Fleet Science Center brings digital film to Balboa Park, highlighting mathematical and cultural achievements of ancient civilization

By Anthony King | SDUN Editor

In conjunction with the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, Calif., San Diego’s Reuben H. Fleet Science Center will feature a timely digital planetarium show, explaining Maya science, art and mythology. “Tales of the Maya Skies” screens at the Eugene Heikoff and Marilyn Jacobs Heikoff Dome Theater beginning Friday, Nov. 9, with an open-ended run.

With cities and temples built in alignment to movements from the sun, moon and stars, the Maya documented astronomical events with amazing accuracy, the movie explains. Their methods helped to create the beginning of our modern-day calendar system, a feat that is documented well in the film.

To help launch the show’s run, the Fleet hosted a preview party on Oct. 24, where several dozens of guests were shown the film. The Science Center’s executive director, Jeffrey Kirsch, spoke just before the screening, thanking attendees.

“You’re going to see something extra special,” he said. “We’re going back into the early part of time from the standpoint of human civilizations back [when] Maya were really dominating in Mexico and the Yucatán peninsula.”

Latin Grammy Award-winner Lila Downs narrates the film, which is digitally displayed on the large, dome screen. Raised in the United States and Mexico, Downs’ film credits include songs in “Frida,” “Tortilla Soup” and “Real Women Have Curves.”

Carol Karasik and Alonso Mendez wrote “Tales of the Maya Skies,” with music by Michael Stearns. Arne Jin An Wong of Tigerfly Studios directed the film, and Konda Mason was producer.

Educational and entertaining, “Tales of the Maya Skies” uses three-dimensional laser scanning and advanced graphic techniques to recreate both the architecture as well as the cultural aspects of the civilization. It is not an IMAX film, which the Heikoff Dome accommodates as well.

“In that period, they developed … a particular kind of astronomy dealing with being close the equator, so certain things happen with regularity,” Kirsch said. “You’re going to find out what the influence was on the stars, on their calendar and on the way they viewed the universe.”

The regularity Kirsch acknowledged was translated into patterns used to mark the seasons, guiding the Mayan agrarian society. Constellations were important, but the film highlighted the role of the sun as well as the planet Venus.

In a release for the event, Chabot Executive Director Alexander Zissler said the core of the story is both understanding and appreciating the ancient civilization, as well as their world perceptions, several which hold today.

The show includes comparisons with contemporary scientific understanding, weaving both current knowledge and a historical view to constellations, writing systems and astronomy. The first of its kind, full-dome digital film on the Latin American civilization, it is being screened across the world.

“You’ll be amazed at how much overlap there is in terms of accuracy and prediction,” Kirsch said. “Certainly what they were seeing in the sky was incredibly studied and marked on their calendars.”

One of the more popular subjects surrounding the Maya calendar is their belief in the world ending as their projected calendar cycle ends, after 5,000 years. That date is estimated to be Dec. 21 of this year, and Kirsch said timing with bringing the show to San Diego was only part coincidence.

“There are various predictions they made,” he said, “so we thought this would be a good time to have this show.” Kirsch said that though the cycle ends Dec. 21, the civilization also predicted time would “keep on going.”

The film did not address the subject, instead focusing on the ability of the Maya to combine science with a form of religion.

“You’re not really to worry here that we’ve left that story untold,” Kirsch said. “We have not done any editing, but it was just something that … when this show was conceived, it wasn’t really thought of in this nature.”

The Fleet Science Center is located at 1875 El Prado, in Balboa Park. Admission includes access to all museum exhibits, and is $15.75 for adults and $12.75 for children and seniors.

Normal hours for the center are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Sundays. For more information, including screening times and tickets, visit rhfleet.org or call 619-238-1233.