Contact (1997), directed by Robert Zemeckis, explores humanity’s search for meaning and our place in the cosmos. Based on Carl Sagan’s novel with the same title, it follows Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), a passionate scientist devoted to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. When Ellie detects a signal from space containing complex data, she and her team work to decode it, only to discover blueprints for building a mysterious machine. As political, religious, and scientific debates erupt worldwide, Ellie must navigate questions about science, faith, and humanity’s place in the universe.

Contact is a thought-provoking science fiction drama that that blends mystery, philosophy, and wonder and it addresses the boundaries between science and faith, evidence and belief, and what it means to seek connection beyond ourselves.

After the screening, we invite you to join a discussion on space exploration and the ethics of seeking contact with extraterrestrial intelligence with Dr. Chelsea Haramia, a philosopher and ethicist specializing in astrobiology ethics, SETI ethics, technology ethics, AI ethics, and environmental ethics. She earned a PhD in Philosophy and a graduate certificate in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2014. She is the author of numerous published articles and book chapters on the ethics of space exploration, as well as a forthcoming book titled Ethics and Extraterrestrial Communication: The Moral Responsibilities of Cosmic Messengers. She is Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Science and Thought at the University of Bonn and an international affiliate of the UK SETI Research Network’s Post-Detection Hub. She is also co-editor of the academic journal 1000-Word Philosophy and Science Advisory Board member of the SETI Institute, as well as Co-Director of the Institute's new initiative focused on discovery and futures.

Tickets are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. We kindly ask you to only reserve the number of tickets that you will definitely use.

This event is kindly supported by the Federal Foreign Office.

We look forward to an enlightening evening with you!