Movies at the Capitol: Contact

Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey shine in this spellbinding drama of a dedicated astronomer’s quest to make first Contact. Despite scorn from her colleagues, Dr. Eleanor “Ellie” Arroway (Foster) hears a cryptic signal. As the world’s scientists scramble to decode “the message,” Ellie must struggle to become Earth’s single emissary on a journey beyond theory or experience. Seeking support, she turns to her only ally–and former lover, Palmer Joss (McConaughey). Separated by very different beliefs, they reunite in their passion for knowledge and truth. From Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carl Sagan’s best-seller comes the story of a visionary scientist’s unshakable conviction that somewhere in this boundless universe an intelligence yearns for Contact.
Rated: PG (1997)