The Age of Machines

Cinema was born in the late 19^th century, just like other machines—cars, airplanes, locomotives, tractors, and so on. Louis Lumière was quick to film The Arrival of a Train, while Georges Méliès invented a rocket and created A Trip to the Moon. For 130 years, cinema has accompanied industrial, mechanical, and technological progress, whether through comedies, social dramas, or science fiction films. 

From Metropolis to On Falling, via Modern Times, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Christine, this program will offer a rich diversity of works to represent and reflect on our relationship with progress and these tools. In this era of AI’s rise, machines are proving once again that they are humanity’s greatest enemy: what if the real question isn’t what machines can do, but what they do to us? Ever since humans first imagined and designed these machines, they have continually measured themselves against them. Sometimes a docile servant, sometimes a rebellious creature, sometimes an intrusive companion, the machine reveals something about us: our fears, our desires, our dreams of power, and our anxieties about our own disappearance.

Cine-conference illustrated with film extracts by Louis Mathieu, president of the Premiers Plans Association