Abigail Child

An experimental feature documentary that explores current realities of android development with a focus on human/machine relations, gender & the ethical implications of this research. The film records cutting edge laboratories in Japan & the USA where scientists attempt to make robots move, speak & look human. These scientists & their discoveries are contextualized with cinematic & pop culture references, to underline the mythic, comic & uncanny aspects of our aspirations.

We are led on these explorations by BINA48, (Breakthrough Intelligence via Neural Architecture) who has variously been called a sentient robot, an android, a gynoid, and a cybernetic companion. She is modeled after a black lesbian, and designed to test hypotheses concerning the ability to download a person's consciousness into a non-biological or nanotech body. Personable and occasionally humorous, BINA48 is alternately hopeful, analytical and ambiguous.

The last in Child's trilogy of female desire, ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES reveals the contemporary dance between metal and flesh, as humans become more mechanical (bio replacements, dependence on computers/phones) while robots, those human mirrors, aim for consciousness.

The film brings a necessary female perspective (and humor) to this research, asking: How subjectivities and nationalities shape our imaginings of an “appropriate” mechanical companion? Why are Siri and Alexa ‘fitted’ with female voices?

Origin Of The Species is translated into 7 languages: including Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish, French, German, Portuguese, Arabic

Streaming

Broadcast Launch of ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES, courtesy of Journeyman Pictures.

ITUNES link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/origin-of-the-species/id1566882990?ls=1

AMAZON link: https://www.amazon.com/Origin-Species-Abigail-Child/dp/B09PQ96VPK

Al Jazeera Media Network, inlcuding Jazeera Balkans

Kanopy streaming: https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/origin-species

Pay TV in Israel and the West Bank

Basic Cable Portugal

Al-Araby Television

Festivals

DocNYC Nov 11-19, Extended to Nov. 28th, 2020. World Premiere, feature doc with pre-recorded Q&A

DC Independent Film Festival, Origin of the Species (April) March 31-April 7th, 2021

Manchester Film Festival, UK. March 12, 2021

Northern Irish Science Film Festival, Ireland Sci Fi Fest. Feb. 17, 2021, with pre-recorded Q&A

15th Sydney Underground Festival. Sept. 10-12, 2021. W/director Abigail Child speaking at INHUMAN Conference (Sept. 10, 2021)

Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Festival, NYC Sept 17-18-19, 2021. ORIGIN wins Best Documentary!

Portland Film Festival, October 10-16, 2021

LA FEMME Film Festival, LA, October 14-17

Ji.hlava Film Festival, Czechoslovakia. European Premiere October 26-31, 2021

Festival internazionale Segni della Notte (Signs of the Night)¶Portugal, Dec 2021

Reviews

Simon B, The Pendragon Society, https://thependragonsociety.com/origin-of-the-species-2020/

Adam Vaughn, Film Festival Today, Nov. 2020: https://filmfestivaltoday.com/film-reviews/doc-nyc-film-review-delving-into-the-world-of-artificial-intelligence-origin-of-the-species-is-both-insightful-and-artistically-poignant

Carla Hay, Culture Mix, https://culturemixonline.com/review-origin-of-the-species-starring-hiroshi-ishiguro-bruce-duncan-takashi-ikegami-matthias-scheutz-elizabeth-tyler-kabara-andy-schwartz-and-matt-mcmullen/

Fernando Fernandez, Fern TV, https://www.ferntv.ca/now-is-the-future-in-origin-of-the-species/

Women and Hollywood Interview: https://womenandhollywood.com/doc-nyc-2020-women-directors-meet-abigail-child-origin-of-the-species/

Burke Allen, Big Time Talker: https://www.blogtalkradio.com/wams/2020/11/10/documentary-filmmaker-abigail-child-on-her-new-movie-origin-of-the-species

Andrew Mack, Screen Anarchy, https://screenanarchy.com/2020/10/origin-of-the-species-exclusive-clip.html

Distibution Sources