The film is set in the 1960s, when computers were physically huge but with only a fraction of the computing power they have today. Photo 20th Century Fox On Wednesday evening, a new season of CineScience Movie Talks starts in Visum Mundi. In this programme, WUR researchers choose and introduce a film that they feel a special connection with as scientists. First off is Executive Board President Sjoukje Heimovaara, who chose the film Hidden Figures.
Hidden Figures, which is loosely based on real-life events, tells the story of a group of female Afro-American mathematicians in the 1960s and their crucial role in the NASA endeavour to get a man on the moon before the Russians. Heimovaara chose the film because ‘Hidden Figures is an ode to the many crucial contributions to science that so often remain unseen. The film is a reminder that science is a team sport where breakthroughs are the work of many. And as times change, so do roles and recognition.’
This is the first CineScience Movie Talks film to be screened in Visum Mundi, the former WUR Aula that has been converted into a cinema and is officially opening this week.
Second time
Heimovaara hosted a CineScience film evening once before. That time she chose Little Shop of Horrors, recalls Movie Talks coordinator Simone Ritzer. This bizarre film from Heimovaara’s student days is about a plant that turns into a blood-thirsty maniac intent on world domination. ‘Like in her scientific field, the focus is on the magical side of plants, but the direction is in reverse: plants want and expect things of people, rather than people wanting things of plants,’ explains Ritzer.
Heimovaara’s introduction to Hidden Figures will be in English. The film is in English with Dutch subtitles. Tickets are 11 euros (free for Cineville card holders) and can be obtained from the Visum Mundi website.
