La Pensée-Machine
The mission of the Centre d'art et essai de la Cinémathèque québécoise (CAECQ) is to primary program Quebec-made documentaries and independent fiction, as well as international documentaries, animated and foreign films, while encouraging opportunities for meetings between the public and the artists. Its programming is presented in conjunction with the Cinémathèque québécoise’s under the label New releases.
The April 23 screening will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker and Alexis-Michel Schmitt-Cadet, one of the participants in the film
Official selection, Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma 2025
The film tackles the theme of the invasion of machines around us. With the advent of artificial intelligence, people are concerned about the increasing autonomous capabilities of technology. Have we passed the tipping point, and have machines become too powerful to be controlled by humans? While legitimate, these fears conceal the real danger. Beyond technological objects, the machine has infiltrated our very being, our way of thinking and seeing the world.
In the tradition of cinema-manifesto, where interviews, live action and poetic sequences make up the material of the work, the film raises the question of binary thinking at the heart of techno-scientific modernity. Because in the face of binary simplification, free speech will always be the guarantor of the critical reflection needed to ensure a diversity of viewpoints.
Olivier D. Asselin
A graduate of INIS and the Université du Québec à Montréal, Olivier D. Asselin creates works rooted in sociopolitical reality, both in fiction and documentary. His vision is embodied in short, medium or feature films as well as in web series, which he can, depending on the case, produce, direct, film and/or edit himself. Several of his films have won awards at multiple local and international festivals. He also teaches cinema and is involved in several filmmakers’ organizations. He chairs the board of directors of DOC Québec.
