Users

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Users

PRESS

“A dazzling documentary about the menacing nature of modern times and the fundamental beauty of cutting-edge progress.” INDIEWIRE (Critics Pick)

“Bracing, poetic, painterly...Users looks and sounds stunning.” THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“Truly moving and mind-blowing.” ROLLING STONE

“A science fiction of our time, Natalia Almada’s documentary is a standout piece of stunning nonfiction cinema."" SIGHT AND SOUND, Sophie Brown

"A science fiction film about the future of our children." "Cinema at its most powerful" LE MONDE

“Natalia Almada is brilliant... This is a film that picks up where Chris Marker left off at the end of his life in relation to what will the future look like." Amy Taubin

SCREENINGS

UPCOMING FESTIVALS
Los Cabos International Film Festival
Ambulante
Hawaii International Film Festival
IDFA

PAST FESTIVALS
Wexner Center for the Arts, Unorthodocs
La Roche Sur Yon
Bergen International Film festival
BFI London Film Festival
Jerusalem International Film Festival
SANFIC, Chile
Sundance Asia in Jakarta
Morelia International Film Festival
Sitges Film Festival
Chicago Doc 10 2021
Thessoloniki documentary film festival, Greece 2021
Visions du Reel, Switzerland 2021
HotDocs
CPH-DOCX 2021
True/False, USA 2021
Sundance 2021 *Documentary Director Award

LOGLINE

A mother wonders, will my children love their perfect machines more than they love me, their imperfect mother? She switches on a smart-crib lulling her crying baby to sleep. This perfect mother is everywhere. She watches over us, she takes care of us. We listen to her. We trust her.

SYNOPSIS

Users begins with a mother’s question–will my children love the perfect machines more than they love me, their imperfect mother? She pushes the button and a smart crib lulls her crying baby to sleep, flawlessly every time. This question guides her inquiry into the intimate relationship we have with technology that is increasingly driving all aspects of our society. We explore the unintended and often dehumanizing consequences of our society's embedded belief that technological progress will lead to the betterment of humanity. Is technological progress inevitable? Are we all increasingly isolated? Do we really have agency to direct its course? Is technology an expression of our humanity or is technology destroying our humanity? The film will be a critical and intimate meditation on these questions.

Users traverses places ranging 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 palatable. Urgent global issues like climate change and privacy are explored from the intimate perspective of a mother thinking, worrying and loving her children.

FUNDING and SUPPORT

Atlas Industries
Chicken and Egg Breakthrough Grant
Dolby Fellowship
EFICINE
Field of Vision / First Look Media
IDA Enterprise Grant
JustFilms | Ford Foundation
Simplemente | FCPWorks
Sundance Art of Non Fiction Fellowship
Sundance | Simons Foundation
Wexner Center for the Arts
XRT

FILM STILLS

BEHIND THE SCENES


CREW

PRODUCER/WRITER/DIRECTOR: Natalia Almada
PRODUCER: Josh Penn
PRODUCER: Elizabeth Lodge Stepp
CO-PRODUCER: Daniela Alatorre
CO-PRODUCER: Elivia Shaw
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Charlotte Uzu, Les Films d'Ici 2
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Laurence Ansquer, Tita Productions
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Bennett Cerf
EDITOR: Natalia Almada
MUSIC AND SOUND: Dave Cerf
SOUND MIXER: Alejandro de Icaza

CONTACT


Natalia Almada, Producer/Director
Altamura Films
natalia@altamurafilms.com
+52 55 5207 4401 Mexico
+1 347 228 8368 USA

Josh Penn, Producer
Department of Motion Pictures
josh@thedofmp.com

Elizabeth Lodge Stepp, Producer
Department of Motion Pictures
elizabeth@thedofmp.com

Charlotte Uzu, French Co-producer
Les Films d'Içi 2
charlotte.uzu@lesfilmsdici.fr
Tel : +33 1 44 52 23 29