AI robots, Steve Jobs and other highlights of the year in science films

Society’s uneasy relationship with technology was at the forefront of this year’s South by Southwest Film festival and conference, the cinematic arm of the annual cultural extravaganza in Austin, Texas. Screenings included sci-fi films that focused on the not-too-distant future and documentaries that examined sexism in gaming and the criminal trial involving the massive online black market known as Silk Road.

Here's a rundown of the some of the science-related films we enjoyed at SXSW. (Read more of SciFri's SXSW coverage.)

Ex Machina (in select theaters)

Written and directed by Alex Garland, the screenwriter of sci-fi cult favorites like "28 Days Later" and "Sunshine," this thriller made headlines at SXSW for a creative marketing scheme that tricked Tinder users into chatting with one of its lead characters, Ava.

The catch, of course, is that Ava isn’t human, neither in real life nor in the film. She's an AI humanoid robot designed by a fictional reclusive genius and tech CEO played by Oscar Isaac. In the film, his character invites one of his employees to perform the Turing Test on Ava for one week. Ex Machina is an unnerving film that probes age-old psychological questions from the vantage point of a future that doesn’t seem quite so far off. (For more on articiial intelligence, tune in to this SciFri segment.)

Creative Control

The threat of emerging technology is also the basic theme of this tense film, whose setting is “five minutes into the future.” "Creative Control" features a hipster Brooklyn that doesn’t look much different from our own; the virtual reality glasses that figure prominently in the plot resemble a pair of stylish Warby Parkers.

The man charged with marketing those glasses is David, played by director and co-writer Benjamin Dickinson. But David also starts to use them to devise a fantasy life, touching on familiar anxieties of work-life balance. Shot mostly in black and white, with fascinating projections of future tech, the unsettling flick is an inventive peek into the dangers of using virtual reality to escape real life.

GTFO The Movie 

Quite a few viewers gasped during the screening of this documentary, which provides an overview of the discrimination and harassment plaguing some female competitive gamers, critics and bloggers. The provocations come in all forms and levels of obscenity, from online to in-person harassment. In one uncomfortable scene, we watch a male gamer ask a female gamer’s bra size as she’s trying to compete in a tournament. The bullying is often hard to watch, but the perseverance of the women is inspiring. Yet the film also says little about what society can do even as it gives the women a brief platform from which to speak out.

Deep Web (out on May 31 on Epix)

Mainstream portrayals of the online marketplace known as Silk Road often cast it as the Internet’s underbelly, a black market that was supposed to be untrackable and therefore perfect for all things illegal and unruly. This documentary, directed by Alex Winter, tries to show the human side of Silk Road. The film follows the story of Ross Ulbricht, who was recently accused of founding and operating the marketplace under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts.” Ulbricht was only convicted in February, with sentencing slated for this May (he faces 30 years to life in prison), so the film’s deep dive into the trial and Ulbricht’s future may be premature.

Steve Jobs: Man in the Machine

“Why did people love Steve Jobs?” is the central question of this new documentary by Alex Gibney, the filmmaker behind the recent Scientology exposé "Going Clear." Apple executives refused to participate, and so audiences are left with testimonials from former coworkers and colleagues who describe Jobs as a stubborn, closed-off man who denied and avoided conflicts about his ideas — and threatened those who weren’t loyal to him.

Though certainly not a flattering portrait, we also watch some of the people spurned by Jobs also speak admiringly of him. By the end, Gibney admits he’s become a little more wary of his iPhone, but he still seems unsure about how to perceive the innovator that has inspired so many.

This story is based on a blog post from PRI's Science Friday with Ira Flatow.