‘This project received grant funding from the Australian Government.’
Snapshot:
Sat 10 Aug 3.30-5pm Festival Launch + Conversation With Author Glenn Albrecht, James Theatre, Dungog
Sat 10 Aug 6.30-8.30pm Scinema film festival + special guest talk, James Theatre, Dungog
Wed 14 Aug 10.30-noon Junior Science on the Street, Dowling St, Dungog
Thurs 15 Aug 6-8pm Fermentation + Trivia Night, Tin Shed Brewery, Dungog
Sun 18 Aug 10am-4pm Future Paddock, Allynbrook – limited numbers, RSVP essential via Eventbrite
Detail:
Sat 10 Aug 3.30-5.00pm
Festival Launch + Conversation With Author Glenn Albrecht
James Theatre, Brown St Dungog
Environmental Philosopher Dr Glenn Albrecht will be featured author during the Paterson Allyn Williams Festival Of Science, where he will help open the Festival, do a Dungog launch of his book Earth Emotions: New Words For A New World, and take part in a public conversation about Earth Emotions with the Science Hub’s John O’Brien. Glenn’s book introduces dozens of new words and ideas that will help frame the challenges, debate and solutions into the coming decades.
Words have power. A new word can help us recognise a challenge, shape a debate, understand ourselves and the world. At a time when many people, especially the young, are feeling loss and despair about the future of the planet, Glenn’s work will help us understand our feelings about the world and provides a guide to find a way forward.
Glenn Albrecht retired as professor of sustainability at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia in June 2014. He is now an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney. He was at the University of Newcastle as Associate Professor of Environmental Studies until December 2008. Glenn is also a noted bird enthusiast and now lives at Duns Creek.
After this event you might like to grab a quick bite or a drink from one of the local establishments before the screening of the Best of Scinema: International Science Film Festival 2019 at 6.30pm. Come along and be sure to bring your own questions.
Sat 10 Aug 6.30-8.30pm
Scinema film festival + special guest talk
James Theatre, Brown St Dungog
It’s back – all the award winning films from the Best of SCINEMA: International Science Film Festival 2019. SCINEMA is the largest science film festival in the southern hemisphere, showcasing the best science feature, short, documentary, animated and experimental films from filmmakers around the world. AND among this year’s films will be the short “Smart Slime?”, which won the festival’s prestigious Scientific Merit award. Its award-winning director, Juliette Martineau, is flying out from England specially for the Dungog screening.
This program is about two hours long & may not suit younger primary school kids. FREE.
Scroll to the bottom of this page for the full screening program.
Wed 14 Aug 10.30-noon
Junior Science on the Street
Dowling St, Dungog
Fun for all ages! Join junior scientists from across the shire for over a dozen active experiments & demonstrations. Everyone is welcome to join in, watch science in action, & learn a thing or three. Some of them are hands-on too.
Pretty well every school in Dungog Shire is doing something, from robotics to chemistry, to biology & more. Challenge the kids with your questions!
The last time the Junior Scientist event happened in 2012 the response from folk in the street was fantastic. Don’t miss out. It’s FREE, too. You can catch it outside the IGA & inside the CWA Hall.
Thurs 15 Aug 6-8pm
Fermentation + Trivia Night
Tin Shed Brewery, Dowling St Dungog
It’s A Fermentation Frolic – & a little alcoholic!
Fermenting is what you have to do to make – beer, yoghurt, spirits, kim chee, kombucha, pickles & bread. Discover yeasts, bacteria & fungi. Sample some, peer through a microscope at others, & enjoy the local lagers. Learn the gruesome truth of mother, sour culture, wort & other creatures, & enjoy micro-chats from a real brewer and others.
Necrotic flesh-eating bacteria may also get a mention.
Intersperse the fermenting fun with Science Trivia. Discover your inner genius! No truth too trivial! It’s a laid-back PRIZE-FILLED evening with Master Of Trivia, local science teacher and musician Michael Kelly.
This FREEEEE event is for over 18s.
Sun 18 Aug 10am-4pm
Future Paddock
Allynbrook – limited numbers, RSVP essential via Eventbrite http://www.futurepaddock.eventbrite.com.au
The future of agriculture from the soil to the skies. Come for a couple of hours or the whole event. Please BYO lunch, mug and camp chair. The venue is a private property at Allynbrook, about 30 minutes from Dungog & 15 minutes from East Gresford.
Future Paddock EVENTS
• Agricultural Robotics
First up at 10am – ‘Swagbot’ as seen on ABC-TV’s Catalyst program
Professor Salah Sukkarieh from the University of Sydney’s Australian Centre for Field Robotics will explain what has been accomplished in field robotics for agriculture and animal welfare. He will discuss what is the future and what it means for farmers/growers.
