ETC - Fa08
Download ETC-FA08 flyer here
Movies Even an Engineer Would Love:
Stories About Culture and Technology
An Interdisciplinary Film Series
Co-Sponsored by Engineering and Technology Studies at Illinois (ETSI)
and the Program in Science and Technology Studies (STS)
Fall 2008
Movies Even an Engineer Would Love. In this film series, each story shows the human dramas of the modern technologies that surround us. The technological systems seen here invite us to consider the relationships between technical decisions and sustainability, culture, and identity. Join us for screenings of these award-winning films, each followed by a brief discussion. All events are free and open to the public.
Venue. All screenings will run from 7:00 to 9:00pm at the Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL.
For more information please see the ETSI website or e-mail csandvig@illinois.edu.
_____________________________________________________________
Radiant City, Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 7-9 pm, Spurlock Museum
Across the continent the landscape is being leveled—blasted clean of distinctive features and overlaid with zombie monoculture. Politicians call it growth. Developers call it business. The Moss family calls it home. This look at urban sprawl through the eyes of one Canadian family also asks fundamental questions about design, planning, and technology. Covering topics from traffic and infrastructure to childhood, family, and ennui, it ultimately asks: How can we build sustainable systems that can grow gracefully as they age?
Radiant City [2006] is 85 minutes with discussion to follow.
The Tailenders, Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 7-9 pm, Spurlock Museum
Filmed in the Solomon Islands, Mexico, India, and the US, this film chronicles a missionary organization’s development of ultra-low-tech audio technologies (like a cardboard record player) to evangelize to traditional communities with limited access to electricity and media. Interspersing interviews with shots of nodal patterns, waveforms and a signal generator, the film “has presented disembodied audio as a religion unto itself” (The New York Times).
The Tailenders [2005] is 72 minutes with discussion to follow.
Bush Mechanics, Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 7-9pm, Spurlock Museum
What do you do when your car breaks down in the Australian outback? Bush Mechanics celebrates automotive ingenuity among the indigenous peoples of Yuendumu, Australia. Produced by an Aboriginal media collective in the Western Desert, it includes lessons such as how to make a clutch out of wood and how to use the windshield wiper reservoir as a fuel pump.
Bush Mechanics [2003] is 30 minutes per episode; multiple selections will be shown with discussion to follow.