Are we approaching a technological singularity? Are we seeing a technocratic dystopia dawning upon us? As we are marching towards the fourth decade of the 21st century, new technology has only become more scary than exciting, more uncanny than friendly. Films in this programme reflect such anxiety of ours, and beg the question—as they move between documentary and speculative fiction: Is this a future we want?
There are many films in the programme that blend experimental elements of AI with conventional filmmaking. A docu-fiction of rediscovered Bangladroids who recall, in poetry, their past lives. A farce about a man obsessed with a broken bench underpinned by a rock. From a brief history of 20th century technological advance, to a crash course on AI literacy and how to safeguard our genuine reality, then to the invasion of social media that has fundamentally reconfigured the coming-of-age years of teenagers, you are here for unhinged images, unsettling stories, and visualisation of outlandish worlds where technology seems to be demanding its own autonomy—if not its control over us humans.
Nicky Ni
