Entertain Impact’s grassroots marketing campaign for IFC’s film, “The Man Who Knew Infinity” made its way to the White House this October.
The film follows the life and academic career of Srinivasa Ramanujan, played by Dev Patel, and his friendship with mentor, Cambridge professor G.H. Hardy, played by Jeremy Irons. The film is based on a biography of Ramanujan by Robert Kanigel. Adapted and directed by Matthew Brown, the mathematics centered in “The Man Who Knew Infinity” acts as the canvas for a tale of two beautiful minds.
Ramanujan’s formulas continue to captivate academics today. “In a way, he was some kind of prophet,” said Ken Ono, the mathematician consultant for the film. “Whatever inspired him to write down his formulas was magic, because they’re precisely the things that we’ve discovered would be needed long after his death.”
Entertain Impact designed a grassroots marketing campaign targeting key audiences in the math and STEM fields, and the Indo-American community. Entertain Impact engaged 120 organizations across the U.S. including trade associations, universities, and community organizations. Organizations shared media packages which included social media and article guidelines. We also launched a math competition, “The Spirit of Ramanujan” in collaboration with Expii, a personalized learning website focused on math and science.
The film screened at the White House in October after a panel including Jeremy Irons and Ken Ono. Irons and Ono were invited to speak on the “Math and the Movies” panel. CEO and Founder Paul M. Katz was in attendance to show support from the Entertain Impact team.
The White House panel and screening was one in over twenty screenings, special events, and panels with the film’s cast, directors, producers, and math professors. The campaign was supported by influencers such as Stephen Wolfram, a British-American fellow of the American Mathematical Society, and Nancy Blachman, the president and founder of Variable Symbols and instructor in computer science at Stanford University.
Featured image via Science Next
Originally posted November 14, 2016