Born in the heart of heavy stars, cobalt mineral is extracted and joins a rising chorus of resistance against dehumanisation in this hybrid AI documentary.

On the edge of a mine, a community is forcibly relocated. A convoy of trucks carry a country’s wealth swiftly across the border to be processed and assembled in distant factories. The Rocks Speaks traces the rock’s parallel journey - through a history of colonialism, segregation and extractivism - which laid the template for the building of computational power, and the deployment of artificial intelligence to prospect for further mineral reserves, amass data, police borders and survey the worker’s smallest gesture. Each hand through which the rock passes as it is dug, washed, sorted, transported, processed and assembled contributes to building an intelligence that cannot be called artificial: the chorus of voices swells to a refrain of collective resistance.

This film will screen as part of Shorts: Resistance. Please click on a showing below to see when this programme screens throughout the festival.