Artificial Intelligence in Cinema: Blade Runner

"BLADE RUNNER" by Ignacio RC is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The cult film “Blade Runner” will be shown by the Filmhaus as “Director’s Cut” as part of the film series “Artificial Intelligence in Cinema” (Original with subtitles). Produced in 1982 under the direction of Ridley Scott, the science fiction film deals with the creation of artificial humans as the epitome of the highest technical achievement. Antonio Krüger, computer science professor at Saarland University and scientific director at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), will comment on the film afterwards. The film series is organized by the Filmhaus in Saarbrücken together with the Competence Center for Computer Science and the German-American Institute. Admission is free.

The insecure and tall Leon Kowalski, the snake dancer Zhora, Pris, developed for amusement purposes, and her leader Roy Batty are on the run. As “synthogenetic replicants”, machines of flesh and blood, they are indistinguishable from real people and can even develop feelings. So that they do not become a threat with these abilities, they have a standard lifetime of four years. The replicants rebel against this. In Los Angeles, which in 2019 resembles a metropolitan moloch, they disappear. Now, the special police unit “Blade Runner” hunts them down. During that, one of the “Blade Runners”, Rick Deckard, not only finds his great love, but also gets into a conflict with himself.

The film, made in 1982 under the British director Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator), is now considered a cult classic. The film house therefore also shows it in Director’s Cut. Following the film, Antonio Krüger, Professor of Computer Science at Saarland University and senior researcher at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), will separate the facts from the fiction. In 2010, Krüger established the Media Informatics course at Saarland University and continues to head it today. In addition, he is one of the 19 experts appointed by the Bundestag Enquete Commission on Artificial Intelligence (AI), which has been working since 27 September 2018.

Further information:
https://www.filmhaus-saarbruecken.de

Questions can be directed to:
Gordon Bolduan
Science Communication
Competence Center for Computer Science
Saarland Informatics Campus E1.7
E-mail: bolduan@mmci.uni-saarland.de
Phone: +49 681 302 70741