Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World + Satellite Q&A
classified 12APlease note: This was screened in Oct 2016
Werner Herzog’s newest film explores technology – both its triumphs and its existential pitfalls – through ten wildly fascinating stories, from the early days of the Internet to a town in which no wireless devices of any kind are allowed.
Jumping off from the invention of the Internet and a curious cast of characters from 1960s and 1970s computer science, Herzog expands his gaze to dreams of the future and intelligent robots. Originally commissioned to make a series around connectivity for a cybersecurity firm, Herzog became fascinated by significant and famous thinkers in the field, such as Elon Musk and Sebastian Thrun. In a series of intense and revealing interviews, he challenges them to articulate an honest vision of the future and sets their musings against the “losers” of technological change—the gaming addicts, the low-rent hackers, the bullies and in an especially poignant sequence, a group of refugees from wireless communication, fleeing a society that doubts the veracity of their allergic reactions to the radio waves that keep us connected.
In typical Herzog fashion, the title of the film itself is an inspired bit of pathos: the first message sent on the Internet in 1969 was meant to be “login,” but they only got to “lo” before the system crashed.
Herzog leads viewers on a journey through a series of provocative conversations that reveal the ways in which the online world has transformed how virtually everything in the real world works - from business to education, space travel to healthcare, and the very heart of how we conduct our personal relationships.
The special Preview screening will be followed by a Q&A with Werner Herzog via live satellite broadcast. The film screens from Fri 28 Oct for one week.