Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

Father of the Cyborgs

    • Director

      David Burke

    • Credits

      Producers:
      David Burke,
      Seán Ó Cualáin.

      Cinematographer:
      JJ Rolfe

    • Principal Cast

      Dr Phil Kennedy

  • Category

    Feature
    Documentary

A famous neurologist Phil Kennedy made global headlines in the late 1990s for implanting wire electrodes in the brain of a ‘locked-in patient’ to control a computer cursor with their mind. Compared to Alexander Graham Bell in The Washington Post, Kennedy became known as ‘The Father of the Cyborgs’. Travelling to South America in 2014, he made further headlines when tiny electrodes were implanted inside his brain in order to continue his research.

This film examines the ethical quandaries of self-experimentation and a future where technology and human brains combine.

Notes courtesy of Screen Ireland

90 minutes, Ireland, 2020, Colour

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The IFI is supported
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