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Date: Monday, March 20, 2017
Time: 7pm
Location: Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA
Director: Mary Jane Doherty
Program Details: GRAVITY, 40 minutes, 1985, USA, b/w, 16mm to digital + two other short works by the filmmaker
Mary Jane Doherty will be joined for a discussion with the subject of her 1985 film GRAVITY, Dr. Rainer Weiss, MIT Professor of Physics, Emeritus. Dr. Weiss is on the short list of candidates for this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics for his groundbreaking research on gravitational waves, the early days of which Mary Jane captured in this film. Hear their dialogue about making the film then, and where that early work has led each of them today!
About the Program:
This evening we look at how inspiration works, in its most mysterious form. Mary Jane will screen her “Science” Documentary, GRAVITY (1985, 40 minutes, b/w, 16mm to digital), featuring soon-to-be-Nobel Laureate Dr. Rainer Weiss, and bookend this main screening with her first short film, THREE FISH, and a clip from SONIC BOOM, a brand new work-in-progress. We’ll see lessons learned – from the inane to the sublime – by one filmmaker who deeply reveres another.
About the Filmmaker:
Mary Jane Doherty is an Associate Professor of Film at Boston University. She trained at MIT, where she produced GRAVITY, a film about experimental astrophysicists, then freelanced for Northern Light Productions, Blackside, and VIDA Health Inc.
She re-emerged on the filmmaking scene with two recent feature documentaries, SECUNDARIA (2013) and PRIMARIA (2016). These films are about high school students and elementary school ballet students (respectively) growing up within the world famous Cuban Ballet system. Mary Jane shoots, directs, and edits each of her projects.
Now, she is filming a series about the Boston Children’s Chorus and the mystery of the sound.
The DocYard is an award-winning film and discussion series at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, and which also sponsors special screenings and co-presentations throughout the year. Each screening is a new experience as we connect audiences directly with filmmakers exploring the documentary form through insightful post-screening discussions.
