The Salina Art Center Cinema will continue its Science on Screen series Monday with a film about drones, “Rotor DR1”.

According to the Art Center, “Rotor DR1”  is a film based in a post-apocalyptic world where half the population is dead or missing and the sky is full of autonomous drones. A 16-year-old boy named Kitch sets out to find his father, joined by DR1, his drone companion.

Following the film, watch the 2017 InterDrone Film Festival award winning “Beauty and Bounty.” This drone created short film is the perfect introduction to the Science on Screen discussion of “Drones: Practical to Artistic Use in the USA.” Panelists David Burchfield, Assistant Professor of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program at Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus and Doug Armknecht, award winning filmmaker and drone pilot, will lead the discussion.

The purpose of the evening is to celebrate using one of the nation’s favorite pastimes—going to the movies—to promote public understanding of science.

Per the Motion Picture Association of America’s most recent Theatrical Market Statistics Report, 71 percent of U.S. and Canadian citizens over age two—some 246 million people—attended a movie in 2016, purchasing an average of 5.3 tickets over the course of that year. Science on Screen and the National Evening aim to inspire in America’s many movie-lovers an increased appreciation for STEM topics by sharing with them the excitement of discovery and scientific enlightenment along with their popcorn.

Science on Screen is a nationwide grant initiative, funded by the Sloan Foundation.

The event Monday evening begins at 5:30 at the Salina Art Center Cinema at 150 S. Santa Fe in Downtown Salina. It is free and open to the public.

—

Additional dates for the Salina Art Center Cinema, Science on Screen series include:

• April 16 – Marjorie Prime (2016) w/ discussion of intrapsyhic and interpersonal dynamics that shape our relationships and experiences.
• April 30 – Earthquake (1974) w/ discussion of seismicity issues in the midcontinent, focusing particularly on recent earthquakes in Kansas.