SLEEPER with guest speaker Brock Reeve January 21, 2008

The Coolidge Corner Theatre will kick off a new season of its popular Science on Screen series with a showing of Woody Allen's comedy classic SLEEPER.

When cryogenically preserved Miles Monroe (Woody Allen) is awakened 200 years after a hospital mishap, he discovers the future's not so bright: All women are frigid, all men are impotent, and the world is ruled by an evil dictator -- a disembodied nose. Pursued by the secret police and recruited by anti-government rebels with a plan to kidnap the dictator's proboscis before it can be cloned, Miles falls for the beautiful – but untalented -- poet Luna (Diane Keaton). When Miles is captured and reprogrammed by the government (to believe he's Miss America) it's up to Luna to save Miles, lead the rebels, and cut off the nose...just to spite its face.

As wacky as the concept of resurrecting a dead dictator from his severed nose may be, there is no doubt scientists are on the cusp of very real breakthroughs in the areas of cloning and stem cell research -- hotly debated issues which may hold the key to curing a multitude of debilitating injuries and diseases. Joining us before the film to talk about some of the realities surrounding stem cell research and cloning will be Brock Reeve, executive director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and half-brother to the late actor and stem cell advocate Christopher Reeve.

Official Website: http://www.coolidge.org/science