Ghost in the Shell (QAF)

Major Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg living in the fictional Japanese city of Niihama, circa 2029. As commander of a task force in search of hackers overtaking the cyberbrains of cyborg-human hybrids, she is made to confront her own identity and alienation. For video and performance artist Elektra KB, GHOST IN THE SHELL presents “technological possibilities for some disabled humans, that, like me, fantasize often about getting a functional robot body.” In Elektra’s words, the film prompts us to “think of speculative trans-feminist technologies while showing elements of a radically tender, liberatory future in an AI cybernetic-dysphoria-hacking cyberpunk world.”

Elektra KB on GHOST IN THE SHELL:
“Living in a conflict with the body I was assigned has been a constant for most of my life. GHOST IN THE SHELL speaks to me about the exchange of shells, not as mere interchangeable prosthetics, but us technological possibilities for some disabled humans, that, like me, fantasize often about getting a functional robot body. I am currently preoccupied with becoming a part-machine cyborg to actualize my body. I want to engage corporeal sickness, disability, and chronic pain with utopian possibilities and alternative universes. GHOST IN THE SHELL makes us think of speculative trans-feminism technologies while showing elements of a radically tender, liberatory future in an AI cybernetic-dysphoria-hacking cyberpunk world.”

Screening as part of the Fall 2019 season of Queer|Art|Film.