A new IMAX film challenges everyone to think differently about adjectives like fastest, strongest and tallest while aiming to inspire a new generation to think about alternative career paths.
“Dream Big: Engineering Our World” celebrates human ingenuity and shows how engineers push the limits of innovation in unexpected ways.
Through the six-story lens of Chattanooga’s biggest screen, viewers will watch 14 students from Houston High School of Science and Technology as they travel to compete in the 2015 World Solar Challenge Race in Australia.
Thousands of miles from their home in Mississippi, the students pit their solar-powered car, Sundancer, against the perils of a 3,000-kilometer (1,800-mile) race between Darwin and Adelaide. In the end, Sundancer won its vehicle class by covering 1,736 miles – 341 miles farther than the next-closest competitor – at an average speed of 40 miles an hour.
Through interviews with engineers, narration by Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges and footage shot by veteran giant screen studio MacGillivray Freeman Films, “Dream Big” showcases the passion that drives today’s engineers and aims to inspire the young minds that will solve tomorrow’s problems.
“Teachers and parents are looking for ways to really turn kids on to science and engineering,” says Greg MacGillivray, director. “We wanted to see if we could bring something new to that effort with an entertaining, visually spectacular film.”
Viewers will watch bridge builders connect isolated villages in the Third World, see how twisted architecture can help a building defy the wind and observe a team of high schoolers compete against groups from elite schools in a NASA-sponsored robotics competition.
“Dream Big” was produced in partnership with the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Bechtel Corporation and is being presented locally by Wacker.
Its premiere on Feb. 17 dovetails with Chattanooga Engineers Week, which runs Feb. 19-25 and aims to raise public awareness about engineering and the contributions that engineers make to society.
“Dream Big” will be shown daily at the Tennessee Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater at noon and 4 p.m. with additional 7 p.m. screenings on Friday and Saturday. To purchase tickets or an IMAX Club Pass, visit tnaqua.org/imax.
Source: Tennessee Aquarium