The Coolidge has been pairing talks by scientific experts with films since 2005 - and now the theater is poised to have its own starring moment. With the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, it will announce a two-year, $463,426 grant to continue expanding its science series nationally.
The grant to the Coolidge comes at a time when getting people to leave their homes to see a movie can be a challenge - and as science and technology play an increasingly larger role in daily life, said Doron Weber, vice president of programs at the Sloan Foundation.
“It’s an effort to give people a deeper understanding of the way the world works,’’ he said. “Sometimes science and technology can be intimidating, but it’s not like some aliens came down and imposed science and technology on us. It’s us.’’
The Coolidge and the New York-based foundation will select 20 independent nonprofit cinemas in 2012 and another 20 in 2013 to receive $7,000 grants to develop their own Science on Screen programs.
Last year, through a pilot grant, eight art house theaters were awarded grants to bring Science on Screen to their communities.
Winners decide how to spend the grant money, but common costs include renting films, staff time, promotion and advertising, or speaker honoraria.
Recipients will be required to host at least three Science on Screen programs, and one movie must feature a past recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize or a Sloan Screenplay Development grant.
“This program is not about overloading you with knowledge,’’ Weber said. “It’s about stimulating you. It’s not homework. It’s recess. It’s meant to be fun.’’
And what fun it’s been. Audiences have heard Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, author of “Stumbling on Happiness,’’ talk about the nature of happiness before watching “American Beauty,’’ the 1999 film about a depressed suburban father.
