CineCiência is MIS's monthly program featuring discussions about films addressing scientific themes. Each edition examines a classic film, with commentary from a subject-matter expert and moderation by José Luiz Goldfarb, project coordinator. August's edition presents a TV movie inspired by Orson Welles's famous 1938 radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds." Presented as a documentary, "Alerta mortal" depicts a breaking news broadcast simulating an alien invasion. Following the screening, journalist, translator and writer Fábio Fernandes will participate in a discussion.
About the film
Alerta mortal (Without Warning, dir. Robert Iscove, science fiction, 1994, USA, 100 min)
Three meteor fragments strike the USA, China and France. The narrative follows news anchors and reporters covering the event in real time as they gradually discover the meteors are actually the first signs of a deadly extraterrestrial invasion.
About the guest
Fábio Fernandes is a journalist, translator and writer. He holds a doctorate in Communication and Semiotics from PUC-SP, where he is professor and coordinator of the Journalism program. He has translated over 200 works, including "A Clockwork Orange," "Neuromancer" and "The Shadow of the Torturer." As a journalist, he has worked for O Pasquim, O Globo, Tribuna da Imprensa and Valor Econômico. His novels include "Os dias da peste," "Back in the USSR" (finalist for the 2020 Jabuti Prize) and "O torneio de sombras." He is a researcher and leader of the interdisciplinary research group Observatório do Futuro, affiliated with PUC-SP. In 2024, he participated with James Patrick Kelly, Ian McDonald and others in the first group of international writers to lead a science fiction literary workshop in China, the Future Fiction Workshop.
About the moderator
José Luiz Goldfarb holds a degree in Physics from the University of São Paulo (USP), a master's degree in Philosophy and History of Science from McGill University in Canada, and a doctorate in History of Science from USP. He is currently professor at Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP), director of EDUC and president of the Chair of Jewish Culture at PUC-SP. He is coordinator of the CineCiência project at MIS.
