COSMIC CODA
COSMIC CODA
Some burning questions: How do you build a machine to test Einstein's Relativity Theory? Will you need a screwdriver? What does an astrophysicist do exactly on any given Tuesday while searching the cosmos?
In 1985, a clueless but educable filmmaker pursues these questions, skips 3 decades, then picks the story up again, 39 years later. One of the most important discoveries in physics then, is told as it happens.
ALL ABOARD!
THE 2026 AMTRAK COSMIC CODA WHISTLE STOP TOUR
JOIN THE TOUR HERE!
09/16 - 09/20 Syracuse (Cornell too?)
09/21 - 09/24 Chicago
09/24 - 09/27 Milwaukee/Madison
09/28 - 10/05 Twin Cities
10/08 - 10/20 Pullman, Pasco, Seattle, Vancouver,
10/21 - 10/26 San Francisco and Surrounds
10/27 - 10/30 LA and Surrounds
COSMIC CODA is about the in-between moments of scientific discovery - how it feels going to work each day on a machine that tests both the limits of our universe, and our ability to comprehend this mind boggling goal.
"Doherty ventures to the extreme limits of a filmmaker's dedication to getting a story right."
Peter Keough - Arts Critic
"Now more than ever we scientists need our fellow humans (and dairy cows) to feel how science is not a remote, sterile pursuit, but something that grows out of the core human need for truth and meaning."
Marta Faulkner - PhD Candidate
"Wildly Original and funny!
I have never seen anything like Cosmic Coda and likely never will – it had a singular MJ imprint in its searching, playful construction. Loved the music, her hand-written interludes, the endless maze of cords and foil covered surfaces. She somehow managed to capture science from the infinitesimally small to unfathomably infinite. Without sacrificing the why. Plus she had the good sense to add a cow." Erin Trahan - Journalist
Much has changed in the world of astrophysics: more remarkably,
much has not.
Turns out , scientists are human beings after all!
Back in 1985, inspired by her mentor and teacher, the late great Ricky Leacock, MJ Doherty filmed her astrophysicists solo. (MJ was one of Ricky's last grad students.) She began the project without an agenda or message; this made it easier for her film subjects to be who they are, instead of who she wanted them to be.
And so for the contemporary footage she filmed the exact same way, to provide coherence across the massive time gap. You can find out more about MJ HERE.
Rai Weiss, hero of COSMIC CODA, passed away August 25, 2025.
Rai was a brilliant scientist but, even more, he was a profound humanitarian,
caring as he did about others - at times,
even more than the science.
Rai was a mentor, hero, colleague and - above all, friend - to so many.
We miss him dearly
