Metrograph's Singularity-Themed Film Festival Kicks Off Friday

The self-aware robots are definitely coming—sooner than any of us realize, probably—which is maybe not such a terrible thing, considering the job humans have been doing as of late. In fact, some people believe our supercomputer overlords might already be here, quietly and omnipotently torturing our pea-brains by way of something called Roko's Basilisk (which I don't recommend reading about unless you are super into night terrors). Or maybe the robots themselves aren't even real, and we're all just part of some computer simulation that Elon Musk and his equally handsome virtual brother dreamed up in a steamy hot tub. Who can say, really?

In any event, this dystopian nightmare of artificial superintelligence is almost upon us. It'll be different than our current dystopian nightmare, in that we'll at least have seen it coming, thanks to innumerable science fiction movies warning of every imaginable techno-catastrophic scenario. So while there's no choice but to confront this menu of AI anxieties, you might as well do so by watching the very best films about the subject in a 50-seat, 35mm art house cinema on the Lower East Side.

Beginning March 17th, the Metrograph kicks off a truly excellent run of films as part of their Singularity series, all of which will examine "the ever-encroaching future moment when artificial superintelligence will overtake human intelligence." The mini-festival features 19 films and runs through April 10th.

On Friday, the series opens, fittingly, with Stanley Kubrick's groundbreaking 2001: A Space Odyssey, followed by Ex Machina and Resident Evil: Retribution in 3D—very strong, if somewhat obvious, choices. Unrelated to the series, but still kind of cool, David Byrne will also be hanging out at the Metrograph on Saturday for a Q&A about the Stop Making Sense concert doc.

The real meat of the series starts next weekend, with a packed schedule of seven loosely connected films, ranging from seminal sci-fi horror flick Bride of Frankenstein to Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence. That weekend also features three screenings of Mamoru Oshii's classic anime Ghost in the Shell (which is about to get a very promising reboot) and one screening of the original Matrix (which is about to get a not-at-all promising reboot.)

Later in the month, you can revisit Blade Runner, Robocop, and The Terminator—all in archive-quality 35 mm. And the series closes with Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, based on the beloved TV show set in a virus-ridden city whose future depends on a delusional band of bounty hunters just trying to turn a profit.

Though the series ends on April 10th, the theatre will continue holding a mirror to society with a screening of Beavis And Butt-Head Do America on the following night.

Buy tickets and learn more about the coming Singularity here — before it's too late.