If you're a fan of IMAX movies and you live in Portland, Oregon, here's a pretty cool opportunity coming up. Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) will be having an IMAX film festival from May 8 through July 1. They'll be screening 28 films, both old and new, with a total of 450 showings in all. You can get more info on their website, including showtimes and short descriptions of each film, or you can also download the festival schedule as a PDF.
Regular ticket prices will apply throughout the festival, but you can also get some passes if you want to see a bunch of the movies: $90 buys you a Director's Pass, which allows you and a guest to see any movie and attend any of the special events tied to the festival. The $40 Producer's Pass gets you and a guest into four movies and some of the special events, and the $22 Producer's Pass Single is four movies for just one person.
With 28 films to choose from, there's bound to be at least a few you'll enjoy. I'm particularly interested in a few of the films about space: Hubble provides an up-close look at the Hubble Space Telescope, including the servicing mission in 2009. Magnificent Desolation covers the Apollo space missions on the surface of the moon, using previously unreleased NASA footage and photographs.
Of course, there are several films about prehistoric creatures: Dinosaurs Alive brings to life the dinos from Triassic Period to the Cretaceous Period, Flying Monsters (narrated by Sir David Attenborough) focuses on pterosaurs, and Sea Monsters is all about the great underwater creatures.
I missed the film about tornadoes when it was here last summer, so I'm glad I'll have the chance to see it now. Just two weekends ago a bunch of tornadoes ripped across my former state of Kansas, and I remember seeing some shaky handheld footage. Seeing Tornado Alley on the big screen, I imagine, will be both thrilling and terrifying.
Tickets are available from OMSI's website (or at the front desk). OMSI is providing me with a pass so I can catch some of the movies, and I'll report back on the best ones.
Images provided by OMSI