• Q&A session
• Demonstration of some features of Swagbot robot including
o Swagbot capability to autonomously and optimally navigate around the farm,
o autonomously avoiding static objects
o taking soil samples
o Weeding capability (due to the existing configuration of robot, we may or may not demonstrate spraying)
o dynamic object avoidance (work in progress)
o animal tracking (work in progress)
• Q&A session as long as time permits.
• Lunch
Please BYO lunch, mug and camp chair.
• Drones in agriculture
12.30 pm
Sphere Drones team members Alex, Ari and Harrison will present some of the commercial drone industry’s most advanced technologies that serve industries such as agriculture, mining and surveying. Some of the products they will be discussing and will have on show are:
• Micasense RedEdge-MX Multispectral camera
• Sphere Drones Water Sampler V2.0
• Matrice 210 RTK
• Phantom 4 Pro V2 AG
• Delair UX11
• Flyability Elios 2
The presentation will be hands and attendees will be able to come up and see and touch the drones and there will be brochures and information available to take home.
• Ecological Restoration
1.45pm
Biological Preservation Australia will introduce the principles of ecological restoration and explain the process from choosing a site & selecting plants to planting, care/protection and follow-up secondary species plantings. Will include a planting demonstration.
• Explore regenerative agriculture
3.15pm
A Q&A about regenerative agriculture from the Kater family who are in the process of incorporating it into their farming practice – learning from their own mistakes and successes
let us know you are coming by registering via Eventbrite. The eventbrite registration is literally 3 mouse clicks and you provide your name and a contact email – under a minute all up! It means we have an idea how many people are coming and we can contact you with last minute information or changes.
Best of SCINEMA (CTC) + Special guest filmmaker talk
Saturday 10 August, 6.30 pm
PROGRAM
2 hours
THE FACE OF A STRANGER (Canada) 50 minutes Best Film French (English subtitles) Directed by Geneviève Turcotte, Produced by Découverte, Radio-Canada, Written by Danny Lemieux
After a 2011 hunting accident, this Quebec man thought he’d live forever with half a face. Then a confident young surgeon made an extraordinary offer. Face of Stranger takes us on a medical journey of epic proportions – where the odds of success are less than ideal. That didn’t bother the prospective patient, 65-year-old Maurice Desjardins, who desperately needed a facial transplant operation. Jury comment: Story telling at its best with layers of brilliant cinematography, amazing human connections; emotionally charged and totally engaging.
VITAMANIA (Australia) 90 minutes (Excerpt only in the cinema program), Best Documentary, Directed, produced and written by Sonya Pemberton
Almost one billion people take a regular dietary supplements, mainly vitamin tablets, but how safe are these products, how are the regulated, and how can we make the right choices for our health? These surprisingly urgent questions are investigated by scientist Dr Derek Muller. Jury comment: A riveting tale uncovering the madness of enormity of the supplements industry.
THE MOST UNKNOWN (United States) 92 minutes (Excerpt only in the cinema program), Special Jury Award, Directed by Ian Cheney
This epic documentary film sends nine scientists to extraordinary parts of the world to uncover unexpected answers to some of humanities biggest questions. How did life begin? What is consciousness? How much do we really know? Jury comment: This film addresses some of the most fundamental questions in science..
SMART SLIME? (United Kingdom) 10 minutes, Award For Scientific Merit, Directed by Juliette Martineau – Special Guest at Dungog screening
It’s neither plant, animal or fungus, but a giant single cell that crawls around eating dead matter. Beautiful and mesmerizing time lapse videography, Smart Slime? introduces us to the quirky work of two high profile slime researchers. Jury comment: Exceptional technical detail and a great way to explain the network of a cell.
700 SHARKS (France) (English subtitles), 90 minutes (Excerpt only in the cinema program), Award For Technical Merit, Directed by Luc Mares-cot
In a ground breaking experiment, five of the world’s most experienced underwater scientists dive among 700 starving sharks. Jury comment: This film is technically brilliant. Exceptionally well-made.
JEREMY THE LEFTY SNAIL AND OTHER ASYMMETRICAL ANIMALS (United Kingdom) 15 minutes, Festival Entry, Produced by Dr Robert P Cameron and John Andrew Cameron
This is the fascinating story of Jeremy, one in a million snail whose shell coiled to the left rather than to the right.
A TINY SPARK (Ireland) 26 minutes, Festival Entry, Directed, produced and written by Niamh Heery
This film examines how research into blood clots and stroke could bring about big changes for people and medicine.
WHY THIS SKATEBOARDING TRICK SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE (United States) 9 minutes, Festival Entry, Directed, produced and written by Dianna Cowern
Skateboarding legend Rodney Mullen teams up with Physics Girl to explain the unusual physics behind skateboard tricks.
VOTE for your favourite film
Vote for the 2019 PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD and go into the draw to win a drone at scinema.australiascience.tv/vote
This National Science Week project is supported by the Australian Government.
AUSTRALIAS SCIENCE CHANNEL SCINEMA is proudly supported by BBC Earth
Paterson Allyn Williams Science & Ideas Hub 