Users

Dir. Natalia Almada. 2021. 81 mins. 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 instigates Almada’s wide-ranging inquiry into how technology is increasingly driving all aspects of our society—even our most vulnerable and elemental interrelations—prompting further questions about the inevitability of technological progress, our agency in directing its course, and whether technology is an expression of our humanity or the agent of our inevitable destruction. A work of both bracing intimacy and staggering cinematic ambition, Users ranges from the largest indoor vertical farm in the world to an artificial wave, from an IVF embryo lab to a fiber optic cable landing, making tangible the invisible infrastructure we’ve come to rely upon. Winner at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival for Best Director, U.S. Documentary.   

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / free for MoMI members at the Senior/Student level and above. Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.