NEWS
Artificial Immortality Gets Nominated for 3 Canadian Screen Award Categories
Good news— Artificial Immortality, directed by Ann Shin, has been nominated for 3 categories in this year’s Canadian Screen Awards.
Ann would like to highlight the amazing work by the team at Fathom, the talented composer Todor Kobakov, and the brilliant cinematographers Iris Ng and Stephen Chung.
Join Ann at Yu & Me Books for her Paperback Launch!
Join Ann and celebrity Chef Hooni Kim for the paperback launch of THE LAST EXILES.
Where: Yu & Me BookStore: 44 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10013, United States
Time: 5pm - 7pm ET
Ann will be signing books and chatting with guests while Chef Kim caters the event. Don’t miss it!
A.rtificial I.mmortality: Finalist at the World Trailer Awards
The trailer for A.rtificial I.mmortality is a finalist at the World Trailer Awards! We are up against some Hollywood heavy hitters: The Matrix Resurrections, Fast & Furious 9, House of Gucci, The Batman, Marvel's Avengers, Stranger Things and Squid Games are just a few of the other films that made the list.
A huge shout out to our trailer editor, Tharanga Ramanayake, for his unparalleled expertise in cutting the A.rtificial I.mmortality trailer.
The Last Exiles Paperback available in the USA
Coming March, 29th, 2022 with exciting new cover art, The Last Exiles is launching a paperback edition. Be sure to pick up a copy from your local bookseller!
A.rtificial I.mmortality is available on streaming platforms in the USA
Available on iTunes and other streaming platforms.
If you were able to create an immortal version of yourself, would you? Until recently, that question was the stuff of science fiction, but now artificial intelligence and robotics experts suggest it could be possible. This cinematic documentary explores the latest in cloning and avatar technology as we enter the age of the metaverse. What is the essence of the human mind, and can it be replicated? Or even more unsettling, could we soon meet cloned versions of ourselves which are better, smarter, and immortal? Featuring Deepak Chopra, Nick Bostrom, Douglas Rushkoff, Hossein Rahnama and others.
Watch Ann at Word Vancouver
Watch Ann as she joins this panel of authors who witnessed this amazing transformation and who are at different stages of their careers as writers, but whose stories internalize the interracial, intergenerational and international stories of the Asian Canadian experience.
https://www.facebook.com/WORDvancouver/videos/553360289246678
Watch A.RTIFICIAL I.MMORTALITY at TIFF Bell Lightbox (Theatrical Premiere)
THEATRICAL PREMIERE at TIFF Bell Lightbox!
Watch A.rtificial I.mmortality in the comfort of your own home.
Get tickets now: https://digital.tiff.net/film/a-rtificial-i-mmortality/
A.RTIFICIAL I.MMORTALITY EUROPEAN PREMIERE AT VISIONI DAL MONDO DOC FEST
A.rtificial I.mmortality’s European Premiere at the Visioni dal Mondo Documentary Film Festival takes place on 16 September, at 17:00 (5:00pm), at the National Science and Technology Museum Leonardo da Vinci, Milan
The festival, now in its 7th year, runs from September 16th through 19th, 2o21. To learn more, please visit: https://www.visionidalmondo.it/en/
THE LAST EXILES is now available in the UK!
We’re excited to announce that THE LAST EXILES is now available for our UK fans. Pick up your copy of Ann’s debut novel at one of these stores:
Amazon UK - Blackwells - Bookshop - Foyles - Hive - Waterstones - WH Smith
Ottawa Review of Books “Shin has created an enlightening, often shocking, and moving story, opening wide a window on the lives of a part of humanity hidden from the rest of the world for much too long.”
May 11, 2021
Ann Shin’s affecting debut novel, The Last Exiles, is an attempt to pull back the curtain on the lives of ordinary North Koreans and reveal their constant struggle to create an existence that is somewhere close to human. The outside world knows little about these people. Occasionally news will leak about the famines and the sorry state of the North Korean economy, but mostly we hear only about Kim Jong-Un and his sabre-rattling, despotism, and murderous treatment of any who challenge him. There are no independent media in North Korea. News from the outside is nonexistent, and domestic bad news is stifled. Television, newspapers, films all have to toe the Party’s line and spread only positive news, heavily larded with extravagant praise for their Dear Leader, lest they incur his wrath. For to anger the Dear Leader is basically to sign one’s death warrant. As a result, ignorance of not just the world, but of their own society is the rule for the North Korean people. [More]
A.RTIFICIAL I.MMORTALITY SOLD OUT! NEW TICKETS RELEASED
April 29, 2021
Great news! A.rtificial I.mmortality sold out on Opening Night. Even better news? Hot Docs is adding more tickets! Get yours before they sell out again.
