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Computer Technology, Internet and Electronics (14)

  • Almost Real: Connecting in a Wired World
    Almost Real: Connecting in a Wired World
    Ann Shin 2002 47 min
    This documentary presents a few individuals for whom the Internet has become a way to connect with like-minded souls in surprising ways: a cyber punk based on an anti-aircraft rig in the English Channel who operates a rogue Web server, a monk developing "wireless prayer technology," a "gamer" who re-creates himself in an online game, a retired couple living in an Internet-controlled seniors' complex and a divorcée who exchanges vows online with a man she's never met.
  • Bombay Calling
    Bombay Calling
    Ben Addelman  &  Samir Mallal 2006 1 h 10 min
    This feature documentary chronicles the lives of young call-centre workers in Bombay (Mumbai), India. The film profiles several characters who attempt to sell phone services to clients in the UK, showing both sides of globalization’s impact on India – the economic benefits as well as the break with tradition and loss of innocence. A compelling insider’s look at youth culture in India and the growing number of young people who choose to follow the American dream, Indian-style.
  • Beyond Paper
    Beyond Paper
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    Oana Suteu Khintirian 2022 2 h 11 min
    At a critical moment in the history of the written word, as humanity’s archives migrate to the cloud, one filmmaker goes on a journey around the globe to better understand how she can preserve her own Romanian and Armenian heritage, as well as our collective memory. Blending the intellectual with the poetic, she embarks on a personal quest with universal resonance, navigating the continuum between paper and digital—and reminding us that human knowledge is above all an affair of the soul and the spirit.
  • Data for Decision
    Data for Decision
    David Millar 1968 22 min
    This short documentary is a portrait of the early era of computing and the process and implications of the digitization of large amounts of information. Examining the arduous work of assessing and documenting the geographical landscape, including sampling and analysis of soil, forestry, timber, wildlife, resources, industrial sites, and many other aspects, we see that human beings alone couldn't handle the vast amount of information that is collected. A new kind of computer (an “instant library”), the Canada Land Inventory Geo-information System, was developed to help manage and develop Canadian land. This film examines the workings of this new and mysterious machine.
  • Future Block
    Future Block
    Kevin McCracken 1987 10 min
    An animated film about the appropriateness of new technology and its effects on people. The case in point revolves around a bank whose human tellers find themselves unemployed when they are replaced by electronic tellers. A mild-mannered client of the bank is overwhelmed and humiliated by his first encounter with the dispassionate computer. Conventional cel animation is contrasted with computer-generated images to heighten the satire in this look at the problems that can arise when technology ignores human needs.
  • Graphic Variations on Telidon by Pierre Moretti
    Graphic Variations on Telidon by Pierre Moretti
    Pierre Moretti 1980 7 min
    The Telidon System is a telephone communication process which enables the exchange of visual information.
  • The Image Mill Revealed
    The Image Mill Revealed
    Mariano Franco  &  Marie Belzil 2009 51 min
    This documentary describes the final 3 months leading up to the opening of Moulin à images, an impressionistic performance-event celebrating Quebec City's 400th anniversary. Director Robert Lepage works with a member of the Ex Machina team, leading a group of talented and creative young people who were invited to build this monumental panorama.

    This film by Mariano Franco and Marie Belzil demonstrates the scope of the Lepage project, highlighting the contribution of every artist. The Image Mill Revealed is an adventure in art for the viewing audience.
  • The Image Mill
    The Image Mill
    2011 50 min
    The Image Mill is an important archival record of a spectacular show put on by Robert Lepage and Ex Machina. The original work from 2008 is now part of our history. Shot from all angles (striking master shots, long pans and zooms), the film version includes breathtaking aerial views, while highlighting the narrative qualities of the original event and allowing Lepage’s symphonic and architectural vision to shine. René Lussier’s original soundtrack was reworked and reformatted to perfectly complement every image in this film, which immortalizes a monumental, iconic work celebrated worldwide for its artistry.
  • Knowing to Learn
    Knowing to Learn
    Claude Jutra 1966 1 h 11 min
    This feature documentary about education explores the mid-century state of learning in the classrooms of North America. New approaches to learning and the emerging technologies that facilitate them are explored, including the new roles of the computer, tape recorder and television. Directed by Quebec cinema giant Claude Jutra (Mon Oncle Antoine), the film was produced with the collaboration of researchers studying all forms of education, from infancy to adulthood.
  • The Pirate
    The Pirate
    Michel Murray 1991 19 min
    In this short fiction film, Estelle, the scientist in charge of a research project on water, is getting ready for a conference with the help of her "intelligent" satellite Zenon. But a teenage hacker has found an illegal way to consult Zenon's files. Things look very bad when the hacker accidentally infects Zenon with a virulent computer virus.
  • RiP! A Remix Manifesto
    RiP! A Remix Manifesto
    Brett Gaylor 2008 1 h 26 min
    Join filmmaker Brett Gaylor and mashup artist Girl Talk as they explore copyright and content creation in the digital age. In the process they dissect the media landscape of the 21st century and shatter the wall between users and producers. Creative Commons founder, Lawrence Lessig, Brazil's Minister of Culture, Gilberto Gil, and pop culture critic Cory Doctorow also come along for the ride.
  • Star Wars Kid: The Rise of the Digital Shadows
    Star Wars Kid: The Rise of the Digital Shadows
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    Mathieu Fournier 2022 1 h 19 min
    In this Mathieu Fournier documentary on the first viral phenomenon of the digital age, Ghyslain Raza (the “Star Wars Kid”) breaks his silence and reflects on his story for the first time. In doing so, he also explores our collective experience living in an online world in which we have to make peace with our digital shadows.
  • Shift Change
    Shift Change
    Jefferson Lewis 1986 56 min
    This documentary looks at the microchip, an American invention exploited by the Japanese that caused a second industrial revolution. The devastating effect on millions of human lives is related through interviews with some of the newly jobless in Hamilton, Ontario. Using the example of Japan for contrast, host James Laxer demonstrates that the cost of technological advances need not be so high if their effects are foreseen and planned for. Part 2 of the series Reckoning: The Political Economy of Canada.
  • This Electronic World
    This Electronic World
    Julian Biggs 1960 30 min
    This documentary illustrates the impact which electronics engineering has had on various walks of life--from direct long-distance dialling, through industrial robots, to autopsy analysis.