Streaming with closed captions
Live Opening Night Q&A - Thursday, April 29, 7:30 PM
Celebrate the opening of the 2021 Hot Docs Festival with a livestreamed Q&A featuring director Ann Shin and special guests—both real and virtual—to dicuss this year's opening night film.
About the film
As technologies advance faster than our ability to understand their consequences, virtual immortality awaits us through developments in artificial intelligence. For self-help guru Deepak Chopra, this is an opportunity to free our minds from physical constraints. For others it's a Pandora's box of ethical repercussions. What separates us from machines when androids assume our identities? Director Ann Shin explores the broader and more personal implications of a post-biological world by collaborating with programmers and robotics engineers. By uploading her memories to create a digital clone, she gives her future descendants the option to have a simulated conversation with her, rather than rely on photo albums and family memories alone. As her aging father faces a faltering memory, the desire to preserve her own past takes on a new urgency. Our unique desire to become eternal raises fundamental questions about who we truly are and what price we're willing to pay to conquer death. Alexander Rogalski
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