Storyteller from the future
In 2017, SCREEN FOREVER introduced the Visionary Keynote to celebrate the inventors, innovators and creators who are embracing technology to enhance not only how we tell stories, but also how we live our lives, in this incredibly exciting, transformative time in human history.
The inaugural address was delivered by former Pixar CFO, Lawrence Levy, who shared his wealth of experience on ‘Cracking the Creative Code’ and was followed in 2018 by engineer, creator and futurist, Dr Jordan Nguyen, who took the audience on a dynamic journey into ‘Humanity, Technology and Conscious Media’.
This year, Screen Producers Australia is excited to welcome award-winning international artist and TED speaker, Karen Palmer, as the 2019 Visionary Keynote lecturer.
A storyteller from the future, Karen creates immersive film experiences at the intersection of film, AI technology, gaming, immersive storytelling, neuroscience, consciousness, implicit bias and the parkour philosophy of moving through fear.
Karen’s work tackles issues inherent in the race towards technological singularity – the hypothetical point in the future where technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversibly changes human civilisation. Her current project with Thoughtworks in NYC explores unconscious bias in AI and how it can result in everyday racism.
Karen’s portfolio includesEvolutionfor the 2012 London Olympics Cultural Lead, Syncself,which received an HBO Award nomination at Filmteractive Festival in Poland and RIOT,an emotionally responsive film which uses facial recognition and AI technology to navigate through a dangerous riot. RIOTpremiered at Festival of The Mind in Sheffield and went on to screen widely, including at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London and was honoured as part of the Digital Dozen Break Throughs in Storytelling in 2017.
A prolific speaker, Karen has inspired audiences from the Future of StoryTelling (FoST) Global Summit in New York, to the Strategic Storytelling Seminar Canada, the Google Cultural Institute in Paris and TEDx Australia at the Sydney Opera House.
At a time when the industry is facing uncertainty and anxiety, Karen’s message is about leaning into that fear and using new technology to tell richer stories that help us understand the human condition in a much more meaningful way. Don’t miss her discussion of ‘Unconscious Bias and the Future of Perception’ at Australia’s premier screen industry event this November.
The Visionary Keynote will be delivered at 9am on Wednesday, 13 November at the Crown Conference Centre Melbourne. Purchase your Gold Pass to SCREEN FOREVER here.
