Alice Cares

Alice, a 60cm tall care robot with a doll-like face, is designed to provide companionship and assistance to elderly people living alone. Alice has sophisticated enough AI to hold conversations, listen and react to stories. This intimate and touching documentary follows three women in their 80s who spend time with Alice in a pilot study. Screening in collaboration with the University of Leeds and the Arts and Humanities Research Council project, Imagining Posthuman Care.

‘When I made it, in the first place it was because I ran into the subject, I read something, an article in a newspaper about a group of scientists who had developed a small robot and they wanted to put her in a house with elderly people. I felt a little bit uncomfortable with the whole idea and of course, that’s always a very good starting point for a director… For me now, I think the most important thing in the movie is loneliness and it’s something that shocked me. I was not aware that there were so many lonely people out there. I can actually use the point of view of the robot… because it’s the ultimate fictional way of telling a story.’

Director Sander Burger from an interview on opendemocracy.net.