At the start of the 21st century, hippies turned Silicon Valley CEOs promised nothing but science-fiction inspired improvements to humankind. Consolidations of power have rendered these ideals dystopian, but the resulting technical infrastructure will continue to condition behavior, social values, and economic survivability for generations to come.

NAVEL invites you to the premiere of Children of the Singularity by artist and filmmaker Megan May Daalder, a short documentary series that invites young people to push back against any singular story of “progress.” Using sci-fi sensibilities and a verite documentary style, Children of the Singularity encourages young people to question the forces that shape pervasive digital technologies, and imagine alternative futures. Through intergenerational dialogues and reflective interviews, each episode challenges parents and youth to work through the dissonance between ideals, realities, and blind spots. By linking technological futures with personal histories, Children of the Singularity opens a larger conversation about interdependence in an era of atomization.

Following the premiere of the films, Daalder plans to host an intergenerational workshop that uses the series to initiate playful and complex dialogues between parents and youth (from age 11 & up). Learn more and sign-up to be notified here.

Watch the trailer at wehaveseenthefuture.us

Megan May Daalder was raised in Los Angeles by two Dutch parents; a futurist-filmmaker father and a Jungian psychologist-artist mother. Her video, performance, and documentary work explores the emotional impact of technological change, pokes at insidious power structures, and playfully imagines alternate social arrangements. She has spoken at TEDx Gabriola Island and won the People’s Choice award at the Entertainment Software and Cognitive Neurotherapeutics Society for her installation The Mirrorbox. This installation was also studied as a “novel tool for modulating self-other perception” at the USC Brain and Creativity Institute, in collaboration with neuroscientist Sook-Lei Lieu. primordialfutures.com

Ava Benjamin Shorr is a Director of Photography who also happens to be a transgender woman. She was raised by a Mormon mother and a Jewish father in Portland, Oregon. Her early passion for cinematography was stoked by skateboarding videos and art-house cinema. She has shot music videos, commercials, and documentaries for a variety of clients, and has three features in post-production. avabenjamin.com

Image by Ava Benjamin Shorr