Ex Machina Movie Screening

Seated comfortably on the lounge sofa and bean bags, USPians from different batches gathered to attend the inaugural film appreciation event held on the evening of 26^th January 2016. With the smell of fresh pizzas wafting through the air, the lounge was alive with chatter before the lights were dimmed, marking the start of the movie.

The idea of a film appreciation night was put forward by Valerie Lee and Janice Leong, members of the Incubation Hub (IH) committee and freshmen in USP. While the committee was brainstorming ideas, the two alumnae of School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA) recalled how their former school held bi-monthly film screenings on campus to provide a relaxed atmosphere to enjoy and learn more about various topics portrayed on film. The team adopted this idea and refined it to suit the USP community.

“Apart from it being just a movie night for people to relax and de-stress,” Valerie explained, “we also wanted to screen thought-provoking movies so that there’s some intellectual value to the event. Perhaps we could even find some links between the films we’ve watched and what we’ve learnt in our USP modules like Writing and Reasoning or Ethics.”

Thought-provoking it was, as the team decided on the film Ex Machina, suggested by Seah Cheng, a fellow USP freshman. When asked, Cheng mentioned that the themes represented in the sci-fi drama were interesting to explore, and hoped that his fellow USPians could delve into them further after the event.

Ex Machina begins with a young programmer who wins a one-week visit to the private estate owned by the CEO of the software company where he works. Upon arrival, he learns that he has been chosen to participate in a ground-breaking experiment to test the capabilities and consciousness of an artificial intelligence (A.I.) humanoid.

Everyone was at the edge of their seat in anticipation of the next scene. As the last scene flashed on the lounge TV screen and the credits began to roll, the audience broke out in a frenzy, with questions about humanity and A.I.s being thrown across the room.

“We were actually quite afraid that we would have to prompt people with questions on the themes of the film, which would make the atmosphere rather awkward.” Cheng said with a sigh of relief, “I’m really glad that the discussion happened more naturally and really spontaneously after the film.”

A group photo after the film screening!

As the crowd filed out of the lounge, still chatting away about robots taking over the world, the IH committee members were all smiles at the positive response from the first film appreciation event. The team is looking forward to presenting more films to the USP community in the hope that these events will not only give USPians an opportunity to bond but also cultivate an interest in films.

The film appreciation initiative is the first idea birthed from the USP Special Projects’ latest scheme, the Incubation Hub (IH). As an idea generation platform, IH has been set up to allow all USPians to propose any idea and turn it into a reality. The ideas proposed will be developed and provided the necessary financial backing, helpers and community for testing.

If you have in mind a movie worth watching, or a brilliant idea you need help kick-starting, feel free to suggest it to any of the IH committee members!

For more information on how the IH system works, take a look at the info graphics below!

Watch the trailer below to take a peek into Ex Machina!