The Genius and the Boys Filming Locations
Where was The Genius and the Boys filmed? The Genius and the Boys was filmed in 7 locations across Netherlands, Italy, United States, Papua New Guinea, Czech Republic and Sweden in the following places:
The Genius and the Boys Filming Locations
Amsterdam is the Netherlands’ capital, known for its artistic heritage, elaborate canal system and narrow houses with gabled facades, legacies of the city’s 17th-century Golden Age. Its Museum District houses the Van Gogh Museum, works by Rembrandt and Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum, and modern art at the Stedelijk. Cycling is key to the city’s character, and there are numerous bike paths.
Bologna is the lively, historic capital of the Emilia-Romagna region, in northern Italy. Its Piazza Maggiore is a sprawling plaza lined with arched colonnades, cafes and medieval and Renaissance structures such as City Hall, the Fountain of Neptune and the Basilica di San Petronio. Among the city’s many medieval towers are the Two Towers, leaning Asinelli and Garisenda.
New York City comprises 5 boroughs sitting where the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean. At its core is Manhattan, a densely populated borough that’s among the world’s major commercial, financial and cultural centers. Its iconic sites include skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building and sprawling Central Park. Broadway theater is staged in neon-lit Times Square.
Papua New Guinea, in the southwestern Pacific, encompasses the eastern half of New Guinea and its offshore islands. A country of immense cultural and biological diversity, it’s known for its beaches and coral reefs. Inland are active volcanoes, granite Mt. Wilhelm, dense rainforest and hiking routes like the Kokoda Trail. There are also traditional tribal villages, many with their own languages.
Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic, is bisected by the Vltava River. Nicknamed “the City of a Hundred Spires,” it's known for its Old Town Square, the heart of its historic core, with colorful baroque buildings, Gothic churches and the medieval Astronomical Clock, which gives an animated hourly show. Completed in 1402, pedestrian Charles Bridge is lined with statues of Catholic saints.
Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, encompasses 14 islands and more than 50 bridges on an extensive Baltic Sea archipelago. The cobblestone streets and ochre-colored buildings of Gamla Stan (the old town) are home to the 13th-century Storkyrkan Cathedral, the Kungliga Slottet Royal Palace and the Nobel Museum, which focuses on the Nobel Prize. Ferries and sightseeing boats shuttle passengers between the islands.
Washington, DC, the U.S. capital, is a compact city on the Potomac River, bordering the states of Maryland and Virginia. It’s defined by imposing neoclassical monuments and buildings – including the iconic ones that house the federal government’s 3 branches: the Capitol, White House and Supreme Court. It's also home to iconic museums and performing-arts venues such as the Kennedy Center.
The Genius and the Boys (2009)
The documentary investigates late American Nobel laureate Carleton Gajdusek's enigmatic discoveries. Gajdusek discovered mad cow disease on Papua New Guinea in the fifties, as well as twenty previously unknown stone-age peoples and languages. From the late 1940's and onwards he commuted the world, focusing on the most isolated peoples still remaining on the globe. He adopted 57 children to his commune at the National Institutes of Health, MA, USA -most of them boys. In the late 90's he was charged with having abused one of the boys in his care - a then 16-year old boy from Micronesia. The film reveals how Gajdusek in fact was a self-proclaimed pedophile, who admitted to having had sex with numerous other children as well. One man who was abused in childhood is interviewed in the film, as well as several legendary scientists who were friends of Gajdusek and deemed the sexual parts of his character as of less importance.