Illinois State’s arts technology program will present the 2016 Arts Tech Film Fest: The Computer in Film at the Normal Theater, from Tuesday, April 19, through Sunday, April 24. General admission is $7, and student admission is $5. Doors open each night at 6 p.m., and the films begin at 7 p.m.
The festival will examine how computers have been portrayed on film over the past 50 years and explore what these depictions say about our evolving relationship with digital technology.
Before each film, multimedia installations and virtual reality demonstrations by arts technology students will be on display, and special guests will participate in conversation and audience discussion after each film.
Schedule
Desk Set (1957)
Tuesday, April 19
Katherine Hepburn battles with Spencer Tracy over the impending computer automation of her workplace.
Special guest: Shari Zeck, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts and director of CFA-IT at Illinois State University
Alphaville (1965)
Wednesday, April 20
Jean-Luc Godard’s sci-fi noir masterpiece, featuring the malevolent computer Alpha 60.
Special guest: William Thomas McBride, film and drama associate professor in Illinois State University’s English Department
WarGames (1983)
Thursday, April 21
Matthew Broderick portrays a young hacker who must use his skills to prevent the computerized launch of World War III.
Special guest: Kevin Hamilton, professor and senior associate dean in the College of Fine and Applied Arts at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Creative Control (2015)
Friday, April 22, to Sunday, April 24
In near future Brooklyn, an ad executive uses a new Augmented Reality technology to conduct an affair with his best friend’s girlfriend. … sort of.
Special guest (April 22): Benjamin Dickinson, writer, actor, and director of Creative Control
The program in arts technology at Illinois State University is an interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate program in the College of Fine Arts that focuses on the fundamentals of visual art, music, theater, and dance in conjunction with the theory and practice of digital and interactive media.
