Famed director and writer Jonathan Nolan joins astrophysicist Janna Levin in conversation on Science vs. Fiction as they explore his catalogue of imaginative works from Memento to The Prestige to Westworld to The Peripheral. This event will be in-person at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in Park City Utah, to be published soon thereafter on Pioneer Works Broadcast.

The Pioneer Works series Science vs. Fiction is inspired by the complementarity of scientific discovery and fictional world building. Both are driven by a love of complexity, a curiosity about the workings of the universe, and the capacity to imagine alternative realities or entirely new worlds. We celebrate filmmakers, authors, and artists for whom science and fiction, observation and fantasy, nature and technology intertwine to spark new ideas in science and beyond.

Jonathan Nolan is an Academy Award® and Emmy Award® -nominated writer, director, and producer. Nolan’s work includes MEMENTO, THE PRESTIGE, THE DARK KNIGHT, INTERSTELLAR, and WESTWORLD, which recently concluded its run at HBO with 54 Emmy nominations, and remains the highest rated first season show in HBO’s history. Nolan’s first foray into television, the Emmy®-nominated crime series PERSON OF INTEREST, ran for five seasons and over a hundred episodes. Jonathan and Lisa Joy’s company, Kilter Films, recently released THE PERIPHERAL, a series based on William Gibson’s novel. His next project is an adaptation of Bethesda’s hit game, FALLOUT for Prime Video.

Janna Levin is the Claire Tow Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. She is also the Pioneer Works Chief Science Officer and the editor-in-chief of Pioneer Works Broadcast. A Guggenheim Fellow, Janna has contributed to an understanding of black holes and cosmology. She is the presenter of the NOVA feature Black Hole Apocalypse, aired on PBS and Netflix. Janna is the author of How the Universe Got Its Spots, Black Hole Blues, and a PEN-prize winning work of fiction, A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines. Her most recent book is Black Hole Survival Guide.

This event is taking place at the Sundance Film Festival in-person on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at 4:30PM, at Filmmaker Lodge in Park City, Utah. The video of the conversation will be published on Pioneer Works Broadcast a few weeks after the event.