IS VIRTUAL IMMORTALITY POSSIBLE THROUGH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?
April 29, 2021 - The Social - Lainey Lui & Jess Allen
Opening at the Hot Docs festival today, A.rtificial I.mmortality. The film explores how, as advancement in technology continues, what kinds of virtual immortality are waiting for us through the development of artificial intelligence. Here to tell us more about the film is the director, Ann Shin.
Watch the segment here
HOT DOCS REVIEW: 'A.RTIFICIAL I.MMORTALITY' IS A LESS SINISTER TAKE ON THE USUAL AI NARRATIVE
April 29, 2021 - Allie Gregory - EXCLAIM!
A.rtificial I.mmortality serves as a snapshot of current-day AI. It doesn't shy away from the future of the technology, but it doesn't get lost in the vast possibilities of tomorrow either.
If Computers Could Let You Live On Forever, Would You?
April 29, 2021 -Dina Pugliese - Breakfast Television
Dina chats with director Ann Shin about her film A.rtificial I.mmortality, which asks the question, if computers could let you live on forever, would you? It premieres at the Hot Doc Film Festival today.
Ann Shin’s riveting documentary ‘A.rtificial I.mmortality’ explores the essence of what makes us human
April 28, 2021 - Jen McNeely - She Does The City
As soon as I saw the trailer for Ann Shin’s documentary A.rtificial I.mmortality, I turned to my partner and said, “Oh, you’re going to love this.”
In The Seats With...Ann Shin and 'A.rtificial I.mmortality'
April 28, 2021 - Dave Voigt - In the Seats
We talked with Writer/Director Ann Shin about the inspiration for the film, the debate on both sides of the aisle, the importance of bringing up issues like this in documentary filmmaking and how the art of it all is evolving before our very eyes.
The Last Exiles Review
Publisher’s Weekly - Best Books
Shin’s suspenseful debut sets an adventurous love story against the backdrop of North Korea’s authoritarian government during the last years of Kim Jong-il’s reign. Suja, a young North Korean girl whose father works for the government newspaper and gets her a photography internship there, has become enamored of Jin, a country boy from the impoverished town of Yangdook whom she met at Kim Il-sung University. On a school break, Jin steals cornmeal for his starving family—a treasonable offense—and is condemned to a prison camp, from which he escapes. Suja, hearing the news of his miraculous breakout at her father’s newspaper office, determines to find him. Shin, a poet and filmmaker who has documented the hardships of North Korean defectors, brings veracity to the fast-paced story, revealing the harsh circumstances of life in North Korea, the bargains some make in order to escape their homeland, such as their complicity in the black market for human trafficking, and the bleak and sometimes frightening conditions facing them as they near the border with China. With taut pacing and rich prose, Shin provides a revelatory view on a system of underground brokers who aid defectors, but also fuel indentured servitude in China. The many layers make for a moving and powerful story.
Hot Docs 2021: Interview with A.rtificial I.mmortality filmmaker Ann Shin
April 28, 2021 - Sonya Davidson - Toronto Guardian
If you could create an immortal version of yourself, would you? Local filmmaker Ann Shin explores the latest advancements in AI, robotics and biotech with visionaries who argue for a new age of post-biological life. Drawing inspiration from her own life and her father’s memory loss, Ann speaks with experts in the field who suggest AI can enable us to live forever. A.rtifical I.mmortality will have its World Premiere as the Opening Film at this year’s Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival.
