Re-Seeing the Century: The Expedition on Film

Location: American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York City

Special Offer for Paley Center Members: Paley Center Members can call the Museum of Natural History ticketing office (212-769-5200) and mention they are Paley Center Members for a special rate.

The Paley Center and the Margaret Mead Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History are pleased to present this event together, which traces how scientific expeditions have been captured and shown on film.

In this year’s Margaret Mead Film Festival, we celebrate the American Museum of Natural History’s legacy of scientific expedition and exploration from the earliest 20th century to the present day. We will investigate how knowledge about distant lands, strange animals and exotic cultures is captured and shown on film. The program will include excerpts from the AMNH Library archives made by legendary explorers Carl Akeley and Martin and Osa Johnson; and on the Burden expedition which captured the elusive Komodo Dragon—the expedition that inspired King Kong. We will also discuss the change in the culture of exploration with a current Museum scientist who frequently works in the field, and a film producer who documents cutting-edge research as part of the Museum’s Science Bulletins initiative.