There is no show that makes me spiral like Black Mirror. The way the abstract, dystopian series is slowly predicting the unravelling of our own society is incredible yet completely unstabling for my fragile mental state. But, if you’re stronger than I am and love to ponder the dark twisted ways of our future, then I’ve got some fab news for you, my friend. Charlie Brooker, the creator of Black Mirror, is coming Down Under for the inaugural SXSW Sydney festival.
Charlie is a headline speaker at the futurist event, bringing his big and probably terrifying brain to provide commentary on society’s future, and if we have any chance of shaping it. I can’t wait to see whether he can put a stop to my existential spiral.
While I’m excited to see what Charlie actually has to say when he’s in the country, he’s already kicked off to a pretty good start with this statement.
“Having to quickly provide a personal quote for a press release about how excited I am to join the inaugural Sydney-flavoured SXSW event is exactly the sort of thing ChatGPT is for, but I’ve written this one myself because I still care about our species, dammit,” he began.
“Although I initially misspelt ‘inaugural’ just then until I got corrected by a machine, so actually maybe we’re just rubbish. This tense love-hate relationship with technology is what Black Mirror is all about. That and stories about Prime Ministers and pigs. Anyway, I can’t wait to attend and get so cowed by all the creativity and innovation on display that I go home feeling depressed and inadequate. I’m genuinely looking forward to it.”
Charlie is joining a jacked up program of over 1000 events and sessions that bring together all sorts of visonaries. I’m talking the leading minds in tech innovation, screen, music, games and culture coming to Sydney to gasbag about big ideas. But some other big-name-big-brain speakers that have already been announced are Chance The Rapper, Coachella’s CEO Paul Tollett, Slack Co-Founder Cal Henderson and AI expert Amy Webb.
Plus, the festy has a HUUUGE four-day music festival boasting a heap of established big names and up-and-coming artists from Australia and around the world. Some of these include These New South Whales, Connie Constance, and TikTok’s current golden girls Flyna Boss, to name a few.
The SXSW Sydney runs from October 18 to October 21 and as you can see, there’s a lot to go see. So grab a wristband at the official SXSW Sydney site and soak up all that knowledge, baby!!!
