GENIUS, From Executive Producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard and Starring Geoffrey Rush, Airs Tuesdays at 9/8C on National Geographic

WASHINGTON, DC - May 30, 2017 – Today, National Geographic launches the "10 Days of Genius" Film Festival, a series of short films inspired by the creativity and imagination of Albert Einstein. National Geographic partnered with creative agency Pereira & O’Dell New York to develop the concept, content, and strategy behind this unique initiative, kicking off with two short films “The Instrument” and “The Mirror,” directed by Sam Spiegel. Additionally, a partnership with the Tongal filmmaking community worked with new filmmakers to develop and produce 8 unique and inspiring short films that showcase the many inspirations of Albert Einstein’s genius.

The series of original short films each center around a unique Einstein quote, such as “I live my daydreams in music,” “Imagination is more important than knowledge” and “When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it’s longer than any hour. That’s relativity.”

The headlining short, “The Instrument”, imagines a world where music and physics are one and the same and the rules of gravity are meant to be defied.

From executive producers, Academy Award winners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, the latter making his scripted television directorial debut with the first episode, GENIUS stars Geoffrey Rush as elder Albert Einstein, Johnny Flynn as young Einstein, and Emily Watson as Elsa Einstein. GENIUS — the network’s first scripted series — reveals how Albert became Einstein, exploring his extraordinary professional achievements along with his volatile, passionate and complex personal relationships.

“With our scripted series GENIUS, we introduced Einstein the man, not just the physicist, showcasing the man behind the mind. He was a true creative spirit with an insatiable curiosity,” said Andy Baker, SVP/Global Creative Director, National Geographic. “The 10 Days of Genius Film Festival will celebrate Einstein’s innovativeness and hopefully inspire audiences to explore their imaginations and find their inner-genius.”

Dave Arnold, Executive Creative Director, Pereira & O’Dell New York says, “’10 Days of Genius’ honors Albert Einstein in service of GENIUS. Everyone knew how rare this brief was, and it was exciting to explore the intersection of music and science knowing how important both were to Einstein.”

“Einstein’s creative genius helped us reimagine our world. Through our platform and creative network, we are redefining how we approach content by allowing unique and diverse talent reimagine his famous quotes,” said James DeJulio, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Tongal. The “genius" behind this campaign is that it helped us empower limitless imagination, bring opportunities to up and coming filmmakers, and, as a result tell incredible stories.”

Beginning on May 30, the “10 Days of Genius” Film Festival will premiere with the release of ‘The Instrument’ and will live across National Geographic’s digital and social platforms – the Genius homepage, VOD, YouTube, and Facebook.

Additional shorts include:

• “The Mirror,” also directed by Sam Spiegel (“The Instrument”) a short film that questions what if all of time collapsed to an instant and how far would you dare to travel while riding a beam of light across the universe


• “When Pigs Fly,” an animated short film that challenges the hypothetical, “could fly”, and says, I’ll bet there’s at least one that can


• “Take Me Back,” where a female physicist, drawing inspiration from Einstein's quote that 'the past, present and future are an illusion,’ travels back in time to stop herself from meeting her future lover


• “Movement,” where a Taiwanese-American daughter rediscovers her father’s love for dance just after he dies and learns his signature moves as a way to remember him


• “Relativity Ramen,” which explores relativity in the most recognizable of current day situations -- waiting for a microwave timer that never seems to be done

GENIUS, which airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on National Geographic, just passed the halfway mark of the season. Over the next few weeks the series will explore Albert Einstein’s (Geoffrey Rush) later years, including his immigration to the U.S. with his second wife Elsa (Emily Watson) – which was staunchly opposed by then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, (T.R. Knight) -- his reluctant and remorseful involvement in the development of the atomic bomb, and his attempts to reconcile with his family.

The special two-part season finale will air Tuesday, June 20. Globally, GENIUS is averaging nearly 3.5 MM viewers per episode, hitting record numbers in most key markets. National Geographic magazine’s Genius cover story is projected to sell 100K issues; that makes it above average and the third best-selling cover for FY2017 to date.

About National Geographic Partners LLC

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 128 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers ... and reaching over 730 million people around the world in 171 countries and 45 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education.

For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or go to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

About Pereira O’Dell

Pereira O’Dell (www.pereiraodell.com) is an award-winning advertising agency with offices in San Francisco and New York. The agency combines techniques from traditional advertising, digital, PR and design to create innovative campaigns, programs, and products that are in sync with how consumers behave today. Pereira & O’Dell is named by Advertising Age as “Standout Agency of the Year”, and by Fast Company as one of the “10 Most Innovative Companies in Advertising”. Among the Pereira & O’Dell client roster are Coca-Cola, eBay, Realtor.com Fifth Third Bank, Adobe, Timberland, National Geographic, Memorial Sloan Kettering, the Museum of Natural History, Annie’s Homegrown and Ad Council.