Movie festival on the bigger screen
Minnesota Science Museum’s Omnifest features daily showings of five movies in the Omnitheater
February 12, 2015
From the depths of space to the depths of the ocean, from the cutting edge to the world of 1944, the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Omnifest has something for everybody.
The Omnifest is the Science Museum’s annual event to showcase the nine-story theater, and this year will show a combination of new and returning films.
Until Feb. 19, the Omnitheater will be showing a selection of five films everyday as part of Omnifest 2015.
This year’s selection allows visitors to travel to the furthest reaches of the universe with “Hubble”, narrated by Leonardo diCaprio, and to the most interesting areas of Earth’s oceans in The Living Sea, narrated by Meryl Streep. Other films shown are The Greatest Places, a tour of sites across the globe; Flight of the Butterflies a documentary of an epic scientific quest and D-Day: Normandy 1944.
The festival is a large draw to the museum, according to Kim Ramsden, Director of Communications & Public Relations for the science museum.
“Omnifest is our most popular annual event. Each festival runs about five or six weeks and draws visitors from the local community as well as from outside the state,” Ramsden said. “Seeing a film on the giant screen is an experience like no other. You aren’t just watching the film, it’s like you’re in the film.”
Students agreed that the event is a good way to draw crowds to the museum.
“People can go and see what else the museum has to offer,” said sophomore Ariana Johnson.
The films run a range of genres, with all of them showing every day to maximize the potential audience and their opportunity to attend.
Ramsden said, “The Science Museum schedules each film in the festival to run once per day so a movie-goer could see one or all five films in just one visit! That ability to “binge watch” Omnifest favorites and new films is what draws visitors back each year.”
Students agreed with her reasoning and expressed their support for this year’s lineup.
“There’s one for everyone,” said sophomore Mohamed Osman. “There’s one that interests me, same for all interests.”
The films will run in rotation, Tuesday through Sunday, every week. Tickets are $8 for the first film of a day, and 15 percent less for every subsequent film on that same day. The event ends Feb 19.
