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Blackout

4 minutes

What happens when the power goes off. Or, how to enjoy a blackout

‘The most ordinary things became kind of extraordinary.’

In the most widespread power outage in the history of North America, the Northeast blackout of 2003 left some 50 million people without power over two days. Combining several distinct animation styles, this short documentary chronicles the eerie, otherworldly and exuberant stories of those who experienced the blackout while living in Toronto, hinting that, if society were to collapse, at the very least there might be live music and a few days’ worth of free beer.

Director: Sharron Mirsky

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Support Aeon

Become a Friend for $5 a month or Make a one-off donation

Become a Friend of Aeon or Make a donation

Aeon is a registered charity committed to the spread of knowledge. Our mission is to create a sanctuary online for serious thinking.
But we can’t do it without you.

Aeon is a registered charity committed to the spread of knowledge and a cosmopolitan worldview.
But we can’t do it without you.
Essay/
Future of Technology
Fuelling the future

Fantasies about new power sources for human ambitions go back a century or more. Could these past visions energise our own future?

Iwan Rhys Morus

Essay/
Future of Technology
Algorithmic wilderness

Robo-bees and drone-seeded forests: can technology mend our broken relationship with the natural world?

Henry Mance