Cyberpunk: Exploring Futurisms in Three Shorts

From a lone Cree wanderer in a devastated Canadian landscape to a virtual natural history museum in a post-World War III Africa to a remote migrant labor program at a closed US-Mexico border, these three short films in this program explore the vast possibilities of futurism in cinema.

This presentation celebrates the opening of Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema, an exhibition examining the science-fiction subgenre’s impact and lasting influence on global film culture. The featured short films by filmmakers Wanuri Kahiu, Danis Goulet, and Alex Rivera use cyberpunk themes to center the perspectives of marginalized peoples and imagine more liberated futures. In doing so, they criticize existing inequalities and power structures, subverting legacies of oppression, colonization, and displacement.

The screenings will be followed by a conversation with the directors, moderated by Academy Museum Vice President of Curatorial Affairs Doris Berger.

Pumzi
Directed by: Wanuri Kahiu. 2009. 21 min. South Africa, Kenya. Color. English. DCP.

Wakening
Directed by: Danis Goulet. 2013. 9 min. Canada. Color. English. DCP.

WHY CYBRACEROS?
Directed by: Alex Rivera. 1997. 5 min. USA. Color.English.