The film The Congress follows aging actress Robin Wright who is offered a final contract by Miramount Studios that will digitally scan her to create an animated version that can be used however they want. 20 years later in an animated city, Robin is offered a new contract but has a change of heart about losing her identity. She is declared mentally ill and frozen, awakening many years later in a world where everyone escapes to fantasy. Robin tries to find her blind and deaf son but he has also escaped to the fantasy world, so Robin chooses to stay in the animated world while still living in reality.

1. Dystopia: The Congress
Reece B., Krystal H., Thi N. & Nele A.
“If tomorrow we could end disease but it meant the end of motion pictures, who
would give up fantasy for reality?”

2. Overview
★ Introduction
★ What is Dystopia?
★ Film Summary
★ Culture
★ Origin
★ Casting Call
★ Technique
★ Theme Unfolds
★ Video Clip
★ Credits

3. Introduction
★ The Congress is a 2013 French-Israeli live-action/animation science fiction drama
written and directed by Ari Folman, adapted from Stanislaw Lem’s 1971 novel
The Futurological Congress.
★ Roger Ebert said this about the Film “Folman knows that without motion pictures,
so many lives would be upended. Directors, crew members, actors and critics and
thousands more besides who have found their lives' true calling depend on the
success of the industry. If tomorrow we could end disease but it meant the end of
motion pictures, who would give up fantasy for reality? That is the terrifying core
of "The Congress."

4. What is dystopia?
★ opposite of Utopia - a place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws,
customs, and conditions
★ Dystopia - “an imagined world in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society
are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias,
through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or
political system”
★ In other words it’s an imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from
deprivation, oppression, or terror.
★ The Congress is a dystopian movie
○ → Protagonists life is extremely bad. She feels trapped and is struggling to escape. She questions
the existing social and political system and believes or feels that something is terribly wrong with
the society in which she lives in.
○ → Illusion of perfect society is maintained when looking at the New York city part in the second
part of the movie

5. The Congress (Summary)
★ The film starts off in 2013 with Robin Wright who is a down on her luck actress
that struggles with her family life as her son’s rare disease continues to affect his
hearing and eyesight.
★ Miramount Studios makes her one final offer. But there is a catch; she can
never act again on any stage anywhere in the world for the rest of eternity.
She will be scanned for all her emotions, from fear and sorrow to laughter
and happiness. Miramount will then take this info and use it to create a digital
image of Robin that they can use however they want, whenever they want.
Robin reluctantly agrees to a 20-year contract and Miramount agrees to keep
her young, roughly 34, in all of her movies.

6. Summary Con.
★ 20 years later Robin gets an invitation to Abrahama, an animated city constructed
by Miramount Nagasaki, to speak as a special guest speaker and to renew her
contract.
★ Miramount Nagasaki declares the next stage in the chemical evolution: free
choice! From now on, every user can create movies in his own imagination. They
can have Hollywood actors star in their own envisioned family memories or
become a character in a movie with your favorite actor. Robin is offered a new
contract for her chemical image. Anyone can become Robin, or star Robin in
whatever fantasy they can envision.

7. Summary Con.
★ During her speech to the assembled fans, she has a change of heart and argues the
importance of personal image
★ Doctors think that she needs to be cured of a mental illness so they freeze her until
they can find a cure
★ Many years later, Robin awakes in a world totally dominated by the chemical
agent, where everyone can escape the horrors of the real world and become
whatever they want and do whatever they want.
★ Robin leaves the animated world to find her son, only to find out that he is
completely blind and deaf and has succumb to the world of Chems
★ Robin returns to the animated world to enjoy the memories she has left

8. Would You Sign?
Robin is offered the deal of her life.
Is it worth it?

9. Culture
★ Within the film we see a world that is much like our own but soon becomes one
that we cannot imagine.
★ this world is filled with chaos and dysfunction, with chems letting you be whoever
you want to be. You're able to leave reality for fantasy

10. Origin
★ Folman decided during film school that he wanted to do
something cinematic with Lem’s novel The Futurological
Congress
★ It took him a whole year to write the script and he says “I
went far away from the original text, but always came
back to it when getting lost during the writing process.”
★ Folman also states “I think the spirit of the novel is a huge
part of the final picture and for sure, it is very present in
the animated section.”
Stanislaw Lem

11. Robin Wright (Robin Wright): protagonist, aging
actress with a reputation for being fickle and unreliable
Aaron Wright (Kodi Smit-McPhee): Robins son, suffers from Usher syndrome
that is slowly destroying his sight and hearing , created a new
identity for himself in the animated world
Sarah Wright (Sami Gayle): Robins daughter
Casting Call - The Wright’s

12. Casting Call- Other Players
Dr. Baker (Paul Giamatti): Aarons doctor,
because of him
Robin is barely able to stave off the worst effects of her son's decline
Dylan Truliner (Jon Hamm): protects Robin when the congress is attacked by
rebels ideologically opposed to the technology, then captured by "Miramount
Police". Once was Miramount's lead animator, falls in love with Robin

13. Casting Call-Other’s Con.
Al (Harvey Keitel): Robin’s Manger and friend. He helps Robin to go threw with the Scanning.
Jeff (Danny Huston): Miramount Studios rep. that convinces
Robin to give up acting and be scanned for his purposes

14. Technique
★ Animated part (homepage): The animated part is a tribute to the great Fleischer
Brothers‘ work from the 30‘s. It‘s hand drawn, made in 8 different countries and
took two and a half years to create 55 minutes of animation.

15. Theme Unfolds
★ the theme throughout the film is one of dystopia. the story of Robin Wright is
faced with is
★ “If tomorrow we could end disease but it meant the end of motion pictures, who
would give up fantasy for reality?”
★ in the end Robin’s world is that of fantasy though she chooses to live in the
fantasy world but be in reality
★ She does this by not using the Chems but still living in the animated world

16. Video Clip
Watch Robin leave the animated
world and emerge into reality.

17. Credits
★ Krystal H.-PowerPoint, Video Clip
★ Reece B.- Discussion questions, summary
★ Thi N.-Characterization, Discussion Questions
★ Nele A- PowerPoint Startup, Dystopia, Origin