A USP and UFSCar documentary about the work of researchers on the Cherenkov Telescope Array

FAPESP Agency * – The São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC) of the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Department of Arts of the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) launched the video documentary “Vinocéu: an interdisciplinary experiment in scientific publishing of physics”. Astrophysics.

The film is a video documentary of a scientific publication about the thematic project.”Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA): construction and first discoveries”, funded by FAPESP, coordinated by Prof Luiz Vitor de Souza Filhofrom IFSC-USP.

CTA is an international collaboration aiming to build a range of telescopes of different sizes and involving 1,500 members from 150 institutes and 25 countries.

The stories of CTA students, teachers, and researchers helped humanize the experiments and served as support for stimulating interest in astrophysics. The 28-minute documentary presents the motivations, processes and research questions from the personal point of view of the interviewees.

The text showcases the academic and cultural diversity of people around science, especially astrophysics. “The search for this affection is evident in this first edition of the film. The motivation, time and effort that researchers devote to studying abstract objects says Sybil Celestino Silvaprofessor at IFSC and project supervisor.

Moreover, “Vinocéu” rescues the ancestral relationship that people have with heaven. “As time goes by, we become more distant from astronomy, from the stars that are closest to us and have always guided us. This deeper relationship with the sky, with the planets, the moon, and the sun is presented through the connection between scientists, the sky, and science,” explains the teacher.

Video intent and production

The purpose of the work was to explore new languages ​​and new media for scientific publishing for a project of global importance. “Scientific publishing plays an important role in disseminating knowledge and enhancing understanding of science and its actors. Through ‘Vinocéu’, we want to showcase discoveries and scientific advances in the field of research in which Brazil is very mature to a wider audience. “It is a link between the scientific community and the population,” says Silva. “.

The documentary has an interdisciplinary character and involves students from the UFSCar Linguistics course at the research and writing stage, IFSC-USP and professionals in the field of film and journalism.

Thanks to the characteristics of the research project, the “Vinocéu” experience allows the group to develop research related to scientific publishing, while exploring the possibilities, providing opportunities to work in different fields: documentary, fiction, journalism, podcasting, small videos for social media networks, among others.

The production included the participation of filmmakers Rodolfo Magalhães and Guilherme Bonini, journalist Daniela Zigante, and interns Bianca Hipp Merisola, Pedro Henrique Callari Pinotti, Clarian Molina de Lima and Vinicius dos Santos Ribeiro.

The documentary video is available at USP YouTube channel.

*With information from the IFSC-USP press office.