1001 Inventions Success

Twelve months ago we produced “1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets”, a 13-minute, mini-feature film, designed to highlight the great scientific and technological discoveries made in Muslim civilisation during the Golden Age – and impacting on today’s modern world.  Starring Oscar-winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley, our film accompanied the global touring exhibition which initially opened at London’s Science Museum, before moving to the Sultan Ahmed Square in Istanbul and then onto the US’ New York Hall of Science.  

The film also formed the core of the online promotion for the exhibition, where it was placed on the 1001 Inventions website and YouTube, as well as being linked from Facebook and Twitter.  At the time of launch, the film was uploaded to YouTube once. However, dozens of enthusiastic users downloaded and reposted the film – 12 months later and a conservative estimate puts total viewing above 12 million downloads.

The opening of the exhibition in London made the newspapers in China, Egypt, Algeria, Iran, Pakistan, Qatar and Lebanon amongst many other countries. TV coverage, including clips from “1001 Inventions and The Library of Secrets” appeared on every UK news channel plus CNN, Al-Jazeera and MSNBC amongst others.

By the end of its five month residency at London's Science Museum, 1001 Inventions had attracted over 400,000 visitors, making it the most successful touring exhibition in the museum’s history.  The exhibition's next stop, in Istanbul was if anything, more successful with visitor numbers matching those in London in just seven weeks, an unparalleled event in Turkey.

“1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets” has now proved to be The Edge’s most honoured film ever – winning an unprecedented 21 major awards in various film festivals around the world, including Cannes, London, New York, Hamburg and Los Angeles.

The Edge’s Phil Blundell commented: “We are very proud to have been entrusted to handle this important educational project and are delighted the film has proved so successful with visitors and viewers from both the Muslim and non-Muslim world.”

ESRO, an independent research company were commissioned to conduct in-depth quantitative and qualitative research to assess the exhibition's success in conveying its core messages and to give feedback on the design, structure and content of the exhibition.  The independent ESRO report states:

“The ‘1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets’ film was by far the greatest draw to the exhibition. Many visitors had seen the film online and had shared it with friends, family and colleagues as well as students. The film was described as ‘beautiful’, ‘imaginative’ and even ‘Harry Potter-esque’.

‘Children and young adults were able to make the connections between the stories in the film and the inventors at the zones, enabling them better to understand the inventions.’

If you haven’t yet seen the film, then please click here.