U of M Bell Museum of Natural History launches new monthly film series in beginning Thursday, Sept. 16

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (08/25/2010) —The University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum of Natural History will reignite its 60-year old tradition of movie screenings with a new monthly film series highlighting the quirky side of science and pop culture beginning Thursday, Sept. 16.

Through provocative subjects and unconventional narrative, Bell Museum Film Night aims to spark curiosity and conversation about scientific discovery, human-animal interactions and environmental challenges. The films were selected for their topical appeal, as well as artistic value.

"These aren’t films you’d see on the Discovery Channel, " says Bell Museum film coordinator Shanai Matteson. "They’re off-beat, art house, award-winning documentaries with a point of view not typically found in commercial cinema."

The yearlong series will tackle three distinct themes -- collecting and collectors, ecological landscapes and animal encounters -- and will run through spring of 2011. Each screening will feature a social hour during which the audience can mingle and discuss the film with experts in the field.

The series kicks off with four films on the topic of collecting and collectors addressing the question: Why do humans collect and what do our collections say about us? Films include The Gleaners and I (2001), Chances of the World Changing (2006) and Seed Hunter (2008).

Admission to each film is: $5 museum members, seniors, university students, staff and faculty; $8 general public. Tickets are available at the door and online on the program’s film partner Take-up Productions at http://www.take-up.org. Bell Museum Film Nights are part of a new line up of Thursday evening programs that range from films, to guest artist installation events to walkabouts and discussions. For upcoming events, visit bellmuseum.org.

The Bell Museum is part of the university’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and strives to advance the quest to discover, document and understand life in its many forms and to inspire curiosity, delight and informed stewardship of the natural world.