Oliver Stone awarded at #LabMeCrazy! Science Film Festival, for his documentary "Nuclear Now" about nuclear energy and climate change.

#LabMeCrazy! Science Film Festival, competition international science film festival organized every year by the Science Museum of the University of Navarra, is now in its fifth edition. Nearly 600 people attended the awards gala submission of this festival that began this Tuesday, February 20 at 7:00 pm in the theater of the Museum of the University of Navarra. The event was a show of videos, science and humor, masterfully presented by Helena González Burón, humorist and scientist, and seasoned with a circus show at position by Alodeyá Circo.

The award for best documentary went to "Nuclear Now", a 105-minute American production that reflects the importance that nuclear energy can play in curbing Climate Change. The best television program went to the American production "Wild Hope: The Beautiful Undammed" by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios; the best student production was the British "U' Scogghiu Chiama (The Rock Calls)"; the best work produced by universities and centers of research went to "The Symphony of the Brain" by the British center Oxford Sparks; while the best video on the web or social networks went to the American production "Antarctica: At the Intersection of Technology and Climate Action".

Along with these awards, the documentary"Maa-yiem, the extraordinary story of Jordi Sabater Pi", by Turkana Films, co-produced by TVE, TVC and La Xarxa, won the award of the audience of the Online Screenings. 733 people cast their votes for the candidate screenings between February 21 and 23.

"This year the level of the films in competition has been impressive. Producing a good science documentary is no easy task, but these productions manage to do it masterfully. They manage to tell stories that engage and at the same time maintain scientific rigor," says Bienvenido León, director of the festival.

The researcher and paleontologist Juan Luis Arsuaga was awarded with the award "Passion for Science"for his excellent career in the promotion of scientific communication and culture. In addition, the Science Museum gave special recognition to the high school Luis Amigó of Pamplonafor the work of teachers and students in the promotion, Education and knowledge dissemination of science. Inan Baquero was also awarded the award for the best work of the photography contest "Nature in my environment".

Inma Aguilar, Director General of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities; Patricia Fanlo, Councilor for University, Innovation and Digital Transformation of the Government of Navarra; Paloma Grau, submission ; Paloma Grau, Vice President of research and Sustainability of the University of Navarra; Pello Bayona, director of Laboral Kutxa companies; artist and entrepreneur Mikel Urmeneta; Bienvenido León, director of the festival, and Ignacio López-Goñi, director of the Science Museum of the University of Navarra. 

From Wednesday 21 to Saturday 24, at 19:00 pm, some of the finalist documentaries of this edition will be screened at the Golem Baiona cinemas in Pamplona. Also from today you can watch some productions online and vote for the award of the public through the festival website. And you can still enjoy some of the scientific activities that take place in the framework of this festival: exhibition of photographs, colloquiums, conferences, round tables and a photographic safari through Pamplona.

#LabMeCrazy! Science Film Festival has received in its fourth edition 1,442 productions from 108 countries. The Science Museum has counted with the support of sponsorship de Seguros de Salud ACUNSA-Clínica Universidad de Navarra, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) / Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Government of Navarra, the City Council of Pamplona, Laboral Kutxa, and the Lilly Foundation, and with the partnership of the Golem Baiona cinemas and the University Museum of Navarra.

Marie Curie: "You don't have to fear anything in life, you just have to understand it".

The atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima and the communication crises associated with them, the effects of radiation shown in the movies, the propaganda of the oil and coal industry, or the campaigns of environmental and anti-nuclear groups have led a large part of public opinion to position itself against nuclear energy, as reflected in "Nuclear Now".

Oliver Stone 's documentary takes a historical tour of this energy source , from the construction of the first nuclear power plant in 1954 (Obninsk, Russia) to the present day, where many countries - such as Germany - have decided to remove nuclear energy from the energy basket and have returned to using fossil fuels for electricity production.  

This film extols the advantages of the use of nuclear energy (guaranteed supply, cost-competitive, no greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, safe production) and positions it as strategic to help curb climate change.

"I encourage students, young people all over the world, to understand nuclear energy as I have come to understand it. When I was young, I was ignorant. So look at where we are now," says Oliver Stone director of the film.

Marie Curie's phrase in which she urged knowledge over fear is reinforced by this documentary, which points out that we do not have to fear Climate Change, but use human ingenuity and put all our efforts to alleviate it, such as "producing clean energy quickly to decarbonize the Economics".