Communicating science through films: the case of the International Festival of Scientific and Educational Film (1956–1975)

The Rassegna Internazionale del film Scientifico-didattico (International Festival of Scientific and Educational Film [IFSEF]) was a pioneering science-based public event held at the University of Padova from 1956 to 1975 in collaboration with the Venice International Film Festival. The IFSEF is treated as a case of a multiform space to question the permeable boundaries between hard scientific content and its aesthetic dimension, educational role, and science communication activity. Through the notions of 'surplus of meaning', 'boundary object' and 'boundary space', which are concepts at the intersection of science and technology studies, film studies and media studies, the IFSEF emerges as a distinctive moment in the construction of science as a multiform object in society, thus providing an opportunity to analyse the management of the evolving boundaries between scientific expertise and science communication at the dawn of modern science communication practice. The main point that emerges from the analysis of the IFSEF is the idea that the identity, meanings, structures and logics that characterise the IFSEF in many ways reflect crucial issues at the heart of the historical evolution of the boundaries between science and society, between the scientific community and other social actors, and between scientific epistemologies and different views of science-related content, thus contributing to a redefinition of the roles and identities of the actors involved in the configuration of the festival.