Computer Chess
Sloan Foundation Film
Release Date
2013
Film Synopsis
A 1980s-set story centered around a man-versus-machine chess tournament.
Set in the early 1980s, in and around an isolated roadside hotel, computer programmers gather for a tournament that pits their chess programs against each other. The action is centered on the junior programmer of an academic team who begins to suspect that their computer is able to detect the difference between a computer opponent and a human one, and thus is exhibiting elements of self-consciousness. He also learns from another member of the team that the computer had been engaging him in gnomic philosophical dialogue and hinting that it thinks it’s alive.
Possible Topics
- How playing chess affects the brain
- Artificial intelligence: From lab to life
- The emerging field of biologically inspired artificial intelligence
- Supercomputers of the future
Past Programs
2013
The Cinefamily, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Athens Ciné, Athens, GA
The Nickelodeon, Columbia, SC
2015
Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, TN
2016
Maine Film Center, Waterville, ME
2019
Bryn Mawr Film Institute, Bryn Mawr, PA
2023
Austin Film Society, Austin, TX
Enzian Theater, Maitland, FL
2024
Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington, NY