Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Wins SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Prize

SFFILM has named Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, the winner of the prestigious Sloan Science in Cinema Prize.

The award celebrates the compelling depiction of scientific themes or characters in a narrative feature film and is accompanied by a $20,000 cash prize.

In this latest adaptation, del Toro reimagines Mary Shelley’s classic tale of a brilliant scientist and the creature his monstrous ambition brings to life. From Netflix, the film stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, and Christoph Waltz.

“We’re delighted to award the Sloan Science in Cinema Prize to Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, a brilliant and original reimagining of Mary Shelley’s classic novel,” said Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “del Toro uses his exceptional filmmaking talents to both dramatize and humanize the cautionary tale of a scientist and his experimental creation of life through unorthodox methods, exploring the consequences of scientific hubris. The prescient 200-year-old story touches on contemporary scientific fields such as genetic and tissue engineering and transplantation as well as emerging technologies such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence. Frankenstein joins over 900 science and film projects supported by the Sloan Foundation, including SFFILM’s honors of outstanding films like Oppenheimer, Twisters, Don’t Look Up, and Hidden Figures.”

Anne Lai, the Executive Director of SFFILM said, “Films can have a profound effect on a viewer, opening a door to a possibility of your future that you didn’t know was there. With the Sloan Foundation’s support, we hope to encourage and empower artists to create films that might have that kind of impact of understanding and possibility in science. Guillermo del Toro’s body of work, especially Frankenstein, epitomizes that kind of inspiration.”

The special screening and event will take place at the AMC Kabuki 8 on Wednesday, November 12 at 7:30 pm. The Sloan Science in Cinema Prize program will feature an onstage conversation with screenwriter and director Guillermo del Toro, the film’s sound designer Nathan Robitaille, VFX supervisor Dennis Berardi, and head of concept design Guy Davis alongside Dr. Jennifer Doudna, Nobel Laureate and co-inventor of CRISPR gene editing technology, a profoundly powerful tool to edit DNA and reshape the human condition and our world.