Movies Even an Engineer Would Love: Stories About Culture and Technology “The Tailenders”

• Event Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2008
• Time: 7:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Film

Engineering and Technology Studies at Illinois
Program in Science and Technology Studies
Movies Even an Engineer Would Love: Stories About Culture and Technology

"The Tailenders"
(Adele Horne, 2005, 72 min.)
Filmed in the Solomon Islands, Mexico, India, and the US, this film chronicles a missionary organization's development of ultra-low-tech audio technologies (like a cardboard record player) to evangelize to traditional communities with limited access to electricity and media. Interspersing interviews with shots of nodal patterns, waveforms and a signal generator, the film "has presented disembodied audio as a religion unto itself" (The New York Times).

In this film series, each story shows the human dramas of the modern technologies that surround us. The technological systems seen here invite us to consider the relationships between technical decisions and sustainability, culture, and identity. Join us for screenings of these award-winning films, each followed by a brief discussion.

Museum visitors are reminded that outside food and drinks are not allowed in the Museum. Backpacks and other large items brought to the Museum will have to be stored; there is limited locker storage space available for these items.