Co-organised by the Film Programmes Office, the Hong Kong Science Museum and the Hong Kong Space Museum of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, "Sci-Fi-Sci 2019" will screen three films themed on science to celebrate the 50th anniversary of manned Moon landing and to pay tribute to the renowned physicist Professor Stephen Hawking, who passed away last year. The three films will be shown on April 13 and 21 at the Lecture Hall of the Hong Kong Space Museum and April 19 and 26 at the Lecture Hall of the Hong Kong Science Museum.
In addition, the Chairman of the Hong Kong Science Fiction Club, Dr Eddy Lee; Lecturer of the Department of Physics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Dr Leung Po-kin; the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education and Chair Professor of the Department of Physics of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Professor Ng Tai-kai; and the Curator of the Hong Kong Space Museum, Mr Robert Leung, have been invited to be the guest speakers for post-screening talks to explore various areas of science through the films with audiences.
Based on true life stories, "Hidden Figures" (2016) follows three female African-American mathematicians who cross all gender and racial lines as they use their professional abilities to assist the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in calculating the momentous launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit and confirming the result of the orbital equations to guarantee his safe return. The film won Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the Screen Actors Guild Awards 2017, Best Action/Adventure Film at the Saturn Award 2017 and other awards.
"The Theory of Everything" (2014) tells of the romance of the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking with the arts student Jane Wilde when he was a PhD student at the University of Cambridge and their life after Hawking was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The film won Best Actor at the Academy Awards 2015, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama at the Golden Globes 2015 and other awards.
Regarded as a masterpiece of the space disaster film, "Apollo 13" (1995) was adapted from the crisis of NASA's third Moon landing mission in 1970 and depicts three astronauts in a damaged spacecraft fighting a desperate battle for survival. Director Ron Howard shot the weightless-in-space scenes on NASA's reduced-gravity aircraft and employed NASA's technical support in space flight control training for his cast in order to make the film more convincing. The film won numerous awards including Best Sound and Best Film Editing at the Academy Awards 1996 as well as Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects and Best Production Design at the BAFTA Awards 1996.
All films are in English and with Chinese subtitles.
Tickets priced at $60 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For credit card telephone bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries, please call 2734 2900 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/fp/en_US/web/fpo/programmes/sfs2019/index.html.
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