2026 SCINEMA Program
SCINEMA played across Australia for National Science Week 2026 (15 to 23 August 2026), with 407 venues participating.
Our 2026 Jury awarded films in the following categories: ‘Best Film’: The Battle to Breathe (53 mins, United Kingdom, Directed by Catherine Gale) + ‘Best Short Film’: Giving Back Breath (17 mins, USA, Directed by Courtney Crowder & Chad Cohen) + ‘Best Television Program’: Into the Universe: Mysteries of the Cosmos (50 mins, Canada, Directed by Daniel Oron) + Best 'Vertical’: You Still Shouldn’t Eat Watch Batteries But…(3 mins, USA, Directed by Elaine Seward, Written/Hosted by George Zaidan) + ‘Best Experimental Film’: electron_matter (7 mins, USA, Directed by Yan Shao & Olivier Gingras) + ‘Best Animated Film’: Gene Horizons (19 mins, United Kingdom, Directed by Cameron Duguid) + ‘Best Student Film’ (Australian): Burnt Country (17 mins, Australia, D: Kirsten Slemint) + ‘Best Student Film (International): Overlooked: A Silent Extinction (25 mins, United Kingdom, Directed by Cathy Ellington). Congratulations to our winners, and thanks to all filmmakers who entered.
Check out our 2026 film program - and below, you can watch the 2026 SCINEMA titles publicly available on YouTube.
A giant thanks to everyone who took part… All the filmmakers who entered, even if your film wasn’t selected for screening, every entry was wonderful and meaningful. All the schools and libraries across Australia who played SCINEMA content as part of their National Science Week activity. All the people who came along and supported the live events, or who logged in from home and watched along. And our volunteer Jury members: Ian Colon, Caddie Brain, Harvey Moon, Emi Kolawole, Russell Nankervis, Stephanie McCarthy-Reece, Liz Lea, Jedd Bishop. To my partners in crime Kylie Ahern and Damian Harris, and Lexi Sekuless.
2026 SCINEMA entries publicly available
HUMAN HEALTH These films celebrate medical triumphs, shattering policy failures, and the very human stories of the people facing medical uncertainty. 8 films. View here (password protected). Films include:‘C’ is for Cherry (9 mins, Italy) + Imperfect Days (27 mins, Ireland) + Giving Back Breath (20 mins, USA) + The Battle To Breathe (53 mins, United Kingdom) + The Brain Keepers (55 mins, Italy) + Blue Blood (23 mins, United Kingdom) + Forgetting to Remember: Lessons from a Vaccine Lost (25 mins, USA) + Sima (12 mins, USA)
LANGUAGE & PSYCHOLOGY These films explore the words we use, the languages we speak, and how our brains work to make us who we are. 5 films View here (password protected). Films include: APE TO APE (21 mins, Netherlands) + THE WORLD BEHIND OUR WORDS (18 mins, Netherlands) + OUR BRAIN IS PLAYING TRICKS ON US (108 mins, France) + SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER (5 mins, Taiwan) + THE PARADOX OF ULTIMATE CONNECTION (5 mins, Australia)
OCEANS AND RIVERS These films explore the health of our rivers and oceans and the creatures who reside there. 4 films View here (password protected). SAURY SEAWEED: THE WHISPER OF THE SEA (45 mins, South Korea) + OUR JOURNEY WITH GRAY WHALES (27 mins, Russian Federation) + CONSTELLATIONS OF THE SEA (13 mins, USA) + THE MAGICAL WORLD OF AMPHIBIANS (52 mins, France)
CREATUREFEATURE These films explore issues where the natural world and the human world intersect and affect our animal friends. 5 films View here (password protected) OVERLOOKED: A SILENT EXTINCTION (25 mins, United Kingdom) + UNDER THREAT (12 mins, United Kingdom) + ORIGINS OF MAMMALS (52 mins, France) + THE DANUBE CLOUDED YELLOW (14 mins, Germany) + BRIDGING THE GAP (23 mins, India)
TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE These films explore the intersection between Indigenous traditional knowledge and contemporary science. 6 films View here (password protected) BURNT COUNTRY (17 mins, Australia) + ARAGUAIA EXPEDITION (20 mins, Brazil) + TUKTUIT: CARIBOU (15 mins, Canada) + LAKE TEKAPO: GUARDIANS OF THE NIGHT (29 mins, Czechia) + UNDER THE CANOPY (22 mins, Colombia) + IT BLOOMS FROM WITHIN (21 mins, United Kingdom)
WOMEN IN STEM These films celebrate women at the bench, in the factory, in the field and in strategy and development. 7 films View here (password protected) WOMEN IN STEM AT THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT (5 mins, Australia) + SHE MEASURES THE EARTH (18 mins, Canada) + SKYWARD: THE SPORT ROCKETRY REVOLUTION (15 mins, USA) + POISONED SKIES (11 mins, USA) + THE DEEP DIVE (12 mins, USA) + STAR REVEALER (9 mins, Australia) + HYPATIA OF ALEXANDRIA: THE SOLITARY BEE (14 mins, France)
