Exclusive Members-Only Screening: Hot Spot and Recorded Conversation

LACMA members are invited to join FILM at LACMA for a special advance screening of Hot Spot, followed by an exclusive recorded conversation with director Agnieszka Smoczynska, and stars Andrzej Konopka and Noomi Rapace.

In Hot Spot, set in a near-future society ruled by sentient A.I., a private eye investigates a murder case only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord. As the detective's identity slowly unravels, his world enters a state of hypnotic meltdown.

Starring Andrzej Konopka, Noomi Rapace, Reika Kirishima, and directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Hot Spot is in theaters August 21.

Director Statement

Hot Spot is a playful homage to sci-fi cinema, but it is also about all of the fears we feel but cannot name. A wild genre-bending ride set in a near-future society ruled by sentient A.I., the film follows a private eye investigating a murder case only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord. As the detective's identity slowly unravels, his world enters a state of hypnotic meltdown. My goal was to describe the DNA of our present—and to touch upon our current fears, in a world where advanced technology is very close to witchcraft. A.I., climate change, war and global unrest—they all make us fearful, and they all seem "too big for words.” When Robert Bolesto first wrote the script, which was about five years ago, A.I. was still sci-fi, we were very far from first even hearing about ChatGPT. And yet something was in the air, some anxiety, and premonition about our loss of control. About us humans realizing that as we've already allowed so much digital presence into our lives, it is bound to take control away from us. The whole film is about that loss of control—about its horror, but perhaps strangely, also about its beauty. On the surface, Hot Spot is a cop movie set in the dystopia of the future. There is a cop, there is a murder, and there is new technology that puts all reality under constant surveillance …and yet Hot Spot isn't about following the plot. It's about immersion and dreaming. As you watch Hot Spot, don’t use the logic you are used to using. Allow yourself to experience it, to take part in a shared dream. Hot Spot shows a world where we can’t hear our own thoughts anymore. We all yearn for some
solitude.

This in-person screening will take place at an off-site theater. Location details will be shared in the email invitation. Capacity is limited and reservations are required.