[Mb-civic] The Observer: Creationists take their fight to the really big screen

[harry.sifton at sympatico.ca]

HS spotted this on the The Observer site and thought you should see it.

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Note from HS:

Films on evolution no longer being shown in certain areas of the US !!
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To see this story with its related links on the The Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk

Creationists take their fight to the really big screen
US row forces southern Imax cinemas to shun films on evolution
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday March 20 2005
The Observer


They are the epitome of safe family entertainment, renowned for lavish animations, exquisitely filmed scenes of natural grandeur and utterly tame scripts. But Imax films have suddenly found themselves catapulted into controversy, thanks to their occasional use of the dreaded E-word: evolution.

In several US states, Imax cinemas - including some at science museums - are refusing to show movies that mention the subject or suggest that Earth's origins do not conform with biblical descriptions.  

Films include Cosmic Voyage, an animated journey through the universe; Galapagos, a documentary about the islands where Darwin made some of his most important observations; and Volcanoes of the Deep Sea, an underwater epic about the bizarre creatures that flourish near ocean vents.

In most southern states, theatre officials found recent test screenings of several of these films triggered accusations from viewers that the films were blasphemous.  

Carol Murray, marketing director of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in Texas, said audience members who had watched Volcanoes had commented 'I really hate it when the theory of evolution is presented as fact', or 'I don't agree with their presentation of human existence.'  

As a result, the science museum had decided not to screen the film. 'If it is not going to draw a crowd and it is going to create controversy, from a marketing point of view, I cannot make a recommendation,' Murray told  the New York Times yesterday.

Superficially, the decision affects only a dozen or so cinemas. But it could have a profound knock-on effect across the world because of the high cost of producing Imax films.  

They require special cameras and expensive projectors. The economics of Imax film-making are therefore very tight, and the actions of these southern Imax cinemas will only exacerbate the problem. It is expected that producers will be far less likely to make films that could offend fundamentalists, as the loss of venues in the southern states could be enough to turn profit to loss.

'It is going to be hard for our film-makers to continue to make unfettered documentaries when they know that 10 per cent of the market will reject them,' said Joe DeAmicis, vice-president of the California Science Centre in Los Angeles.  

This point was emphasised by Bayley Silleck, who wrote and directed Cosmic Voyage. Many institutions across America were coming under pressure about issues relating to natural selection. 'They have to be extremely careful as to how they present anything relating to evolution,' he said.   

A spokesman for the Science Museum in London described the development as worrying: 'It is a very tight market in the Imax business and we would be extremely disappointed if this sort of pressure led to a narrowing of the market for popular Imax films. These films are very popular with families.'  

The decision has also dismayed James Cameron, the Hollywood director who made the Imax film Aliens of the Deep and who was one of the producers of  Volcanoes. He said he was 'surprised and somewhat offended' that people were sensitive to the references to evolution in  Volcanoes.

He also revealed that objections had been made to parts of Aliens of the Deep, but these had remained in the final cut. 'It seems to be a new phenomenon, obviously symptomatic of our shift away from empiricism in science to faith-based science,' he said.

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited