Center for the literary arts in New York State
IMAGINING A.I.
Alexander Weinstein
Thursday, October 19, 2023
4:30 p.m. — Craft Talk
Multi-Purpose Room, Campus Center West Addition
University at Albany
1400 Washington Avenue, Albany NY 12222 See map.
Alexander Weinstein is the author of the short story collections, Universal Love (2020) and Children of the New World (2016), which was chosen as a New York Times "100 Notable Books of the Year" and a best book of the year by NPR, Google, and Electric Literature. Emily St. John Mandel called Children of the New World, “A darkly mesmerizing, fearless, and exquisitely written work. Stunning, harrowing, and brilliantly imagined.”
Film screening and discussion: "After Yang"
7:30 p.m. — Film screening and Q&A
Multi-Purpose Room, Campus Center West Addition
(United States, 2021, 96 minutes, color, rated PG. Screening will display captions.)
Directed by Kogonada. Starring Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith.
Alexander Weinstein’s short story, “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” from the collection Children of the New World, provides the basis of this film set in a near-future of artificial intelligence, social media implants, memory manufacturers, dangerously immersive virtual reality games, and alarmingly intuitive robots. A family reckons with questions of love, connection, and loss after their A.I. helper, Yang, unexpectedly breaks down.
About the film
The film is based on Alexander Weinstein's short story "Saying Goodbye to Yang." When his young daughter's beloved companion — an android named Yang — malfunctions, Jake (Colin Farrell) searches for a way to repair him. In the process, Jake discovers the life that has been passing in front of him, reconnecting with his wife (Jodie Turner-Smith) and daughter across a distance he didn't know was there.