The Artificial Intelligence film season at the Showroom Cinema examines the eternal conflict between man and machine to ask the question: Who’s really in power?

In this film season, we investigate the shifting power imbalance forever found between humans and A.I. as well as the common trope of humankind’s attempts to create a more technically proficient version of themselves.

The A.I. film season will close the BFI Film Academy Young Programmer’s Film Festival, and will be screening 2001: A Space Odyssey at 3pm and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (the final cut) at 6pm on Saturday 19th February. We hope that this season allows our audience to reframe existing dialogue around A.I. and encourage audiences to imagine what the future of AI might look like.

This season will take place on Saturday 19th February with 2001: A Space Odyssey screening at 2.40pm and Blade Runner: The Final Cut will be screening at 5.30PM.

Statement from the Young Programmers:

We chose '2001: A Space Odyssey' as it was really the first mainstream film to introduce American audiences to the concept of artificial intelligence. It is the kind of perfectly formed yet completely inscrutable film that could only come from Stanley Kubrick. It asked whether giving technology the power to control our surroundings was really a good idea, made the argument that, at times, machines can be more humane than humans and caused the audience to question who was the hero: Dave or HAL. Oh, and it predicted Siri.

'Blade Runner', on the other hand, entirely blurred the lines between artificial intelligence and humanity to the point that, forty years later, we are still debating whether or not Deckard actually belongs to the race he has been hired to terminate. Whereas '2001' presented audiences with a serene, polished and monolithic version of the future with its sleek white corridors and simplistic designs, the Los of Angeles of 'Blade Runner' is a melting pot of different cultures and influences, creating an aesthetic that is still seen everywhere, from advertising to anime.

Our film season is important to audiences as it shows not only how cinema's perception of artificial intelligence has changed over time, but also how two completely different directors can take entirely different approaches to the same subject matter yet still come out masterpieces that sit comfortably at the top of their respective careers.

2001: A Space Odyssey (U)

Sat 19 Feb, 14:40

Kubrick’s spectacular, transcendent epic has been the touchstone for all science fiction cinema since its original 1968 release. Widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, described as “a stand-alone monument, a great visionary leap, unsurpassed in its vision of man and the universe.” 

Book ticket

Blade Runner: Final Cut (15)

Sat 19 Feb, 17:30

Hailed by many as the 'best version' of the dystopian sci-fi thriller, don't miss this chance to see a preview of Blade Runner: The Final Cut on the big screen.

Book Tickets