“Quietly devastating.” - The Boston Globe
“Fascinating and frightening examination of bias.” - WGBH
“Sweeping in scope yet intimately compelling.” - Science
ABOUT THE FILM
SYNOPSIS
PICTURE A SCIENTIST chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. Biologist Nancy Hopkins, chemist Raychelle Burks, and geologist Jane Willenbring lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experiences in the sciences, ranging from brutal harassment to years of subtle slights. Along the way, from cramped laboratories to spectacular field stations, we encounter scientific luminaries - including social scientists, neuroscientists, and psychologists - who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all.
For press inquiries reach us at pictureascientist [ at ] gmail dot com.
CREDITS
an Uprising Production
in association with the Wonder Collaborative
a film by Sharon Shattuck & Ian Cheney
Executive Producer Amy Brand
Produced by Manette Pottle, Ian Cheney, Sharon Shattuck
Edited by Natasha Bedu
Co-Producers Oluwaseun Babalola, Irene Yadao
Directed by Ian Cheney & Sharon Shattuck
funding
Principal funding for the film was provided by the Heising-Simons Foundation.
Major funding for the film was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Additional funding was provided by Nancy Blachman, Anonymous, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program with support from Sandbox Films, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Wonder Collaborative, Chicken & Egg Pictures, The Educational Foundation of America, Erica Brand and Adam Brand, The Benevity Community Impact Fund, Mar Hershenson, Kate Korsh, and Jennifer Kane.
FILMMAKERS
Director/Producer Ian Cheney is an Emmy-nominated & Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker. He has completed ten feature documentaries, including King Corn (2007), The Greening of Southie (2008), The City Dark (2011), The Search for General Tso (2014), Bluespace (2015), The Most Unknown (2018), The Emoji Story (2019), Thirteen Ways (2019), and The Long Coast (2020). He received bachelor’s & master’s degrees from Yale University, and an MFA in Film from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. A former MacDowell Fellow & Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, he lives in Maine.
Director/Producer Sharon Shattuck is an Emmy-nominated documentary film director and podcast host. Her feature debut, From This Day Forward, broadcast nationally on POV (PBS) in 2016 and was a New York Times Critic's Pick. She's the co-host of the podcast Conviction: American Panic from Gimlet/Spotify, and the co-creator of the New York Times Op-Docs science series ‘Animated Life.' Her work has appeared on PBS, National Geographic Channel, Netflix, Slate, Vice, The New York Times, The Atlantic, ProPublica, Spotify, and Radiolab. She has degrees in forest ecology and journalism.
Producer Manette Pottle is a documentary film producer. Her first feature film, Behold The Earth, with director David Conover, frames a multi-generational conversation between science and religion about the fate of our planet, and is distributed theatrically by Aspiration Entertainment. She has also produced over a hundred short films for travel and lifestyle platforms. Prior to film production, she produced the Camden International Film Festival, a documentary film festival in Camden, Maine.
MEET THE SCIENTISTS & AMBASSADORS
Nancy Hopkins, Ph.D.
Nancy Hopkins is a molecular biologist and professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is known for her research identifying the role genes play in longevity and cancer predisposition in adult fish, as well as for her work promoting equality of opportunity for women scientists in academia. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Raychelle Burks, Ph.D.
Raychelle Burks is a professor of analytical chemistry at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. Her research focuses on developing low-cost colorimetric sensors for detecting chemicals of forensic interest, including explosives and regulated drugs. As a science communicator, Burks has appeared on the Science Channel's Outrageous Acts of Science, the American Chemical Society’s Reactions videos, Royal Society of Chemistry podcasts, and at genre conventions such as DragonCon and GeekGirlCon. Burks was awarded the 2020 American Chemical Society Grady-Stack award for excellence in public engagement.
Jane Willenbring, Ph.D.
Jane Willenbring is a geomorphologist and professor of geology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and director of the Scripps Cosmogenic Isotope Laboratory. Willenbring’s research examines the evolution of the Earth’s surface, especially how landscapes are affected by tectonics, climate change, and life on Earth. She is a 2018 Geological Society of America Fellow, and the recipient of the Antarctica Service Medal and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award.
Kuheli Dutt, Ph.D.
Picture a Scientist Outreach Ambassador
Dr. Kuheli Dutt is the Assistant Director for Academic Affairs and Diversity at Lamont and serves as Lamont’s Diversity Officer. She leads diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at Lamont. Dr. Dutt has a PhD in public policy, and her research focuses on implicit bias and STEM diversity.
Dr. Dutt serves on the International Advisory Board for Gender Equality at the University of Southern Denmark. Dr. Dutt also serves on the Columbia University Senate Commission on the Status of Women; and the Columbia University Task Force on Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
Dr. Dutt has done numerous invited talks and workshops on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and she uses these as opportunities to engage with people on topics such as implicit bias, systemic bias, and anti-Black racism.
