Synthetic Pleasures
Synthetic Pleasures
Synthetic Pleasures
Watch Movie
1995
1h 25m
4.5(6 votes)
Documentary

Overview

Conceived as an electronic road movie, this documentary investigates cutting edge technologies and their influence on our culture as we approach the 21st century. It takes off from the idea that mankind's effort to tap the power of Nature has been so successful that a new world is suddenly emerging,an artificial reality. Virtual Reality, digital and biotechnology, plastic surgery and mood-altering drugs promise seemingly unlimited powers to our bodies, and our selves. This film presents the implications of having access to such power as we all scramble to inhabit our latest science fictions.

Links & Resources

IMDbView

Social & External

IMDb

Production Companies

Cast & Crew

46 members
Acting

John Perry Barlow

Self

No Image
Acting

Jeff Baxter

Self

No Image
Acting

Scott Bukatman

Self

No Image
Acting

Scott Frazier

Self

No Image
Acting

Robert Gurland

Self

No Image
Acting

Michio Kaku

Self

Michio Kaku
Acting

Jaron Lanier

Self

Jaron Lanier
Acting

Timothy Leary

Self

Timothy Leary
Acting

Max More

Self

No Image
Directing

Orlan

Self

Orlan
Acting

Lisa Palac

Self

No Image
Acting

Ed Regis

Self

No Image
Acting

Howard Rheingold

Self

No Image
Acting

R.U. Sirius

Self

No Image
Acting

Tammy Baker

Self

No Image
Acting

Desmond Crisis

Self

No Image
Acting

John Cox

Self

No Image
Acting

Dr. Marjorie Cramer

Self

No Image
Acting

Astro Erle

Self

No Image
Acting

Robert Ettinger

Self

No Image
Acting

Mae Ettinger

Self

No Image
Acting

Teena Evans

Self

No Image
Acting

Albert Geiser

Self

No Image
Acting

Amanda Lepore

Self

No Image
Art

Manon Thomas

Self

Manon Thomas
Acting

Desi Monster

Self

No Image
Acting

Armen Ra

Self

Armen Ra
Acting

Mike Rehdish

Self

No Image
Acting

Charlotte Richards

Self

No Image
Acting

Steve Roberts

Self

No Image
Acting

Carlos Slinger

Self

No Image
Acting

Cheryl Spaulding

Self

No Image
Acting

Delmar Thompson

Self

No Image
Acting

David Abbott

Self

No Image
Sound

Antonio L. Arroyo

Self

No Image
Acting

Rebecca Forman

Self

No Image
Acting

Donna Kirkestue

Self

No Image
Acting

Terry Newman

Self

No Image
Acting

Carol Newman

Self

No Image
Acting

Joseph Liad

Self

No Image
Acting

Miles, the Beagle

Self

No Image
Acting

Margarita Ochoa

Self

No Image
Acting

Merle Richards

Self

No Image
Acting

Bradley Storm

Self

No Image
Acting

Isabel Yellin

Self

No Image
Acting

Yamel M. Haynes

Self

No Image

Similar Movies

Awake: The Life of Yogananda
6.8
2014

Awake: The Life of Yogananda

An unconventional biography by Oscar nominee Paola di Florio and Sundance winner Lisa Leeman about Hindu mystic Paramahansa Yogananda who brought yoga and meditation to the West in 1920 and authored the spiritual classic "Autobiography of a Yogi," which became the go-to book for seekers from George Harrison to Steve Jobs.

Movie
The Future of Food
7.5
2004

The Future of Food

Before compiling your next grocery list, you might want to watch filmmaker Deborah Koons Garcia's eye-opening documentary, which sheds light on a shadowy relationship between agriculture, big business and government. By examining the effects of biotechnology on the nation's smallest farmers, the film reveals the unappetizing truth about genetically modified foods: You could unknowingly be serving them for dinner.

Movie
The Dream Is Alive
7.5
1985

The Dream Is Alive

The Dream Is Alive takes you into space alongside the astronauts on the space shuttle. Share with them the delights of zero gravity while working, eating and sleeping in orbit around the Earth. Float as never before over the towering Andes, the boot of Italy, Egypt and the Nile. Witness firsthand a tension-filled satellite capture and repair and the historic first spacewalk by an American woman.

Movie
Lunar Almanac
5.0
2013

Lunar Almanac

Moons in a journey through magnetic spheres, influencing subtle energies on Earth. A silent film with a hypnotic intensity.

Movie
Earth: The Power of the Planet
8.0
2007

Earth: The Power of the Planet

Dr Iain Stewart tells the story of how Earth works and how, over the course of 4.6 billion years, it came to be the remarkable place it is today.

Movie
How To Smell A Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock at his Farm in Normandy
4.8
2014

How To Smell A Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock at his Farm in Normandy

In the year 2000, Les Blank, along with co-filmmaker Gina Leibrecht, visited Richard Leacock (1921-2011) at his farm in Normandy, France and recorded conversations with him about his life, his work, and his other passion: cooking! With the flair of a seasoned raconteur, Leacock recounts key moments in his seventy years as a filmmaker and the innovations that he, D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles and others invented that revolutionized documentary filmmaking, and explores the mystery of creativity. With the passing of both Blank and Leacock, the documentary is a moving insight into the lives of two seminal figures in the history of film.

