Agenda UV

The López Piñero Institute for the History of Science and Medicine (joint centre of the CSIC and the University of Valencia), based at the Palau de Cerveró, the Cinema Club of the UVEG and the Secondary Education Centre Isabel de Villena (Valencia) present the film series and lecture Los costes de la energía nuclear (The cost of nuclear power), which will start next Thursday 8 May, at 17:00, with the opening lecture La energía nuclear: perspectivas históricas (Nuclear power: historical perspectives) by Lino Camprubí, researcher in History of Science (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona). After the opening seminar, the film ‘Fat Man and Little Boy’ (Roland Joffé, EE.UU, 1989, 127 minutes) will be screened. On Thursday 15 you can watch, first, the film ‘The War Game’ (Peter Watkins, United Kingdom, 1962, 48 minutes) and later La jetée (Chris Marker, France, 1962, 28 minutes). One week later, on 22 May, is the turn of the full-length film ‘Silkwood’ (Mike Nichols, EE.UU, 1983, 131 minutes). And on 29 May, for closing the film series, at 17:00, the French photographer Alain-Gilles Bastide will present his work about the consequences of one of the biggest nuclear accidents in history in the lecture entitled La catastrophe de Chernobyl. After the lecture the film La terre outragée (Michael Boganin, France, 2011, 108 minutes) will be screened.

The screenings, which will take place the days indicated at 18:00 at the conference room of the Palau de Cerveró, will be in original version with subtitles in Spanish. Each session will have a previous presentation and a discussion after the screening by a member of the Cinema Club and an expert of the subject. The film series has been coordinated by José Ramón Bertomeu, professor of History of Science (University of Valencia) and researcher of the IHMC López Piñero, and Irene Montoro, member of the Cinema Club, with the collaboration of Vicent Ballester García, professor of the Isabel de Villena Secondary Education Centre (Valencia). The film series will deal with the scientific controversy that arises from nuclear power, presenting issues such as the process of creation of the atomic bomb and the civil consequences of its use, or the safety of nuclear power plants and the catastrophes that have taken place over history.

The film series will start on 8 May at 17:00 with the opening lectura La energía nuclear: perspectivas históricas (Nuclear power: historical perspectives), by Lino Camprubí, researcher in History of Science (UAB). After the lecture, the film Creadores de sombras, will be screened, with a presentation by Consuelo Lloret, representative of the Cinema Club, José Ramón Bertomeu Sánchez and Vicent Ballester García, who will introduce a general view of the film series with the talk Ciencia y guerra: el proyecto Manhattan (Cience and war: Manhattan project). The film of this first session tells the story of the North American physician Robert Oppenheimer, creator of the atomic bomb, when he is called in 1942 by the authorities of his country for being part of the Project Manhattan. The film portrays the historical facts that occurred in Oppenheimer during the development of the artifacts that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the World War II: and the serious moral problems that caused to him, like to many other scientists of the project, the conscience of using science for destructive purposes.

In the session of 15 May, two films will be screened: The War Game, a mockumentary, winner of an Oscar in 1996, which reproduces the chaos and social consequences caused by the hypothetical nuclear bombing in the English city, Rochester: and La jetée, an experimental sci-fi medium-length film that shows a devastated world after a nuclear war, in which time travels help are used for help. The presentation and the discussion of this second session will be conducted by the film critic Ramón Alfonso, with the participation by videoconference of Xavier Roque, researcher and historian of Science (UAB) and Néstor Herran, Historian of Science (University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris).

In the session on 22 May the film Silkwood will be screened, about the life of Karen Silkwood, worker of the power plant station of Oklahoma (United States) who fought for investigating and uncovering the deficiencies in the safety of her power plant station until a car accident, in ambiguous circumstances, ender her life. The film, with clear antinuclear denunciation, is based on the true story of Silkwood in the 70s. The presentation will be by Juan Ángel Saiz Jiménez, specialist in renewable energy of the UPV, and Jaime Pardo, member of the Cinema Club, as well as the participation by videoconference of Luis Sánchez Vázquez (Observatory of Social and Environmental Conflicts of the Universidad Técnica Particular of Loja, Ecuador).

La última sesión del ciclo tendrá lugar el jueves 29 de mayo con dos actividades. A las 17 horas, el fotógrafo francés Alain-Gilles Bastide presentará su proyecto de trabajo sobre las consecuencias de uno de los mayores accidentes nucleares de la historia, en la conferencia La catástrofe de Chernobyl. En relación con este proyecto, tras la ponencia, a las 18 horas se visionará el filme La terre outragée, que narra con detalle la tragedia que sufrió la pequeña ciudad ucraniana de Prypiat en 1986 con el desastre nuclear de Chernobyl. Esta cuarta sesión será presentada por un miembro del Aula de Cinema, y por Vicent Ballester, profesor del I.E.S. Isabel de Villena (Valencia), quien será también el encargado de presentar la conferencia de Alain-Gilles Bastide que tendrá lugar previamente a la proyección.

The last session of the film series will be on Thursday 29 May, with two activities. At 17:00, the French photographer Allain-Gilles Bastide will present his project on the consequences of one the major nuclear accidents of history, in the lecture La catástrofe de Chernobyl. In relation to this project, after the lecture, at 18:00, the film La terre outragée, will be screened, that narrates at length the tragedy suffered by the Ukrainian small city of Prypiat, in 1986, due to the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl. This fourth session will be presented by a member of the Cinema Club, and by Vicent Ballester, professor of the I.E.S Isabel de Villena (Valencia) (Secondary Education Centre), who will also be in charge of presenting the lecture of Alain-Gilles Bastide.