Science pitch inspired a documentary of the end of the dinosaur era
A new documentary about the end of the dinosaur era research will be screened on March 27 and April 2, 2025, at the 2025 DOCVILLE festival in Leuven. Named ‘De dag dat het zonlicht niet meer scheen’ (The day the sun stopped shining in English), it was based on a science pitch of Cem Berk Senel from the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).
Screenshot of the documentary ‘De dag dat het zonlicht niet meer scheen’. Credit: De dag dat het zonlicht niet meer scheen (Maria Stuut, Frederik Stuut).
Science Pitch is an initiative of the DOCVILLE festival connecting researchers and filmmakers. The winners receive a production budget to transform their pitch into a science documentary that will be screened at the next festival edition. Cem Berk Senel was one of the Science Pitch laureates of DOCVILLE 2024. Thanks to this he could produce a documentary, with the collaboration of filmmakers Maria Stuut and Frederik Stuut, and scientists Pim Kaskes (VUB) and Johan Vellekoop (KU Leuven and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences).
Senel, Kaskes and Vellekoop are involved in interdisciplinary research related to the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) boundary, about 66 million years ago. This corresponds to the end of the dinosaur era and the Chicxulub asteroid impact that may have triggered their demise. Recently, Senel led a study on the role of impact generated dust on the (non-avian) dinosaur mass extinction, together with Orkun Temel and Özgür Karatekin from the ROB, as well as Pim Kaskes, Steven Goderis and Philippe Claeys from the VUB. Senel, Kaskes, Vellekoop and Karatekin have also participated in another study on the role of sulphur generated by the same impact.
From left to right: Cem Berk Senel (ROB-VUB) with Johan Vellekoop (KU Leuven and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels) and Pim Kaskes (VUB) doing geological fieldwork in Colorado, USA. Credit: Maria Stuut.
Actually, scientists think that the Chicxulub impact created a giant dust cloud that blocked the sunlight and caused an impact winter of several years and a mass extinction of 75% of life on Earth. Hence the title ‘De dag dat het zonlicht niet meer scheen’, which is also a fun reference to the music single of the Flemish singer John Terra .
‘De dag dat het zonlicht niet meer scheen’ will be premiered during the opening ceremony of the Scienceville session of DOCVILLE 2025 on March 27 at 20:00 (tickets sold-out), with Cem Berk Senel, Pim Kaskes and Johan Vellekoop as special guests. The documentary will also be screened on April 2 at 19:30 at the festival.
More information and reservation for the documentary: https://www.docville.be/en/film-en/?id=23136
Interested in screening this film ‘De dag dat het zonlicht niet meer scheen‘, combined with a lecture on how dust was part of the demise of dinosaurs 66 million years ago? Contact info@daltondistribution.be and we will organise a screening together.
The DOCVILLE festival website: https://www.docville.be