September 18, 2020

OPENS NOVEMBER 11 – BEST OF SUNDANCE 2020 ‘CODED BIAS’ TO HAVE VIRTUAL CINEMA RELEASE

FILM ON BIG TECH & RACIAL BIAS

Opens November 11 in New York
at The Metrograph
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and dozens more cities to follow!

‘BEST OF SUNDANCE 2020’ IS HAVING A HUGE IMPACT ON BIG TECH AND RACIAL BIAS

SHALINI KANTAYYA’S DOCUMENTARY FEATURE AWARDS CONTENDER

CODED BIAS

TO HAVE VIRTUAL CINEMA RELEASE STARTING THIS NOVEMBER

FEATURED IN THE FAST COMPANY MAGAZINE COVER STORY (SEPTEMBER ISSUE JUST PUBLISHED) ON ‘CODED BIAS’ FILM STAR PARTICIPANT JOY BUOLAMWINI ‘THE RESEARCHER WHO TOOK ON BIG TECH AND WON’

A groundbreaking documentary feature on bias in artificial intelligence, and the women data scientists and mathematicians fighting to expose its threat to civil liberties and democracy.

SYNOPSIS

Coded Bias reveals the groundbreaking research of MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini, proving that facial recognition algorithms have the power to disseminate racial bias at scale. In June 2020, IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft said they would pause the sale of facial recognition to police. In a pivotal moment for racial equality, and a decisive moment for how big tech will yield power, Coded Bias is a trailblazing film for public understanding and engagement with the algorithms that impact us all.

100% FRESH

**“‘A chilling plunge into Orwellian reality.” “Wake-up call.” “Riveting.”** “This fast-moving, dynamically assembled film — which makes sharp use of classic sci-fi visual concepts and screen graphics to echo its themes — is here to remind us that the struggle between humans and machines over decision-making is only going to get messier.” “*Coded Bias*argues persuasively that Big Data remains blindfolded about the discrimination embedded in our technology.”
– David Rooney

“Thought-provoking…Coded Bias serves as both a wake-up call (to invasive practices the public doesn’t yet realize are being implemented) and a call to action.”
– Valerie Complex

MORE PRAISE FOR ‘CODED BIAS’

“EXPLOSIVE.”
—Zoe, Zorka, The Source

“Coded Bias is an eye-opening and important film that calls attention to a movement of resistance led by badass female data scientists and grassroots organizations examining an important civil liberties matter.”
– John Fink, The Film Stage

“Coded Bias connects A.I. to racism in a way you’ve never seen.”
– Mike Brown, Inverse

ABOUT THE FILM AND ITS NATIONAL RELEASE

The virtual launch will kick off community screenings, and a series of online conversations with scientists and citizens across the globe about the ethical use of artificial intelligence. Coded Bias had its world premiere in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

The film was also an official selection SXSW 2020, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2020, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2020, San Francisco International Film Festival 2020, Human Rights Watch Film Festival New York 2020, and AFI Docs 2020 among others.

Coded Bias’s theatrical release is part of a national Science on Screen initiative, promoting scientific literacy through entertainment, funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

“There is hope in this pivotal moment that people recognize that data rights are human rights,” said Shalini Kantayya, director of Coded Bias. “Look what happened when informed science meets citizen activism—IBM, Amazon and Microsoft put their racially biased surveillance technology down. And I think we need to push for legislation that will protect citizens from invasive surveillance that violate our civil rights.”

The film features groundbreaking data scientists, mathematicians and ethicists fighting to expose the threats to civil liberties posed by an increasingly data-driven, automated including:

Joy Buolamwini, Founder, Algorithmic Justice League
Cathy O’Neil, Author, Weapons of Math Destruction
Safiya Noble, Author, Algorithms of Oppression
Zeynep Tufekci, Author, Twitter and Teargas
Meredith Broussard, Author, Artificial UnIntelligence
Amy Webb, Author, The Big Nine
Virginia Eubanks, Author, Automating Inequality

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Director Shalini Kantayya’s feature documentary, Coded Bias, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. She directed an episode of the National Geographic television series Breakthrough, Executive Produced by Ron Howard, broadcast globally in 2017. Her debut feature film Catching the Sun, premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival and was named a New York Times Critics’ Pick. Catching the Sun released globally on Netflix on Earth Day 2016 with Executive Producer Leonardo DiCaprio, and was nominated for the Environmental Media Association Award for Best Documentary. She is an Associate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.