The Academy and NASA Venture to the Final Frontier

Beverly Hills, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and NASA will explore cutting-edge film techniques and virtual voyages using animation on Tuesday, July 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Hosted by five-time Oscar®-nominated producer Frank Marshall, "Capturing the Final Frontier" will feature film clips and conversations with such filmmakers as Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar and leading NASA animators and scientists (see complete list on www.oscars.org).


Presented by the Academy’s Science and Technology Council, the event will take a journey through the space program’s breakthroughs in animation with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Eric De Jong, who began his career creating Voyager animations. The evening features a look at Mars rover Curiosity graphics in anticipation of its landing on the Red Planet in August 2012.

NASA animators and image specialists regularly take these visual concepts a step further by joining forces with Hollywood filmmakers to create new wonders for the big screen. "Capturing the Final Frontier" will examine some of these collaborations, exploring the documentary films "Hubble 3D" (2010) and "Roving Mars" (2006) along with feature films "Mission to Mars" (2000) and the Oscar-nominated "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (2011).

Tickets for "Capturing the Final Frontier" are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID, and may be purchased online at www.oscars.org, in person at the Academy box office, or by mail.

The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Ticketed seating is unreserved. For more information, call (310) 247-3600 or visit www.oscars.org.

SOURCE The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences