Directed by Werner Herzog
USA | Documentary | 2016 | 98 min | FH
Film Source: Magnolia
Sponsors: Vermont Technical College / BTV Ignite / Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies / Burlington Generator / Champlain Mini Maker Faire / Alternator
Showtime: Monday, October 24 | 6:30 p.m. | FH
The screening is preceded by a reception at 5:30 pm and followed by a panel discussion featuring Dr. Craig Damon of Vermont Tech and John Yasaitis, with remarks by Mike Schirling of BTV Ignite.
Though it doesn’t precisely coincide with the turn of the millennium, the widespread adoption of the internet is the dividing technological line between the 20th and 21st centuries. And what better person to examine the repercussions of the sea change of the internet era than 74-year-old Werner Herzog? The New German Cinema godfather put the movement on the map in the early 1970s with the 16th century saga Aguirre, the Wrath of God, and in his seasoned years has plumbed the outer reaches of the human experience with the rugged documentaries Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World. Herzog’s latest doc spans the origins of the first ones and zeroes of the nascent internet to a potentially apocalyptic future, when a giant solar flare could destroy the intricate links of a digitally connected world. In between, Lo and Behold takes us on a tour of everything from the possibilities of fully autonomous cars and artificially intelligent robots to the destructive effects of cyberbullying and the pain of people suffering from electromagnetic hypersensitivity. It’s all held together by the mellifluous tones of Herzog’s thickly accented English narration, which has become as instantly recognizable as his distinctive style of documentary filmmaking. ~LB