Akira – 35mm + Discussion BOOKED OUT MA 15+
THIS EVENT IS BOOKED OUT. You can book tickets to a film-only screening of Akira on 5 May.
‘The future is not a straight line. It is filled with many crossroads. There must be a future that we can choose for ourselves.’
The Japanese animated cyberpunk film Akira (1988) is considered by audiences and critics worldwide to be one of the greatest and most prophetic films of all time.
It provides unforgettable glimpses into the dystopian metropolis of Neo-Tokyo, the lives of futuristic high-speed gangs and the psychic and transcendent powers that one of the protagonists develops. The film revolves around nuclear-energy-caused telekinesis, destruction, rebirth, technological revolution – and much more.
What do technology and culture scholars today think about the kinetic energy of the iconic animated film and its vision of future technology and science? Find out together with our expert guest speakers!
Presented on a 35mm film print from the NFSA collection.
Speakers
Zach Karpinellison is a PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Cross Cultural Research stream at ANU. His research considers the NFSA and its restoration programs. He has a particular interest in strange and hidden cult gems from the 70s and 80s, including some of Australia’s own classics like Wake in Fright (1971) and Starstruck (1982). He argues that the NFSA is more than an archive, and is itself something of a filmmaker collective - every bit as creative as it is technical.
Wenzel Mehnert is a futurologist focusing on the imaginaries of new and emerging technologies. He researches, writes and teaches experimental methods of futurology. In his work, Wenzel Mehnert focuses on the intersection between speculative fictions and the evaluation of new and emerging sciences and technologies (such as AI, SynBio, Internet of Things). He worked as a researcher at the Berlin University of the Arts, co-founded the Berlin Ethics Lab at the Technical University of Berlin and currently lives in Vienna, where he works at the Austrian Institute of Technology and develops ethical guidelines on new technologies for the European Commission.
AJ Mitchell is a Senior Lecturer in the ANU Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications. He has spent the last 14 years studying the fundamental properties and radioactive decay of atomic nuclei, and developing new technologies to do so. AJ is also the Program Convenor of the ANU Graduate Certificate of Nuclear Technology Regulation, teaches physics undergraduates and delivers outreach activities at the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility in Canberra that range from high school visits to week-long training courses for government and industry.
This screening is part of the SCIENCE. ART. FILM. series presented by the National Film and Sound Archive, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science and ANU Humanities Research Centre.
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Be rewarded for every paid screening, event or exhibition at the NFSA every time you visit. Your seventh visit is free. More details on Club NFSA at our Ticketing page.
