Icarus Films announces a limited qualifying theatrical engagement of Users, the new film by acclaimed director and recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award Natalia Almada. Winner of the Documentary Director Award at the Sundance Film Festival—a second win for Almada in the same category following her 2009 documentary El General— Users plays for one week at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, November 25—December 1. Additional theatrical dates will be announced for early 2023.
Scored by Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet, Users is a critical and intimate essay on technology and its effects on our everyday lives. At the push of a button, a smart crib lulls a crying baby to sleep, flawlessly every time. The child’s mother wonders: will my child love their perfect machines more than they love me? This question guides her inquiry into the intimate relationship with technology that is increasingly driving all aspects of contemporary society.
Users explores the unintended and often dehumanizing consequences of our society's bedrock assumption that technological progress will lead to the betterment of humanity. Is technological progress inevitable? Are we all increasingly isolated? Do we really fcontrol technology’s course? Is technology an expression of our humanity or is technology destroying our humanity?
With impeccable cinematography by Bennett Cerf and intricate sound design by David Cerf, Users travels from the largest indoor vertical farm in the world to the perfect artificial wave, from an IVF embryo lab to a fiber optic cable landing. Invisible infrastructure that we all rely on is made visible. Our reliance on machines and our alienation from each other is palpable. Urgent global issues like climate change and privacy are explored from the intimate perspective of a mother thinking, worrying, and loving her children.
