Cycle 'ConversesNat': Talk 'Monsters, Animals, and (In)visible Women in Science and Cinema'

The session will include a screening of the documentary 'The Valley of Concavenator' followed by a dialogue on the topic from a gender perspective. As a novelty, we will start this time at 18:00. Movies about dinosaurs and the dinomania in general, from animated series like 'The Flintstones' to the 'Jurassic Park' sagas, have shown colossal and mythologized extinct animals from the past mixed with humans. We talk about fantastic cinema... of fiction; the reality is that dinosaurs - except for current birds - never coexisted with Homo sapiens or their fossil ancestors. However, recently, the entertainment film industry has delved into the field of dissemination and has given us valuable approaches to science: this is the case of the docudrama directed by Víctor Matellano, 'The Valley of Concavenator'. Here, paleontology and cinema merge in an exciting yet educational adventure. A story of parallels where, alongside eminent scientists and filmmakers, female protagonists play a significant role: real researchers and a cast made up of 80% women who carry the main interpretive burden. In the past, this was not the case. In fantastic genre films, human and animal monsters often relegated actresses to a position of mere physical embellishment; the prehistoric bikini of Raquel Welch in 'One Million Years B.C.' (1966) has become an icon in film history (on the contrary, does anyone remember the names of the dinosaurs that chased her?). It should be noted that many vampiresses, panther women, Frankenstein brides, or explorers of worlds populated by terrible apes and reptiles rebelled - more or less subtly - and were able to show us their acting skills and empowerment. However, in general, films written, directed, and produced by men - and aimed at the male world - made our fantastic heroines dress in little or no clothing (due to script obligations). Here, the seductive and deadly women accompanied by the villain of the moment, and the immaculate protagonists were reduced to being attractive, loud, whiny, and weak companions of the strong and attractive adventurer. Thus, paradoxically, the great visibility of women in the legacy of fantastic cinema - as a stereotype of being submissive or mere sexual objects - has led to female invisibility among the corpus of screenwriters, producers, and directors of the genre. A story similar to the presence of women in prominent positions in science, specifically in the field of dinosaur research? Fortunately, today, many paleontologists, archaeologists, and other scientists have greater visibility. Gradually, female filmmakers are becoming more present in the fantastic film industry. This is what the 'Women in Fan' project, led by Mónica Garcia-Massagué, is successfully supporting and encouraging within the prestigious Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. She, while president of the organizing foundation of the festival, is the author and coordinator of various books on women in fantastic cinema: 'Mistress of Fan', 'Horror Girls', or 'Women in Fan'. The first results, just like when we excavate the fossilized bones of an extinct dinosaur, are already becoming visible. Schedule: Wednesday from 18:00 to 20:00. Free entry with prior reservation required.