TikTok, Boom: Film Viewing and Q&A

April 12, 2023
6:30 PM
FilmScene at The Chauncey

The Public Policy Center is proud to co-sponsor this event hosted by FilmScene - Iowa City's Nonprofit CinemaFilmScene.

What does it mean to be a digital native? TikTok, Boom. dissects the platform along myriad cross-sections - algorithmic, socio-political, economic, and cultural - to explore the impact of the history-making app. Balancing a genuine interest in the community and its innovative mechanics with a healthy skepticism, the film delves into the security issues, global political challenges, and racial biases behind the platform, featuring Gen Z influencers like Feroza Aziz, Spencer X, Deja Foxx, and Merrick Hanna.

Filmmaker Shalini Kantayya's feature documentary, Coded Bias, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. She directed the season finale episode for the National Geographic television series Breakthrough, a series profiling trailblazing scientists transforming the future. Executive produced by Ron Howard, it was broadcast globally in June 2017. Her debut feature film, Catching the Sun, about the race for a clean energy future 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.

Kantayya is a TED Fellow, a William J. Fulbright Scholar, and a finalist for the ABC Disney DGA Directing Program. She is an Associate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Kantayya finished in the top 10 out of 12,000 filmmakers on Fox's On the Lot, a show by Steven Spielberg in search of Hollywood's next great director.

The film screening will be followed by a virtual Q&A with director Shalini Kantayya, herself. Tickets are 'give what you can,' and FilmScene will be providing free popcorn. Use the link for more info!

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Dragana Petic at dragana-petic@uiowa.edu.