June 29, 2021 - The team behind the feature documentary PICTURE A SCIENTIST is pleased to announce funding for the new Future of Science Film Fellowship, a program for emerging filmmakers to develop new documentaries about efforts to make science more equitable and inclusive. Funding for the first phase of the Fellowship was awarded by the Wonder Collaborative, the filmmaking arm of the nonprofit Science Communication Lab, as well as the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. The program aims to support storytellers who are committed to exploring diversity, equity, and inclusion in science through their unique life experiences.
The Future of Science Film Fellowship builds on the success of PICTURE A SCIENTIST (now streaming on Netflix), which chronicles stories of bias, discrimination, and harassment against women scientists. The goal of the Fellowship is to launch a new set of films that will amplify the conversation about race, equity, and inclusion in science, and spark change in the scientific community.
Funding for the Future of Science Fellowship is enabling the selection of three emerging filmmakers for the 8-week workshop, which includes a stipend of $10,000, access to a research team to support story development, and mentorship from seasoned experts in various aspects of science filmmaking and the culture of science. The executive producers for this project include Columbia journalism professor Duy Linh Tu, scientist and science communication expert Dr. Mónica Feliú-Mójer, and PICTURE A SCIENTIST co-director Ian Cheney.
"Throughout the entire process, we want to provide access and opportunity for storytellers from historically marginalized communities," Linh Tu says. "We want not only to create a powerful set of stories about the future of science, but also to build a constellation of meaningful relationships among future science storytellers. We are grateful for this phase of grant funding."
"Through this Fellowship, we will support the selected emerging filmmakers by providing them with skills, resources, and a team of mentors, advisors, workshop leaders, and others," Feliú-Mójer says. "We want this program to provide both a launching pad and a sense of community, a space where they can bring their full selves and ideas to the creative process for making impactful films."
"There has never been a more important time to showcase the value of science and discovery while working to make the culture of science more inclusive and equitable," says Sarah Goodwin, executive director of the Wonder Collaborative. "We are so excited to fund this novel fellowship to rethink how films about science can be made."
###
Learn more about the Fellowship here: https://futureofsciencefilms.org
About Wonder Collaborative
The Wonder Collaborative brings together innovative storytellers and the global scientific community a spirit of experimentation and collaboration to develop, produce, and share powerful stories about science. The filmmaking arm of the new nonprofit Science Communication Lab, the Wonder Collaborative aims to reinvent science filmmaking to capture the essence, complexity, and process of science to spark wonder among public audiences. Learn more: https://wondercollaborative.org/who-we-are/