Coded Bias(2020)
dir. Shalini Kantayya
A face-recognition system that cannot see her.
Where to watch: Free on Kanopy, Hoopla and Darkroom; rent $4.99 on Amazon and Apple TV (JustWatch US, Oct 2026)Letterboxd ↗
MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini discovers that a face-recognition system can't see her face unless she puts on a white mask. She follows the thread to police departments, landlords and schools that are using such systems, and to the activists in London and New York who are pushing back. It's a documentary about who gets watched and who gets judged by software.
Why it’s here
The film shows how algorithms inherit the prejudice of the people who built them, and who gets hurt first. What's punk is that a graduate student's anomaly turns into a campaign against the tech industry. What's pedagogical is how clearly it explains training data and error rates to a general audience. Pairs with Deep Unlearning, Automating Inequality and Your Face Belongs to Us.
Where This Film Lives
Read Alongside
Books that share a topic, theme, or setting with this film.
Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
Cathy O'Neil
The algorithms deciding your life are not neutral.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Player Piano
Kurt Vonnegut
Machines took the jobs. Then they took the point.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Stella by Starlight
Sharon M. Draper
A girl, her notebook, and a burning cross.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and Its Solutions
Jason Hickel
Rich countries 'aid' poor ones. Check the ledger.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
The Looting Machine: Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa's Wealth
Tom Burgis
Who really profits from Africa's resources.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
1984
George Orwell
Big Brother still watching your feed.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
A is for Activist
Innosanto Nagara
The ABCs of raising hell.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Anger Is a Gift
Mark Oshiro
The anger you've been told to put down.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST