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(16mm B/W, short narrative)
Written and Directed by Alexis Gambis
16mm, short narrative
Dr. Funque (Corey Sullivan) enters the laboratory to start his after-dinner lab chores. He sits comfortably at the bench and prepares a cocktail of solutions that he pours into his petri dish. He would have never thought that that evening he would make an incredible discovery. People, cars, parks, buildings - an entire world was encapsulated inside his petri dish. What turned out like a solitary typical Funque lab evening ends up being a festive exchange with the petri dish city and dwellers.
Brooklyn, NY, Mar. 5 — What do fruit flies and NYC have in common? Check out scientist/filmmaker Alexis Gambis’ documentary A Fruit Fly in New York, which was screened at last month’s Secret Science Club meeting (see “Secret Science Club” above). Gambis is a fourth-year Ph.D. graduate student at New York’s Rockefeller University. In his current thesis work, he uses fluorescent proteins to visualize neurons in Drosophila melanogaster eyes and studies how these neurons resist or degenerate under stress conditions.
“Science is a creative process,” Gambis said. “It is important to transmit the aesthetic value in the scientific process through a combination of visual and sound imagery.”
The short film, described on Gambis’ web site, explores the relationship between science, creativity, and the city. “Armed with a vial of fruit flies, Alexis asks both young scientists and passersby in a downtown farmer’s market about what a fruit fly reminds them of. Through this quest, the fruit fly symbolizes the gap between the perception of science inside and outside of the laboratory. The air travel of the fly from the lab into the street evokes the need to bridge the gap and communicate science to the public.”
Gambis completed a digital filmmaking program at the New York Film Academy and is the founder of Imaginal Disc Productions, which aims to enhance people’s lives by providing a better understanding of the science that surrounds us every day.
Part of the film was shot at Rockefeller University in The Laboratory of Apoptosis and Cancer, where Gambis is conducting his research under the supervision of the principal investigator Hermann Steller. Funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute supports Steller’s laboratory.
