For the Cambridge Festival in 2024, we decided to explore ‘sci-fi and sci-fact’ – the use of cinema and the arts (both with and without fiction) to inspire deep conversations about science.
On Friday 22nd March, we invited festival goers to join us at the Arts Picturehouse for a double bill of movies – Human Nature, and Gattaca.
First, we screened ‘Human Nature’, the award-winning documentary on CRISPR-Cas9 told through the eyes of the scientists, journalists, and patients at the heart of that discovery. See the trailer here. We followed that with a rare chance to watch the cult classic ‘Gattaca’ on the big screen – did Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman & co get it right (or close) on our gene edited future? Trailer here!
After watching both films, our audience were welcomed into the bar area for drinks and a delicious buffet. Our mini ‘chattaca’ conversations allowed our guests the opportunity to work through their thoughts with researchers from in and around Cambridge. What are the facts about human embryo editing? What is the science currently capable of, and where could it be taking us in the future?
The audience were thrilled to watch Human Nature, with 82% of our surveyed attendees claiming this to be the most valuable element of the evening for them. The documentary is currently unavailable online, and we are deeply grateful to the Wonder Collaborative for their cooperation in screening this. A staggering 81% of our respondents reported the event had helped them very much to think about the ethics of science.
