InScience 2021

Lust for Life

That is essentially what InScience is all about: immersing yourself in special, poignant, enlightening, astonishing stories about all facets of this life. And this year we hope to be able to do that together in person.

About the festival

The seventh edition of the festival, which took place from 10 to 14 November 2021, was a hybrid festival. As usual, InScience organized film screenings, talks, and other programs in and around the halls of LUX and at various locations in Nijmegen. In addition, part of the program was available online to everyone in the Netherlands. Last but not least, the best of the InScience program could be seen in several university cities under the title InScience On Tour.

New to the festival this year were the workshops. Wim van Egmond and Rob van Es (Netherlands Society for Microscopy) gave a workshop on finding works of art under a microscope during Micro-art. During the festival, you could also have Mystieke Gesprekken with philosophers, Zen masters, artists, neuroscientists, psychedelia experts or break free from your own fixed thinking patterns with photo detective Hans Aarsman (known from de Volkskrant) and filmmaker Joost van de Loo during Holistic Detectives.

Halfway through the festival, however, we were forced to cancel all side programming. You can read the news item about the changes here.

InScience on Tour

In addition to the main location Nijmegen, we organized no fewer than eight On Tour editions in other cities: Amsterdam, Breda, Eindhoven, Maastricht, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Twente and Wageningen. The programs in these cities featured the best films from the InScience program with additional after-talks and were organized in collaboration with universities, colleges, and local cinemas. InScience on Tour took place from November 15 to December 11.

The theme and campaign

Just now that life has come to a standstill, InScience thinks it is time for an ode to (healthy) life. To the vibrant life. To the pensive life. To the fragile life. To our wonderful body that endures so much. To the innovations that improve our health. To the life of our planet – can we still heal it? And to our living together, with a critical look at the influence of living together on individual well-being. Perhaps to eternal life. We immerse ourselves in life, in the cinema, and in science. We’re going to experience it. We will marvel together. Who would want to live forever? And who doesn’t care about that question because they are mainly concerned with survival? And on Saturday evening we dance together again because dancing is – as science shows – very good for your health. And that health still comes first.

Jury & Awards

The films from the competition program had a chance to win the NTR De Kennis van Nu Audience Award, the Student Jury Award, and the InScience Jury Award. InScience also awards the Klokhuis Wetenschapsprijs. View the 2021 winners here.

NTR De Kennis Van Nu Audience Award

Which film is most liked by InScience visitors? A selection of the best science films has a chance to win this audience award.

• The Reason I Jump / Jerry Rothwell

InScience Jury Award

The InScience Jury Award was presented for the second time in 2020. The jury consisted of three professionals with different expertise: this year Sandra den Hamer, George van Hal and Anna Gimbrère.

• In Silico / Noah Hutton

Student Jury Award

InScience Student Jury consists of five students from colleges and universities in the province of Gelderland. Through the Student Jury, InScience encourages young people to be more involved in science.

• The Reason I Jump / Jerry Rothwell

Klokhuis Wetenschapsprijs

With the Klokhuis Wetenschapsprijs, Het Klokhuis and InScience reward interesting and relevant scientific research for children aged 9 to 12 years.

• ‘Mijn vader heeft ALS, wat nu?’ / Dr. Marion Sommers-Spijkerman en Dr. Anita Beelen (UMC Utrecht)