The Urban Nomad Film Fest kicked off yesterday and will present movies, documentaries and forums over the next 10 days at theaters in Taipei.
The annual festival has a new program this year called The Culture of Tech, which is meant to broaden our understanding of technology by seeing it as more than just science and business. The groundwork for this thesis is laid out by 8-Bit Generation, a film the follows the birth of the personal computer and home video games.
The culture of Silicon Valley is explored in The Singularity, a film that examines the futurists and techno-optimists who believe that tech can solve the world’s problems, a way of thinking that Werner Herzog criticizes in Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World. The Singularity director Doug Wolens will be on hand for a panel discussion about the movie on May 20.
Photo courtesy of Barney Clay and Urban Nomad
Game Fever broadens the perspective to mass culture by looking at gamer culture and how eSports tournaments are taking over sports stadiums.
The festival will also show the first feature film shot and distributed in real time on social media, Sickhouse, a 65-minute horror film made on iPhones and distributed to 100 million viewers on SnapChat.
■ Urban Nomad runs until May 21.
■ For more information about movies, times, ticket prices and venues, visit the festival’s Chinese and English-language Web site: urbannomad.tw
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