Hackers
Calling all phone phreaks, cyber-activists, and UNIX obsessives! Iain Softley’s pop–cult classic is an energetic entry from the early days of the commercial Internet featuring a ragtag crew of teenage technophiles.
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Academy Museum of Motion Pictures - Timeline
Calling all phone phreaks, cyber-activists, and UNIX obsessives! Iain Softley’s pop–cult classic is an energetic entry from the early days of the commercial Internet featuring a ragtag crew of teenage technophiles. Led by Dade “Crash Override” Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller) and Kate “Acid Burn” Libby (Angelina Jolie), the virtual virtuosos channel their programming prowess into averting an environmental disaster. Featuring a diverse cast clad in eclectic fashion heavily influenced by post-punk and post-apocalyptic aesthetics, Hackers is a candy-colored anticipation of the cutting edge of counterculture, one in which the phrase "Hack the planet!" represents a rallying cry for subversive rebellion.

This screening precedes the museum’s forthcoming exhibition, Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema, which is among more than sixty exhibitions and programs presented as part of PST ART. Returning in September 2024 with its latest edition, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, this landmark regional event explores the intersections of art and science, both past and present. PST ART is presented by Getty.

For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, please visit pst.art.

Programmed and note by K.J. Relth-Miller.

DIRECTED BY: Iain Softley. WRITTEN BY: Rafael Moreu. WITH: Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Jesse Bradford, Matthew Lillard. 1995. 105 min. USA. Color. English, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Russian. Rated PG-13. 35mm.

Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.

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