In 2008, Alexis Gambis was squinting into microscopes, studying the genetic systems of fruit flies at Rockefeller University on the Upper East Side. As a Ph.D. student entering his final year, he had just endured four years of long lab nights hovered over lenses and Petri dishes.

Now, as a second year film grad student at Tisch, Gambis squints into cameras to channel science narratives onto big screens. His latest film, “Courtship,” sees a young scientist turn into a life-sized fruit fly while having sex with a prostitute.

Since 2008, he’s also coordinated New York City’s premiere science film festival, the annual Imagine Science Film Festival. The marathon kicks off its third year today and runs through October 22.

Imagine Science Films’ mission, he says, is to break science stereotypes and show films that are “accurate, compelling, and imaginative,” while getting scientists more involved with scientific media coverage and filmmaking. This year’s films include everything from a They Might Be Giants-animated music video about the Periodic Table, to a porn series on the sexual experiences of various animal species, to “Capucine,” a behind-the-scenes documentary about the first-ever monkey-produced film.

“The films have to hit emotions people can relate to and in the process subliminally let the viewer swallow a small pill of scientific information,” said Gambis. This year’s festival received over 300 submissions, up from last year’s 100 — they include music videos, documentaries, short fiction, science fiction, and experimental films.

Gambis’ passions for film and science, if not apparent in the level of commitment it takes to coordinate such a multidimensional event, are perhaps evident in his email Q&A responses below — which were decorated with emoticons and doubled exclamation points (!) as he enthusiastically recalled the path that lead him to Imagine Science.

Screenings take place in bars, theaters and other institutions throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens starting today. Check out the full schedule and location details here, and read on to learn more about the history of the festival and Gambis’ fascinating (and, yes, rather outlandish) career in science filmmaking.

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How did the festival get started?
During my second year as a Ph. D student, I took evening film classes at the New York Film Academy and SVA. I started making short films in the laboratory late at night. Filmmaking helped me cope with the isolation of working late hours in the lab — it also helped me explain to my non-scientist friends why I spent the day sorting male and female fruit flies under the microscope. I realized the potential of science filmmaking, and I realized that you don’t need to distort and falsify science to make it exciting. I soon began coordinating the school’s scientific Film Series. In my final year, I pitched the idea of a science film festival to schools and institutions around the city. Some people were intrigued; others laughed. But I had enough backers and partnering venues to jump-start the first festival, financed largely by my own credit card.

What films are you most excited for at the festival this year?
We have a kid-friendly music video, “Meet the Elements,” an animated song about the Periodic Table from They Might Be Giants. “Green Porno” is Isabella Rosselini’s porno series on the sexual life of a variety of animals. “Capucine” is a behind-the-scenes documentary following the shooting, editing and screening of the first-ever short film made by a monkey. “An Eyeful of Sounds” is a moving, color-saturated animation conjuring the fascinating, visually complex internal world of audio-visual synaesthesia. “Creation” is the fictionalized biopic of young Charles Darwin and his first public and controversial disclosure of the theory of evolution.

Are there any films or scenes that you think will be particularly memorable?
There are quite a few that blew my mind. In “Green Porno,” Isabella Rosselini dresses up as a whale mounted with a large penis trying to copulate with a female whale. Not a scene you see everyday. In “Capucine,” the monkey walks along a dirt path holding a tripod, screams at actors from his director’s chair, and assembles and edits his film.

What have been the biggest challenges and greatest rewards you’ve faced throughout your journey with Imagine Science?
The biggest challenges have been financial. Very small budgets have caused us to sometimes limit our dreams, and so it has been a challenge to get to the level we want. And it’s not always easy to inject vitality into volunteers, so we have a big turnover. But we have been successful for the large part, and Imagine Science has been a collective work, driven by passionate individuals who believe in the cause. The biggest reward, above all, has been to make people realize that science and art can go hand and hand and that science is not intimidating — especially when it is presented on a screen in a bar in Brooklyn. Every year, I crave those nights where scientists, filmmakers and artists come together. It’s worth the sleepless nights.

What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions about science today?
I can go on for days about this. First, science is not about end results and discoveries — it’s above and beyond. Science is a process! The media covers science as thirty-second bytes of information that create huge misconceptions. “The new diet pill!” or “Stem cells cure cancer!” It’s funny — when I go out at night with friends and tell people I am a scientist, they will often say, “Have you made any discoveries?” But science doesn’t necessarily need to be applied and lead to the development of drugs to cure diseases.

There are scientists out there just trying to understand simple notions of life — like how spots form on the wings of butterflies, or why a cell decides to die or live. And so, as with any process, there is human drama, and there are stories, and ups and downs that need to be communicated to the public — who are, after all, the main financiers of all science research that happens.

What are you working on next?
I am about to begin production for my biggest production yet. It is called “Deja Vu,” and tells the story of a young neuroscientist, who focuses on the amydgala and how it controls emotional memory. Next year, I will be working on my first feature film, “The Fly Room,” based on the life of Calvin Bridges, a pioneer geneticist who worked in “The Fly Lab” at Columbia University in the early 20th century tackling questions of genetic inheritance and how genes and chromosomes were interrelated. After work, Calvin lingered in brothels, embracing the “free love” philosophy, and having as much sex as his fruit fly friends.

Disclosure: Alexis is my instructor for The Molecules of Life, a Nat. Sci. requirement in CAS.
This is a condensed version of this article/interview: read the full version here.