Conceiving Ada. 1997. USA. Directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson. Screenplay by Hershman Leeson, Eileen Jones. With Tilda Swinton, Francesca Faridany, Emmy Coer, Timothy Leary, Karen Black. 35mm. 85 min.
As a computer scientist researches artificial life and the possibility of connecting with the past via her genetic code, she time-travels to the 19th century and communicates with her idol, Ada Lovelace: mathematical genius, daughter of poet Lord Byron, and, most importantly, author of the first computer algorithm—a major, yet under-recognized figure in the birth of programming language. This remarkably original biopic—for which Lynn Hershman Leeson invented the use of virtual sets with blue screens, to which Victorian rooms were added in post-production—looks at Lovelace’s extraordinary life (as portrayed by Tilda Swinton) and the striking similarities between two women from different eras, both trying to prove their worth against male supremacy and express their intellectual and sexual freedom.