This Film Friday screens four contemporary short films about and through queer artificial intelligence. The session explores queer perspectives on artificial intelligence in film.
Since its inception, science fiction films have imagined artificial beings and explored the implications of their existence for human societies. Throughout film history these beings are recurrently portrayed as binary gendered and by extension, within normative assumptions about heterosexuality. However, one could emphasize the inherent queerness of artificial beings in the way they make visible the artificiality of notions about gender, (hetero)sexuality, and temporality. Over the years, this inherent queerness has become more and more explicitly represented, and filmmakers and artists utilize AI-technology to make queer films. Join us for a screening of four contemporary short films and discussions which will be introduced by Josefine Wälivaara (Dr. drama-theatre-film) who in her research works with norm critical approaches to science fiction, discourse about the future and queer/crip temporality.
Jeff drives you (Aidan Brezonick, 2019). The film tells the story of a man who develops a relationship with the intelligent car that is driving him.
Red String of Fate (Lovina Yavari & Lance Fernandes, 2021). A short film set in the year 2090 during a civil war between humans and androids. A robotic engineer attempts to bring her girlfriend back to life.
Losing the spark (Amanda Callas, 2022). The film portrays the process of breaking up with a robot girlfriend, having to revisit emotional moments to wipe her memory.
QUEERING DI TEKNOLOJIK (2019), a short film by artist and filmmaker Timothy Smith. Using AI in collaboration with queer artists and activist, Smith “queered the machine” and explores temporality and the future.
