Coral” (22:00, open-air cinema at the library, Building 18, in German) - 2018 is the International Year of Coral Reefs. Coral reefs around the world are disappearing at unprecedented rates, and a beautiful world threatens to be lost forever. A team of divers, photographers and scientists come together to investigate the causes of this phenomenon and set out on a fascinating ocean adventure.

An additional fifth screening in Best of InScience will be the film “Pre-Crime” on 10 June at 12:00 in the Tichelpark Cinemas in Kleve. The documentary tackles one of the most burning questions of our time: How much freedom are we willing to give up for the promise of absolute security and the limited logic of security software?

For those who would like to get a small foretaste of the films may follow these link: www.hochschule-rhein-waal.de/best-of-inscience.