Movie
Nothing to Hide
6.9
2017

Nothing to Hide

NOTHING TO HIDE is an independent documentary dealing with surveillance and its acceptance by the general public through the "I have nothing to hide" argument. The documentary was produced and directed by a pair of Berlin-based journalists, Mihaela Gladovic and Marc Meillassoux. It was crowdfunded by over 400 backers. NOTHING TO HIDE questions the growing, puzzling and passive public acceptance of massive corporate and governmental incursions into individual and group privacy and rights. After the emotion initially triggered by the Snowden revelations, it seems that the general public has finally accepted to live in a monitored digital world.

Movie
Place of Work
9.0
1976

Place of Work

Margaret Tait documents her house, studio and garden in Buttquoy, Orkney as the seasons pass. She had lived there from the age of seven and often returned. At the time of filming, the house was about to be taken back by the council - this film is an effective 'goodbye'. Margaret Tait said it 'was meant to define a place, or the feeling of being in one place, with the sense this gives one, not of restriction but of the infinite variations available.'

Movie
Elie Wiesel Goes Home
1997

Elie Wiesel Goes Home

A documentary chronicling the adolescent years of Elie Wiesel and the history of his sufferings. Eliezer was fifteen when Fascism brutally altered his life forever. Fifty years later, he returns to Sighetu Marmatiei, the town where he was born, to walk the painful road of remembrance - but is it possible to speak of the unspeakable? Or does Auschwitz lie beyond the capacity of any human language - the place where words and stories run out?

Movie
Kreator - Hate & Hope
2025

Kreator - Hate & Hope

From a school band from Essen to an internationally celebrated thrash metal legend: To mark Kreator's 40th anniversary in 2024, frontman Mille Petrozza plans to re-record his greatest hits at the famous Hansa Studios in Berlin together with greats from the metal scene such as Metallica, Sepultura, Slayer, Anthrax and many more. With exclusive private archive material, the story of Kreator is told for the first time.

Movie
Blindsight
6.8
2006

Blindsight

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

Movie
Shameless: The Art of Disability
3.0
2006

Shameless: The Art of Disability

Art, activism and disability are the starting point for what unfolds as a funny and intimate portrait of five surprising individuals. Director Bonnie Sherr Klein (Not a Love Story, and Speaking Our Peace) has been a pioneer of women's cinema and an inspiration to a generation of filmmakers around the world. SHAMELESS: the ART of Disability marks Klein's return to a career interrupted by a catastrophic stroke in 1987. Always the activist, she now turns the lens on the world of disability culture, and ultimately, the transformative power of art.

Movie
Koyaanisqatsi
7.9
1983

Koyaanisqatsi

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

Movie
Uncle Yanco
7.2
1967

Uncle Yanco

While in San Francisco for the promotion of her last film in October 1967, Agnès Varda, tipped by her friend Tom Luddy, gets to know a relative she had never heard of before, Jean Varda, nicknamed "Yanco". This hitherto unknown uncle lives on a boat in Sausalito, is a painter, has adopted a hippie lifestyle and loves life. The meeting is a very happy one.

Movie
Pat XO
8.0
2013

Pat XO

This documentary profiles the life and career of Pat Summitt, the NCAA's winningest basketball coach, who resigned from her post at the University of Tennessee in 2012 due to early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Movie
I Have Tourette's But Tourette's Doesn't Have Me
7.2
2005

I Have Tourette's But Tourette's Doesn't Have Me

This insightful Home Box Office documentary profiles some American children afflicted with Tourette's syndrome -- a hereditary neurological disorder manifested by recurrent, involuntary vocal and motor tics. More than a dozen youngsters ranging from ages 6 to 13 discuss the stigma of Tourette's, what it's like to grow up with the condition, control measures and the challenges they face to be viewed as normal.

Movie
Summer of Love
2018

Summer of Love

American Experience presents Summer of Love, a striking picture of San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district during the summer of 1967 -- from the utopian beginnings, when peace and love prevailed, to the chaos, unsanitary conditions, and widespread drug use that ultimately signaled the end. Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco (Daughter from Danang) examine the social and cultural forces that sparked the largest migration of young people in America's history.

Movie
The Truth Is in the Stars
7.1
2017

The Truth Is in the Stars

William Shatner sits down with scientists, innovators and celebrities to discuss how the optimism of 'Star Trek' influenced multiple generations.

Movie
Out in the Night
4.5
2014

Out in the Night

Under the neon lights in a gay-friendly neighborhood of New York City, four young African-American lesbians are violently and sexually threatened by a man on the street. They defend themselves against him and are charged and convicted in the courts and in the media as a 'Gang of Killer Lesbians'.

Movie
-22.7°C The Far North Musical Experience
6.0
2019

-22.7°C The Far North Musical Experience

The music producer Molécule stayed in a village in Greeland, where he recorded the sounds of the Artic to compose music. The viewer follows Molécule in his adventure in the extreme North, in a sensorial and musical immersion.