JUNIOR SCHOOLS PLAYLIST 14 films View here (password protected) ALIEN MINDS (6 mins, Germany) + CATS OF ISTANBUL (3 mins, Turkey & United Kingdom) + CHIRP TALKER (5 mins, Taiwan) + electron_matter (7 mins, USA) + FRAGMENTATION (9 mins, Canada) + GREENLAND: A GEOLOGICAL JOURNEY THROUGH TIME (6 mins, Austria) + INGRAINED (3 mins, Australia) + LAYERS IN HISTORY (3 mins, South Korea) + MISS YOU DANCING IN CROSS-STITCH (14 mins, Taiwan) + TOTALITY (3 mins, USA) + TRILOBITE (7 mins, USA) + V & DOT (8 mins, Taiwan) + WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE (5 mins, Poland) + FROM SPACE (25 mins, China) + THE YEAR IN THE WIND (8 mins, Taiwan) + THE STORY OF SUGAR (5 mins, USA)
ARTY SCIENCE These films explore the nexus between science and art, works beautiful in their own right and sharing the beauty to be found in unlocking the secrets of the universe. 14 films. View here (password protected) GENE HORIZONS (19 mins, United Kingdom) + B-CELLS: A CHEMOTHERAPY POEM (4 mins, USA, Dir: William Doan) + SORAYA IN THE LAND OF NOD (3 mins, Indian) + EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS OF CANCER DEVELOPMENT (Pt1): DNA Methylation (9 mins, Australia) + TREE OF LIFE (7 mins, Croatia) + THE ART OF EXOPLANETS (19 mins, Australia) + SUNSCREAM (28 mins, India) + RETINA REFUSE (2 min, USA) + DESSAIM (20 mins, Canada) + DON'T GIVE THEM ROOM TO GROW (13 mins, France) + HEAD, SHOULDERS, KNEES AND TOES (10 mins, Brazil) + LET THERE BE LED (7 mins, Russian Federation) + ESTHER'S INTERSTELLAR VISION (11 mins, USA) + DARK SKIES, HOT PLANET, COOL GAZE (92 mins, USA)
PHYSICS These films celebrate the people who work to unlock the secrets of the universe, shares their successes and frustrations, and the technology the employ in their work. 3 films. View here (password protected) THE PEACE PARTICLE (86 mins, United Kingdom) + SQUEEZED LIGHT: BREAKING THE QUANTUM LIMIT (36 mins, USA) + COSMIC CODA (86 mins, USA)
ENVIRONMENT These films explore the health of our planet, and the people who work and fight to reduce the impact of humans on their environment. 7 films. View here (password protected) RUN AGAINST TIME: THE SNOWMAN RACE IN BHUTAN (49 mind, Japan) + EL CHICHON IS STILL ALIVE (40 mins, Mexico) + THE LABORATORY (25 mins, Italy) + A MAP OF THE WORLD IN TIME (77 mins, USA) + AN ENDLESS DAY BY VLADIMIR KALYAEV (44 mins, Russian Federation) + RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW: THE SCIENCE OF CLIMATE JUSTICE (14 mins, United Kingdom) + PAANI (4 mins, USA)
TECHNOLOGY These films celebrate the people with a passion for making and inventing, whether it’s Formula One cars, lasers, or the internet. 5 films View here (password protected) CLASSIC CAR ENVY (25 mins, USA) + FINDING THE FORMULA (79 mins, United Kingdom) + RUSSIAN REVERS (71 mins, Russian Federation) + FLIGHT LINE (19 mins, USA) + TO CINEMATHEQUE (15 mins, Brazil) + FROM 1985 TO THE FUTURE | 40 YEARS OF LASERS AT FRAUNHOFER ILT (5 mins, Germany) + THE COLLINS STORY - THE INTERNET CONNECTION (60 mins, USA) + BRIGHT HARVEST: POWERING EARTH FROM SPACE (27 mins, USA)
SPACE AND THE SKIES These films speculate on both the future of space travel and the origins of the universe, and introduce us to the people whose ideas and research are unlocking their secrets. 11 films View here (password protected) Martian Memories (18 mins, USA) + The Movements of the Universe (17 mins, USA) + Beyond the Clouds (5 mins, USA) + Children of the Sky: Can We Raise Kids in Space? (28 mins, USA, 2026, Directed by David S Brody) + Earth and the Exoplanets (20 mins, Australia) + Not Stars, But Questions (17 mins, Japan) + Into the Universe: Mysteries of the Cosmos (50 mins, Canada) + Origins, A Tale of Light (59 mins, France, Directed by Roman Hill) + The Seven Other Planets of Our Solar System (51 mins, USA, 2026, Directed by Doug Clyde) + The Sunkeepers (52 mins, Russian Federation) + The Quantum Skylight (42 mins, Spain) + Messengers (45 mins, Canada)
GROWN UPS PLAYLIST 7 films View here (password protected) Father Time - WHY MEN ARE BORN TO NURTURE (53 mins, France) + INFERTILE (69 mins, United Kingdom) + MISCONCEPTION (20 mins, Australia) + SEA OF HOPE (5 mins, Iraq) + War Child Chose Science (60 mins, Finland) + THE WAR WITHIN (25 mins, United Kingdom)
FAQs
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You are the venue in our film festival model. We will give you a password protected URL that will give you all of the themed programs below. You’ll obviously need a laptop or interactive whiteboard or screen or, if you’re lucky, your venue has a theatre. The programs go live on the morning of Friday 8 August, and will stay live to end of day Friday 29 August. You can play the films one at a time, in their themed programs, however you want. Our themed programs are just ‘suggestions,’ but particularly for teachers we have curated the student-friendly programming together. You need to find your own audience, do your own publicity.
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Apologies, our film permissions loaned to us by the filmmakers who enter only cover Australia.
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Go to National Science Week website to register as a venue, to receive your program information.