Rites of Love and Math

A film by Reine Graves and Edward Frenkel

Homage to the film "Rite of Love and Death" (a.k.a. "Yukoku") by Yukio Mishima

With Edward Frenkel and Kayshonne Insixieng May

26 minutes, in HD color with 5.1 surround sound

Supported by Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris

"... un étonnant court-métrage... ce film offre une vision romantique inhabituelle du mathématicien."

"... a stunning short film... offers an unusual romantic vision of mathematician."

(Le Monde)

"The clean red, white and black color scheme, the simplicity, the staging... the music... all lend themselves to the symmetry, logic and metaphor of math while also breaking through the barriers of conventional cinema... vibrant and captivating, bringing abstraction to life... a truly enthralling and resonating film."

(San Francisco Examiner)

More quotes from the press

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NEW! Mathematics, Love, and Tattoos, reflections on Rites of Love and Math and its "formula of love"

Interview with Edward Frenkel in San Francisco Book Review

Further investigations of the mind-body problem, a throught-provoking essay by Michael Harris inspired by "Rites of Love and Math" (to appear as a chapter in his upcoming book)

The Film Trailer

"Rites of Love and Math" screening in Berkeley on December 1, 2010

Video of the Q&A after the screening at the Berkeley Film Festival, where the film won a Grand Festival Award

Video of the directors' introduction of the film at Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris on June 17, 2010

Press Kit

Dossier de Presse

Internet Movie Database page

About the film: English Version, French Version

The première took place on April 14, 2010 at Max Linder Panorama Theater in Paris, sponsored by Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris.

The film was also shown on May 2 at Cinéma Balzac in Paris;

on June 17 at the conference Symmetry, Duality, and Cinema at Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris;

on June 26 at Cinema Le Grand Action in Paris, in competition at the Sexy International Paris Film Festival;

on August 13 at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara;

on November 9 at the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences of Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan.

It has been shown in competition at the 43rd Sitges International Film Festival, the world's foremost festival of fantasy films, October 7-17, 2010, in Sitges, Spain.

The film was shown on December 1, 2010, at Landmark Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley (together with Yukio Mishima's film "Rite of Love and Death"). Links to the extensive media coverage of this event are given below.

On July 13, 2011, the film was shown at the conference Cultura con 'M' de Matematicos in Bilbao, Spain.

On September 30, 2011, it was shown at Residencia de Estidiantes in Madrid, Spain.

On October 2, 2011, it was shown in the Official Program of the Berkeley Video and Film Festival, where it won a Grand Festival Award.

On March 30, 2012, it was shown at the annual Conference Matematica e Cultura in Venice, Italy.

Stay tuned for information on the next screening!