Movie

Recommended Movies

Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale
7.3
2010

Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale

Barbie, a popular actress on a sabbatical, learns that her fashion designer aunt Millicent has sold her business to a rival. With the help of a few magical beings, Barbie steps in to save the day.

Movie
Barbie Presents: Thumbelina
6.6
2009

Barbie Presents: Thumbelina

Meet a tiny girl named Thumbelina who lives in harmony with nature in the magical world of the Twillerbees that's hidden among the wildflowers. At the whim of a spoiled young girl named Makena, Thumbelina and her two friends have their patch of wildflowers uprooted and are transported to a lavish apartment in the city.

Movie
Barbie: A Fairy Secret
6.9
2011

Barbie: A Fairy Secret

Barbie realises that fairies secretly surround everybody. She, along with the help of her friends, Taylor and Carrie, sets out to rescue Ken. He is taken to the secret fairy city, Gloss Angeles.

Movie
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
6.5
2012

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2

After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi.

Movie
Barbie and the Three Musketeers
7.3
2009

Barbie and the Three Musketeers

Corinne is a young country girl who heads to Paris to pursue her big dream – to become a female musketeer! Never could she imagine she would meet three other girls who secretly share the same dream! Using their special talents, the girls work together as a team to foil a plot and save the prince. It's all for one and one for all!

Movie
Barbie: The Princess & the Popstar
7.2
2012

Barbie: The Princess & the Popstar

Tori is a blonde princess who is bored of living her royal life, and has dreams of becoming a popstar. Keira, on the other hand, is a brunette popstar who dreams of being a princess. When the two meet, they magically trade places, but after realising it is best to be themselves.

Movie
Avatar: Scene Deconstruction
6.5
2009

Avatar: Scene Deconstruction

The deconstruction of the Avatar scenes and sets

Movie
Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20
7.1
2022

Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20

An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.

Movie
Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2
7.0
2012

Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2

Merliah Summers, a mermaid from Oceana, travels to Australia for a surfing competition. But when she learns that the evil Eris is planning to take over her kingdom, she must stop her at any cost.

Movie
Capturing Avatar
7.0
2010

Capturing Avatar

Capturing Avatar is a feature length behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Avatar. It uses footage from the film's development, as well as stock footage from as far back as the production of Titanic in 1995. Also included are numerous interviews with cast, artists, and other crew members. The documentary was released as a bonus feature on the extended collector's edition of Avatar.

Movie
Barbie Mariposa
6.8
2008

Barbie Mariposa

Elina, heroine of the Fairytopia films tells her friend Bibble the story of Flutterfield, a faraway kingdom populated by fairies with butterfly wings. Henna, the evil butterfly fairy has poisoned the queen of Flutterfield in an attempt to take over the kingdom.

Movie
Barbie as the Island Princess
7.3
2007

Barbie as the Island Princess

Young Rosella is saved by a few kind animals after a shipwreck. Now called Ro, she learns to talk to animals. One day, she saves the life of a prince and returns to civilisation to discover her past.

Movie
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
6.2
2011

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1

Bella Swan and Edward Cullen's honeymoon phase is abruptly disrupted by betrayals and unforeseen tragedies that endanger their world.

Movie
My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie
6.8
2005

My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie

Barbie and her friends stumble onto a movie set and get cast as extras. But their friendship is tested when one of the girls makes a quick rise to stardom.

Movie
The King's Avatar: For the Glory
6.4
2019

The King's Avatar: For the Glory

In this prequel to the animated series The King's Avatar, Ye Xiu enters into the pro gaming world of Glory, and competes in the first Pro League series tournament.

Movie
Batman Returns
6.9
1992

Batman Returns

The monstrous Penguin, who dwells in the sewers beneath Gotham, joins up with corrupt mayoral candidate Max Shreck to topple the Batman once and for all. But when Shreck's timid assistant Selina Kyle finds out, and Shreck tries to kill her, she's transformed into the sexy Catwoman. She teams up with the Penguin and Shreck to destroy Batman, but sparks fly unexpectedly when she confronts the caped crusader.

Movie
The Party 2
6.4
1982

The Party 2

A young French teenage girl after moving to a new city falls in love with a boy and is thinking of having sex with him because her girlfriends have already done it.

Movie
The Botanical Avatar of Mademoiselle Flora
5.5
1965

The Botanical Avatar of Mademoiselle Flora

A young woman lives sadly in a small garrison town with a soldier. Little by little, won over by boredom, sadness, total inaction, she develops a relationship with plants and starts talking to plants.

Movie
Paranormal Activity 4
5.4
2012

Paranormal Activity 4

It has been five years since the disappearance of Katie and Hunter, and a suburban family witness strange events in their neighborhood when a woman and a mysterious child move in.

Movie
Ghoulies II
5.5
1987

Ghoulies II

Ghoulies II picks up a short time after the first movie, a few of the little nasties stow away on an amusement park ride and bring big bucks to a dying fair. The creatures are mad after an attempt to kill them, so the creatures go on a rampage through the fairgrounds, ultimately leading to an explosive conclusion!

Movie