Conflict between man and machine has been a science fiction staple for over a century. From 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Terminator the perceived threat posed by super-intelligent robots has been exploited by Hollywood for decades. But do advances in Artificial Intelligence mean we are now facing a future in which that threat could become a reality?
The Honors
Franziska received 21 letters after her contact ad from a certain Fabian Stiller. The Munich waitress only finds out that his real name was Florian Haugk when her admirer is found dead.
In the hilltops of Burundi, a group of escaped coltan miners form an anti-colonialist computer hacker collective. From their camp in an otherworldly e-waste dump, they attempt a takeover of the authoritarian regime exploiting the region's natural resources – and its people. When an intersex runaway and an escaped coltan miner find each other through cosmic forces, their connection sparks glitches within the greater divine circuitry.
Franziska sees police recovering a dead body and recognizes the woman as the one who had her make-up done by Franzika only days before. The hobby-detective suspects foul-play and starts investigating the self-help group for singles the dead woman was a part of.
Franziska Luginsland protects the girl Jolanda from the police and helps him to find his mother.
F for Fibonacci is a new film that takes as its departure point American author William Gaddis’ epic modernist novel JR (1975). An eerily prescient, biting social satire, JR tells the story of a precocious 11 year-old capitalist who, with the unwitting help of his school’s resident composer, inadvertently creates the single greatest virtual empire the world has seen, spun largely from the anonymity of the school’s pay phone. F for Fibonacci develops a particular episode from JR, in which a televised music lesson is scrambled with a maths class on derivatives inside the mind of its child protagonist. Musings on aleatory music become muddled with virtual stock pickings and a theory of ‘market noise’. Unfolding through the modular machine aesthetics of the video game Minecraft, text book geometries, graphic scores, images from physics experiments, and cartoon dreams, blend with images from wall street: stock market crashes, trading pits, algorithms and transparent glass.
The story of Ashraf El Sharkawy, 39, who leaves behind an established life as a successful manager in Germany to start a campaign in Egypt helping to spread the idea of democracy. Driven by the urge to give back something to his parents’ home country, Ashraf— born and raised in Germany, to Egyptian parents— develops a campaign named 'Freedom Bus'. Prior to the first truly free elections in the history of Egypt, Ashraf travels the entire country with a team of companions in his 'Freedom Bus'. Their goal: to self-empower the Egyptian people— hoping they will not miss out on their historic chance to vote.
20 short films about human rights.
Behind the scenes of a popular deli on New York's Upper East Side, undocumented immigrant workers face sublegal wages, dangerous machinery, and abusive managers. Mild-mannered sandwich maker Mahoma López has never been interested in politics, but in Jan. 2012, he convinces a small group of his co-workers to fight back. Risking deportation and the loss of livelihood, the workers team up with a diverse crew of innovative young organizers and take the unusual step of forming an independent union, launching themselves on a journey that will test the limits of their resolve. In one rollercoaster year, they must overcome a shocking betrayal and a two month lockout. Lawyers will battle in backroom negotiations, Occupy Wall Street protesters will take over the restaurant, and a picket line will divide the neighborhood. If they can win a contract, it will set a historic precedent for low-wage workers across the country. But whatever happens, Mahoma and his compañeros won't be exploited again.
A rich and little-known part of Canadian history unfolds through the stories of the first Chinese women to come to Canada and of subsequent generations of Chinese Canadian women. It is an amazing tale of courageous women who left behind their families, knowing they would never see them again and of girls who were shipped off to the New World to marry men they had never met. These are the women who fought against the many forms of racism they faced in Canada while, at the same time, challenging sexism within their own communities. By passing on language, culture, and values to their children, these women defined what it means to be Chinese Canadian. Beautiful old photographs from family albums, the recollections of seven women who grew up in Canada in the first half of the 20th century, and the memories of narrator and director, Dora Nipp, whose grandfather came to Canada in 1881 to build the railway, create a remarkable story of stunning impact.
In the New Mexico desert, pie equals love. Kathy Knapp left her privileged life to bake pie in dusty Pie Town, a once forgotten corner of the world with few amenities. Why? To find her center and give the world pie. This is her story.
In a small town in California's San Joaquin Valley, 14-year-old Homer Macauley is determined to be the best and fastest bicycle telegraph messenger anyone has ever seen. His older brother has gone to war, leaving Homer to look after his widowed mother, his older sister and his 4-year-old brother, Ulysses. And so it is that as spring turns to summer, 1942, Homer Macauley delivers messages of love, hope, pain... and death... to the good people of Ithaca. And Homer Macauley will grapple with one message that will change him forever - from a boy into a man. Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan's 1943 novel, The Human Comedy, ITHACA is the quintessential wartime tale of the Home Front. It is a coming-of-age story about the exuberance of youth, the sweetness of life, the sting of death and the modesty and sheer goodness that lives in each and every one of us.
Pizza Express
It has launched both purity balls and porn franchises, defines a young woman's morality-but has no medical definition. Enter the magical world of virginity, where a white wedding dress can restore a woman's innocence and replacement hymens can be purchased online. Filmmaker Therese Shechter uses her own path out of virginity to explore why our sex-crazed society cherishes this so-called precious gift. Along the way, we meet sex educators, virginity auctioneers, abstinence advocates, and young men and women who bare their tales of doing it-or not doing it. "How To Lose Your Virginity" uncovers the myths and misogyny surrounding a rite of passage that many obsesses about but few truly understand.
As a “spiritual follow-up” to 'Fin', 'Death Boom' “pulls back the curtain on the catastrophic mental and environmental impacts of the contemporary death care industry. The film, shown through the lens of the workers at the heart of it as they prepare for the passing of 77 million baby boomers, exposes the toll that embalming, cremation, and traditional burial have on those who’ve passed, their families, and deathcare workers, and the corruption – political, religious, and corporate – that stands in opposition to greener methods being nationally legalized and accessible.”
What at first appears to be a surprise family holiday turns into a kidnapping and ends in a nightmare, when Simone discovers her father is on the run from serious problems. As she slowly realises that he is losing his mind and on the verge of doing awful harm, she decides to protect her family. Loosely based on a family drama in the Netherlands.
On 2 December 1975, a journalist is one of many passengers on the slow train that is kidnapped near Wijster by young South Moluccans. After some terrifying moments, he makes contact with the hijackers and starts acting as their go-between. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter, as well as his mistress keep themselves abreast of things through the media. The train hijacking lasts for twelve days and claims a few lives.
Just as Maria is about to leave her husband after 33 years of marriage, entrepreneur Jakob collapses with a stroke. The result: amnesia, where he forgets everything in his sleep. Maria stubbornly tries to awaken his memory - to make it easier for them to separate. But his old life with its affairs remains alien to Jakob...
Franziska does not understand where Tom is. During their trip together, he disappears without a trace.