[bioundgrd] Biophysicist Turned Filmmaker Makes Science Accessible and Fun

[Janice Chang]

>Harvard Biophysicist-Turned Filmmaker Makes Biotech Accessible 
>Through Humor In Film, "Losing Control"
>Dr. Valerie Weiss, Harvard biophysicist-turned-filmmaker wanted to 
>make science and scientists accessible and real to the public in her 
>original, award-winning romantic comedy film, LOSING CONTROL- filmed 
>in Cambridge, Boston and the campus of Harvard Medical School. The 
>film is based on Dr. Weiss' own experiences getting her Ph. D. in 
>Biophysics at Harvard Medical School. The lead character is a female 
>scientist who obsessively wants proof that her boyfriend is "the 
>one." This parallels the scientific proof she also seeks from her 
>lab experiments for her PhD dissertation: a cure for sex-linked 
>diseases, specifically those on the Y chromosome. She takes her lab 
>skills and applies them to her love life.
>LOSING CONTROL is the first film to come out of a U.S. Department of 
>Defense funded program to train screenwriters, the Catalyst 
>Workshop. She shows aspects of scientific research that most have 
>never seen. The trailer will give you a look at this funny, smart 
>and award-winning romantic comedy. 
><http://www.losingcontrolmovie.com/>http://www.losingcontrolmovie.com
>Dr. Valerie Weiss can be heard on NPR Science Friday from March 23, 
>2012 <http://sciencefriday.com/>http://sciencefriday.com/
>
>Dr Weiss has a scheduled speaking event on Saturday April 7, 2012 at 
>3:30pm on the MIT campus( MIT Room 32-144) and this will be followed 
>by a viewing of the film LOSING CONTROL at 4:30pm at the nearby 
>Kendall Square Cinema a Q/A with Dr. Weiss follows the film. For 
>ticket information 
><http://boston.alumclub.mit.edu/s/1314/clubs-classes-interior.aspx?sid=1314&gid=10&pgid=6890&content_id=10806>http://boston.alumclub.mit.edu/s/1314/clubs-classes-interior.aspx?sid=1314&gid=10&pgid=6890&content_id=10806
>
>ABOUT VALERIE WEISS
>Valerie Weiss, a critically acclaimed, award-winning 
>writer-director-producer, is the
>founder of PhD Productions. She began her directing career while an 
>undergraduate at
>Princeton University. In 1999, founded Harvard University's renowned 
>Dudley Film
>Program and served as its Filmmaker-in-Residence while earning her 
>Ph.D. in Biophysics
>at Harvard Medical School. She also completed the American Film 
>Institute (AFI)
>Directing Workshop for Women. Valerie's comedic sci-fi short, 
>Transgressions, has
>played in over 30 film festivals internationally and has won several 
>awards, including a
>BAFTA. She recently studied under Michael Lehmann, director on HBO's 
>hit series True
>Blood. LOSING CONTROL has won Best Director at the Feel Good Film 
>Festival, Top Female Filmmaker of 2011 at Chicago Film Festival, and 
>First Honorable Mention for the Christopher Wetzel Independent Film 
>Comedy Awards.
>.
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/bioundgrd/attachments/20120329/35aef845/attachment.htm