Science on Screen: Contact, January 27

For those of my readers in the Modesto vicinity, I would like to let you know of an interesting cinema series taking place over the next few months at the State Theatre. Science on Screen is an effort to increase science literacy in our region using popular movies and presentations by experts in some different scientific disciplines. The first movie in the series, on Sunday, January 27th, is Contact, based on the book by Carl Sagan regarding our first contact with extraterrestrial beings. Jodie Foster stars as a SETI researcher who finds radio signals from outside our Solar System, and the movie follows events that follow that discovery.

Our speaker will be Jill Tartar, PhD, on whom the Jodie Foster character is partly based. Dr. Tartar served as the director for SETI for a number of years. The event begins at 3 PM with the presentation, and a question and answer period will follow the movie.

The event itself will be interesting and fun, but if you have never seen a movie at the State Theatre, you are in for a special treat. The State dates back to the 1930s, and was recently renovated to provide an experience of watching a theatre movie when it was an event. The State Theatre is located at 1307 J Street in downtown Modesto. The movie series is made possible by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Three more movies will make up the remainder of the film series: Robot and Frank, Day After Tomorrow, and Jurassic Park. Geotripper himself will be speaking at the dinosaur movie, presumably about dinosaurs...and movies. Hope to see you at all the programs!