This summer cinema session, that is open to the general public, will take place on Thursday 11 July at the ICM-CSIC.
This year Barcelona is joining CSIC de Cine, the summer cinema of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), which is celebrating its third edition looking out to sea and expanding its venues, in collaboration with the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) and the Delegation of the CSIC in Catalonia. Within the Decade of the Oceans framework, the cycle has programmed several films related to marine sciences and, for the first time, has organised one of its sessions next to the sea. Thus, on Thursday 11 July, the terrace of the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC), located in front of Barceloneta beach (Barcelona), will host the screening of The Impossible. And on Fridays in July, the steps and square of the CSIC's central campus in Madrid will once again become an open-air cinema where Jaws, The Impossible, One Love and Flying Together will be screened.
All screenings will be free of charge and will include a meeting beforehand with research staff in which some of the issues raised in the films will be discussed from a scientific point of view. In addition, the sessions will once again be inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities thanks to accessible subtitling, audio description, sign language interpretation and the use of magnetic loops.
CSIC de Cine in Barcelona: a maritime premiere
The terrace of the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) will host a CSIC Cinema session for the first time. It will take place on Thursday 11 July with The Impossible. The film will be preceded by a discussion in Catalan on tsunamis and new technologies used to detect earthquakes. Valentí Sallarès, director of the centre, and the researchers Sara Figueras, from the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC), and Arantza Ugalde, from the ICM-CSIC, will take part in the meeting.
CSIC de Cine in Madrid: the sea, a little closer to home
In Madrid, the cycle will begin on 5 July with Jaws and continue on 12 July with The Impossible: two cult films that will provide an opportunity to discuss some of the challenges posed by the Decade of the Oceans, such as responses to oceanic dangers and the degradation of marine ecosystems and biodiversity. The programme is completed by the recent premiere Un amor, to be screened on 19 July, and the family film Volando juntos (Flying Together), scheduled for 26 July.
How much truth and how much fiction is there in Jaws, and what prejudices have been attached to these animals as a result of the film? In addition to its soundtrack, why is Steven Spielberg's film still a cult film? Anabel Colmenero and Claudio Barría, from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) and the University of Barcelona respectively, and co-founders of the Catsharks association for the conservation of sharks, will shed light on these questions. They will be joined by the director and screenwriter Ana Montserrat, who will provide the cinematographic keys to this horror film which, in 1975, marked a turning point in the social image of sharks.
The Impossible, directed by J.A. Bayona and starring Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor, follows the tragic experience of a family during the tsunami that devastated the coasts of the Indian Ocean in 2004. The session will feature Valentí Sallarès, director of the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC), Mercedes Ferrer, from the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME-CSIC) and Beatriz Gaite, from the Instituto Geográfico Nacional, to find out how these events originate, whether they can be predicted and how to warn about them.
The programme will continue with Un amor, a film by Isabel Coixet based on the novel of the same name by Sara Mesa, in which themes such as the return to the rural world, hostility, impulses, gender and, of course, love intersect. Petra Benyei, a sociologist and expert in rural development at the Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography (IEGD-CSIC), and the writer and professor Coral Herrera, known for her criticism of the myth of romantic love, will comment on the film, which narrates the life of Nat (Laia Costa) after moving to a village in rural Spain.
A family session will close the third edition of CSIC de Cine in Madrid. Elena Gazo and María José Suárez, from the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), have prepared a show in which the public of all ages will learn about the origin of birds, their behaviour, their migratory movements and their conservation. With them, the CSIC central campus will be filled with birds... and potential ornithologists. This will be the prelude to the screening of Flying Together, a 2019 French film in which director Nicolas Vanier recreates a true story: the journey undertaken by a scientist specialising in wild geese and his teenage son to save a species in danger of extinction.
Inclusion and accessibility
All the films will have accessible subtitles for deaf people and the meetings, which can be followed live on the CSIC Divulga YouTube channel, will have sign language interpreters and live subtitles. In addition, the space will have a magnetic loop for those who use a hearing aid and visually impaired audiodescription receivers will be available for the films in Spanish.
People who require audio description, live subtitling or sign language interpretation, as well as those with any kind of disability, can request their tickets by writing to inclusion@csic.es
Ticket booking and practical information
All sessions are free of charge, but advance booking is required. Doors will open at 20:45 and close at 21:15, when the meetings with the research staff will begin. The screenings will start a few minutes after 22:00. Places will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
In Barcelona, 120 seats will be available. The ICM-CSIC is located at Paseo Marítimo de la Barceloneta, 37-49, between the Hospital del Mar and the Olympic Towers. The nearest stop is Ciutadella-Vila Olímpica (yellow line L4). The end of several bus lines is just a few metres from the centre.
About CSIC Summer Cinema Programme
CSIC de Cine is a CSIC outreach project, promoted by its Deputy Vice-Presidency for Scientific Culture and Citizen Science (VACC-CSIC), which aims to put issues of social interest on the table.
‘The CSIC is diverse in terms of its lines of research and its territorial location; that is why, in addition to choosing films on different topics, we wanted to make the leap to Barcelona and thus extend a project that brings science closer in an entertaining and summery way, without leaving aside debate and critical thinking,’ says Pura Fernandez, head of the VACC-CSIC. ‘The CSIC de Cine proposal aims to place our headquarters in Madrid and the Institut de Ciències del Mar in Barcelona on the cultural agenda of each city,’ she adds.
The project also has the participation of the Royal Botanical Garden (RJB-CSIC), the Cajal Institute (IC-CSIC) and the support of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) - Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.