DIGITAL TSUNAMI
BIG TECH BIG A.I. BIG BROTHER
A Film By FRED PEABODY
Executive Producers
PETER RAYMONT - FRED PEABODY
HANS ROBERT EISENHAUER -
STEVE ORD - JEFF COHEN
Producer
STEPHEN PANICCIA
WORLD PREMIERE
Presented by Rotman Documentary Insights
Innis Town Hall Theatre
April 29 2025 at 6:30 PM
Q&A with filmmakers following the film
Post-screening panelist on June 6th:
Fred Peabody, Emmy-winning Direct/Co-Producer, Phillip Martin, Investigative Journalist, WGBH, John Ralston Saul, Philosopher/Author
Moderator: Susan Ormiston, CBC Journalist/Foreign Correspondent
SYNOPSIS
We are engulfed in a digital tsunami -- a toxic mix of artificial intelligence, state and corporate surveillance and social media addiction controlled by powerful algorithms. DIGITAL TSUNAMI shows how these are all part of a digital ecosystem that is changing us as humans -- just as the prophetic media guru Marshall McLuhan predicted 60 years ago.
featuring
PHILIP MARTIN, Senior Investigative Reporter, GBH Public Radio
RONALD DEIBERT, Founder of the University of Toronto’s renowned internet watchdog group Citizen Lab, and author of RESET: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society
ZEPHYR TEACHOUT, Author of Break ‘Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big AG, Big Tech, and Big Money. Law Professor, Fordham University
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, Author of Team Human, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, and Screenagers. Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at Queens College in New York
PAOLO GRANATA, Associate Professor, University of Toronto
EMMA DUERDEN, Neuroscientist, Western University
SHERRY TURKLE, Author of Reclaiming Conversation and The Power of Talk in A Digital Age. Professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT
YOSHUA BENGIO, Scientific Director, MILA, Montreal, one of 3 “Godfathers of AI” who warns that generative AI could become an existential threat to humanity.
DARON ACEMOGLU, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics
GOLNOOSH FARNADI, Professor, McGill University
ALONZO SAWYER, Victim of facial recognition software
LANCE STRATE, Author of Media Ecology: An Approach to Understanding the Human Condition. Fordham University, Author, Media Ecology
HANAN ELATR, Widow of Jamal Khashoggi
SCOTT SHANE, Former Reporter, The New York Times
JAMES COHEN, Assistant Professor, Queens College/CUNY
SCOTT MYERS-LIPTON, Professor Emeritus, San José State University
JOHN RALSTON SAUL, Author and Philosopher
ANDREW MCLUHAN, Director, The McLuhan Institute, Marshall McLuhan’s Grandson
RO KHANNA, US Congressman
Running Time: 90 mins
Year: 2025
After making ALL GOVERNMENTS LIE and THE CORPORATE COUP D’ÉTAT, I wanted my next film to be about the growing digital dystopia that is engulfing all of us. DIGITAL TSUNAMI is the film I came up with, and I believe it can make a difference.
Like THE CORPORATE COUP D’ÉTAT and ALL GOVERNMENTS LIE, it documents injustice and societal harm being overlooked or underestimated because people are not seeing the big picture and historical context. It completes a trilogy of films bringing critical thought to crucial problems faced by society. Many of us are aware that if we don’t fix our planet’s natural, physical ecology, we’re doomed. Fewer people realize that if we don’t fix our planet’s “media ecology” we may also be doomed. The good news is, we don’t have to be doomed. We can fix things.
As I began researching this project, I was surprised to find that the famed “media guru” Marshall McLuhan had warned of these problems back in the sixties, even though the press inaccurately portrayed him as a cheerleader for the electronic/digital revolution.
If McLuhan were alive today, I think he’d say exactly what he said in 1966: “The only alternative is to understand everything that’s going on, and then counter and neutralize it as much as possible, turn off as many buttons as you can, and frustrate them as much as you can...I don’t choose to just sit and let the juggernaut roll over me.”
Fred Peabody
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Written and Directed By FRED PEABODY
Producer STEPHEN PANICCIA
Executive Producers PETER RAYMONT, FRED PEABODY, HANS ROBERT EISENHAUER, STEVE ORD, JEFF COHEN
Cinematographer ANDY HOURAHINE
Additional Cinematography JOHN WESTHEUSER
Editor ANIA SMOLENSKAIA
Music Composition MICHELLE OSIS, TERRY BENN
Story Producer/Researcher ROBIN WAITE
Archival/Visual Researcher CONNIE LITTLEFIELD
Unit Managers CONNIE LITTLEFIELD, TARA BOIRE
Production Manager RAVELLE THOMAS
Production Coordinator RUTH PINDILLI
Camera Operator BLAIR JOHANNES, JACK HOURAHINE
Sound Recording SANJAY MEHTA, ANTOINETTE TOMLINSON, BUCK ST. THOMAS, SUSAN BRYANT, KEVIN CRAWFORD, MIKE FILIPPOV, PAOLO DI TEODORO
Makeup Artist DANIELLE MINNELLA
Production Assistant MATTHEW STAZZONE, COLYN ROLLE, JONATHAN BEATON, GIUSEPPE CALVINISTI, CHANDER SANDHU, AYANNA SHARIF
Production Accountant ARIEL CLARK
Post Production Supervisor KEVIN SHAK
Additional Editing LEE WALKER, VITOLD VIDIC
Animation and Design AARON POZZER
Assistant Editors KEVIN SHAK, LIZ STEMBRIDGE
Video Post-production WHITE PINE PICTURES
Colourist MARK DRIVER
Transcription DEVON SEARLE
Sound Editor PAOLO DI TEODORO
CREDITS
World Premiere
Rotman Documentary Insights
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
6:00 p.m. - Doors open
6:30 p.m. - Film Screening
8:00 p.m. - Panel discussion with filmmakers and moderated audience Q&A
8:30 p.m. - Reception in the lobby with light refreshments
University of Toronto
Innis Town Hall Theatre
2 Sussex Avenue
Toronto, ON M5S 1J5
SCREENINGS
Hot Docs Theatre, 506 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Friday, June 6, 2025
6:00 p.m. - Film Screening
8:00 p.m. - Panel discussion with:
Fred Peabody, Emmy-winning Director/Co-Producer
Phillip Martin, Investigative Journalist, WGBH
John Ralston Saul, Philosopher, Author
Moderator: Susan Ormiston, CBC Journalist/Foreign Correspondent
Saturday, June 7, 2025
6:00 p.m. - Film Screening