The University of Michigan’s Privacy@Michigan organizes events to raise awareness, promote best practices, and provoke thought and conversation on privacy topics relevant to the university and society at large.

Privacy@Michigan is hosting a free screening of the 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 at the Michigan Theater on March 6, 2024 starting at 5:30 pm. Admission is free, and the screening is open to the general public. A panel discussion on privacy and cybersecurity issues, featuring U-M faculty, will accompany the screening.

This event is presented by Privacy@Michigan and is sponsored by U-M’s Information and Technology Services (ITS) and the University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI). The screening is also being presented in partnership with the Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor's beloved historic theater since 1928.

The Michigan Theater is located at 603 E Liberty St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Visit the theater website for more information.

Based on the classic George Orwell novel, director Michael Radford’s version of 1984 was released during the book’s titular year.

The Criterion Collection describes Radford’s 1984 as “The definitive film adaptation of George Orwell’s prophetic literary classic, starring John Hurt and Richard Burton. This masterly adaptation of George Orwell’s chilling parable about totalitarian oppression gives harrowing cinematic expression to the book’s prophetic dystopia. In a rubble-strewn surveillance state where an endless overseas war props up the repressive regime of the all-seeing Big Brother, and all dissent is promptly squashed, a profoundly alienated citizen, Winston Smith (thrillingly played by John Hurt), risks everything for an illicit affair with the rebellious Julia (Suzanna Hamilton), defiantly asserting his humanity in the face of soul-crushing conformity. Through vividly grim production design and expressionistically desaturated cinematography by Roger Deakins, Michael Radford’s 1984 conjures a bleak vision of postwar Britain as fascistic nightmare—a world all too recognizable as our own.”