81 minutes / Color
English; Spanish / English subtitles
Closed Captioned
Release: 2022
Copyright: 2021
Included on 5-disc box set Personal and Political: The Films of Natalia Almada.
Users begins with a mother’s question–will my children love the perfect machines more than they love me, their imperfect mother? She pushes the button and a smart crib lulls her crying baby to sleep, flawlessly every time. This question guides her inquiry into the intimate relationship we have with technology that is increasingly driving all aspects of our society. We explore the unintended and often dehumanizing consequences of our society's embedded belief that technological progress will lead to the betterment of humanity. Is technological progress inevitable? Are we all increasingly isolated? Do we really have agency to direct its course? Is technology an expression of our humanity or is technology destroying our humanity? The film will be a critical and intimate meditation on these questions.
Users traverses places ranging from the largest indoor vertical farm in the world to the perfect artificial wave, from an IVF embryo lab to a fiber optic cable landing. Invisible infrastructure that we all rely on is made visible. Our reliance on machines and our alienation from each other is palatable. Urgent global issues like climate change and privacy are explored from the intimate perspective of a mother thinking, worrying and loving her children.
“Truly moving and mind-blowing.” —Rolling Stone
“A dazzling documentary about the menacing nature of modern times and the fundamental beauty of cutting-edge progress.” —Indiewire
“Bracing, poetic, painterly...USERS looks and sounds stunning.” —The Hollywood Reporter
“The film’s triumph is keeping us on our toes by sending us into an ether where fear and wonder live hand in hand.” —Slant Magazine
“Remarkable... USERS shows us our possible, terrifying future.” —The Stranger
Select Accolades
An aspiring corrido composer faces two life-changing choices: to traffic drugs or unlawfully cross the border into the United States. Directed by Natalia Almada.
Natalia Almada | 2005 | 70 minutes | Color | Spanish; English | English subtitles | Closed Captioned
A poignant experimental documentary that explores the effects of tragedy and remembrance on a bi-cultural family.
Natalia Almada | 2001 | 19 minutes | Color | English; Spanish | English subtitles
The filmmaker reflects on her great-grandfather, who was a revolutionary general and then president of Mexico.
Natalia Almada | 2009 | 83 minutes | Color | Spanish | English subtitles
From dusk to dawn Martin watches over the extravagant mausoleums of Mexico's most notorious Drug Lords.
Natalia Almada | 2011 | 72 minutes | Color | English; Spanish | English subtitles
Woven from home video and news footage collected over 25 years, ROCÍO is the story of a mother's love and the American Dream.
Darío Guerrero | 2022 | 60 minutes | Color | Spanish; English | English subtitles | Closed Captioned
