Film Streams is devoting three October screenings at its Ruth Sokolof Theater to the promises and dangers of artificial intelligence, pairing each film with a post-screening discussion led by a different Omaha-area organization. The series opens Tuesday with a Sundance documentary on AI's roots in eugenics, moves to a newly restored sci-fi classic the following week, and closes with a hybrid documentary about an attempt to deepfake OpenAI's CEO.
Series Kicks Off With Sundance Documentary on AI's Hidden History
According to the Omaha World-Herald, filmmakers were exploring the possibilities and perils of artificial intelligence well before the topic became a fixture of public conversation, and Film Streams is now showing a series built around that work, with all three films paired with post-screening discussions involving local community organizations. The series opens Oct. 13 with the 2026 documentary Ghost in the Machine, which premiered at Sundance and traces how human biases, power structures, and eugenics shaped artificial intelligence long before the current tech boom, according to Film Streams' official schedule.
The opening night panel is being led by Bellevue University College of Business Director Rebecca Barnes, co-presented with the Free Speech Society, per the theater's schedule. Bellevue University is a private non-profit institution based in neighboring Bellevue, Nebraska.
Blade Runner's Final Cut Lands Alongside Creighton's AI Research
The series' second installment, on Oct. 20, screens Ridley Scott's 1982 landmark Blade Runner: The Final Cut, a dystopian vision centered on bioengineered androids called replicants. Film Streams describes it as a fascinating, dark vision of the future.
That screening's panel partner is Creighton University Libraries.
Closing Night Pairs a Sam Altman Deepfake With Nebraska's Only Black Newspaper
The series closes Oct. 27 with director Adam Bhala Lough's 2024 documentary Deepfaking Sam Altman, which follows his unsuccessful attempt to interview OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his trip to India to create an AI version of Altman, according to the International Documentary Association. The film raises questions about technology and its ethical implications.
Leading the final discussion is The Omaha Star. The paper is a fitting closing partner for a series built around asking who gets represented, and misrepresented, by emerging technology.
Tickets for the AI Series
The Ruth Sokolof Theater has long been a fixture of Omaha's film scene. Back in 2019, Hoodline named it Omaha's cinema, citing its 4.5-star rating across 48 Yelp reviews at the time. Tickets for the new AI series are available through Film Streams' website.