The Human Factor: Ann Shin’s A.rtificial I.mmortality
April 28, 2021 - Jason Gorbe - POV Magazine
It was the late, great Freddie Mercury who famously asked, “Who wants to live forever?” Prolific Toronto filmmaker Ann Shin’s latest documentary provocatively tries to answer this quandary and asks questions of her own. A.rtificial I.mmortality dives into the world of transhumanism, where people seek to live forever in a digital state. They continue to live via robotics or on-screen avatars long after their flesh decomposes. The film, this year’s Hot Docs opening night selection, is a fittingly if frustratingly virtual affair as the pandemic continues to affect in-person screenings.
The Last Exiles is Now Available on Audiobook
Narrated by: June Angela
An unforgettable saga inspired by true events, The Last Exiles is a searing portrait of a young couple in Pyongyang and their fight for love and freedom.
Listen Now: Libro.fm, Kobo, Audible, Amazon, Audiobookstore
49th Shelf - Exciting Fiction Reads This Spring
The Last Exiles is selected by 49th Shelf as a one of the top books to read this Spring.
Kobo Names The Last Exiles for Best Book of the Month
The Last Exiles is honoured to be among the books listed by Kobo as the best books coming out this month!
The Last Exiles Review
Elizabeth Harmon, RITA® Award Finalist author of Pairing Off from the Red Hot Russians series.
Wow. This book was a page-turner from the first chapter and took me into a world that I knew little about. The author's details about life in North Korea were both terrible and fascinating, and I was immediately invested in this story about a young couple, and their harrowing escape from their homeland.
Jin and Suja are from different worlds. Suja is the only daughter of an affluent, connected family in Pyongyang, Jin is a scholarship student from a poor town in the northern region of North Korea. They meet at university, fall in love and plan to marry, and settle into careers in journalism, spreading the propaganda of their Dear Leader. On a break from school, Jin returns home to find his family starving, and steals a bag of corn meal to help them survive. He is caught, arrested and sent to prison. Suja is devastated and tries to find a way to help Jin, until she leans that he has escaped into China. Desperate to find him, Suja risks everything to do the same.
Their story, based on accounts of other North Korean defectors, is dark, violent, and frightening, especially for Suja. But the story is ultimately hopeful, and without giving away spoilers, ends the way I'd hoped it would.
The Last Exiles Review
Elena Luo @elena.luo, Instagram Influencer - Books, Travel, Food & Music,
Jin and Suja fell in love while studying at university in Pyongyang. She's privileged, from a prominent family and he's humble, from a small village up north. When Jin returns home to find his family starving, he makes an impetuous decision that will impact the rest of his life.
THE LAST EXILES is so good that I will try to write quite vaguely in order to not spoil anything. The story flips back and forth between Suja and Jin's perspective - it begins by capturing the wide divide between him and Suja and how their fate is tied to family roots/status. Shin offers a rare glimpse at life inside the guarded walls of North Korea, where brainwash, black market, dictatorship, corruption and abuse of power are recurrent. We are allowed to see how North Korea works different in terms of economy and politics compared to our common knowledge about South Korea.
Then Shin introduces us to the alarming and horrific truths about China, shining a light on human traffic and black market. The hardships that Suja goes through are as realistic as the experiences that I have read in non-fiction books, showing how much research Shin put into the story. I was often afraid of what could happed to the characters and I didn't want to put the book down. It is ultimately a moving story about surviving by any means necessary, highlighting love, sacrifice, resilience and liberty. My small critique is that I thought that Jin's escape was too "easy", however I would understand that this fact isn't the focus of the story.
Inspired by true events, this is a solid debut with fluid writing that paints a vivid portrait of a young couple in North Korea and their fight for love and freedom. This plot-driven saga pierced my heart and I can't recommend it enough.
E! Selects The Last Exiles as a Top Book This April
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April showers bring books we really want to devour.
Spring has officially sprung and we can't think of a better way to welcome the slightly warmer temps and sunshine than by burying our noses in a book for an hour or five.
This month, there are some delicious offerings, including a few juicy psychological thrillers that'll have you feeling grateful for the extra hours of daylight and a highly anticipated follow-up that will be required reading for fans of a certain hit Netflix series starring Penn Badgley. You know who you are.
So go on, make yourself a cup of coffee or tea while you get lost in the pages of your next read after shopping physical copies of our picks, pulling them up on Kindle Unlimited or through a free trial of Audible, because technology.