HOST A SCREENING
Interested in bringing the film to your campus or community, either in-person or virtually?
If you’d like to host a screening, please complete the form below and someone from our team will be in touch shortly. If your request is urgent, email our screenings coordinator: screenings [at] rocofilms.com. If you are ready to purchase an Educational screening license, click here.
If you are interested in purchasing an Educational streaming license, click here.
Also be sure to see our Frequently Asked Questions below.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HOSTING SCREENINGS:
CAN ANYONE HOST A SCREENING?
Yes! We’re helping hundreds of schools, labs, associations, clubs, non-profits, corporations and more share the film (both physically and virtually).
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO HOST A SCREENING?
Screening fees do apply. Thanks to a generous grant received by The Heising-Simon Foundation, we are able to offer subsidized screening fees to universities and schools.
For all other screenings, we determine each fee individually based on the size and scope of the planned screening.
WHAT TYPE OF VENUES CAN SCREENINGS TAKE PLACE IN?
Anywhere you like! We can help plan a screening at any venue, and they can be either in-person or virtual.
HOW DO VIRTUAL SCREENINGS WORK?
Included with most screenings is our ability to create a custom, branded, private screening room for your audience using Vimeo Virtual Showcase. Here’s more information about that:
Virtual Showcase Viewing Option:
We have the ability to create a password-protected, private screening room for your audience to access.
We will then activate the screening room on a date that you select, for a set amount of time (72 hours with most licenses) and generate a unique link and password to be sent to all registrants/viewers. Vimeo doesn’t offer the capability of watching the film collectively at the same time, but rather each participant would be able to log in on their own time (within the allotted timeframe, an unlimited number of times) to view the film.
DO YOU HELP ME PLAN MY SCREENING?
We are here to help as much as we can! We will make sure you have the film (and if virtual, that your screening room is all set), and we will also provide you with our press kit to help with promotion and a wonderful discussion guide to help with any post-screening panel or Q&A that you are planning.
DO YOU OFFER RESOURCES TO HELP WITH FACILITATING A DISCUSSION AROUND THE FILM?
Yes! The film team has created a wonderful discussion guide that we will provide upon confirmation of your screening.
HOW LONG IS THE FILM?
The film is 97 minutes long. There is also a 55-minute educational cut that can be used for your screening if you would prefer.
ARE CAPTIONS AND SUBTITLES AVAILABLE?
Yes, we have a closed captioned version available! We also have Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish subtitles available upon request.
IF I WANT TO HOST A VIRTUAL SCREENING AT MY INSTITUTION, DO I NEED PUBLIC PERFORMANCE RIGHTS?
Yes, for any in-person or virtual institutional screening, you do need public performance rights and would therefore need to purchase the Institutional & Public Viewing DVD ($350) that includes perpetual screening rights for a single campus.
WHAT LICENSING OPTIONS DO YOU OFFER FOR LABS, INSTITUTES, AND CORPORATIONS?
We currently have many screening/usage options available that range from a single small screening to a company/organization-wide site license that would give exclusive virtual access to entire networks worldwide (for screening and/or training purposes). Fees vary based on license structure, so please feel free to submit your screening request here or contact pas@rocofilms.com to learn more.
press
“Quietly devastating.”
“Sweeping in scope yet intimately compelling.”
“It might be a while before we instinctively picture a scientist as a woman. Still, this attractive, solidly-made documentary helps lead the way.”
“The film documents a reckoning both within the field and in our own brains with its fascinating and frightening examination of bias.”
“Through three women scientists at different stages in their careers, including biologist Nancy Hopkins who spearheaded MIT’s report, the new documentary ‘Picture a Scientist’ combines poignant, firsthand recollections of sexist and racist treatment with indisputable current data.”
“By the end of the movie, we are all forced to confront our own inner prejudices and to accept that the only way forward towards equality is through transparency and data.”
“Picture a Scientist is the documentary we need to continue the call for action, to continue awareness, and to remind those who would abuse a system, we see you.”
“While ‘Picture a Scientist’ arrives at a time when the floodgates have opened for films detailing sexism and harassment in a variety of professions as a result of the #metoo movement, leave it to filmmakers Sharon Shattuck and Ian Cheney to stand out by following the lead of their subjects in taking a measured approach to the problem that identifies the root causes and traces its effects so insightfully.”
“This is a crucial piece of viewing that helps us to understand the extent of issues that many may not even know exist.”
SEWICKLY HERALD - Tull virtual film, Q&A focuses on diversity in science field
“The compelling documentary, ‘Picture a Scientist,’ which was scheduled to have its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival...is a case study of three women in STEM professions that seek gender equality, visibility, and diversity in the discipline.”
“insightful, informative, inspirational, poignant, candid”