The Immortalists

It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychi... (more)

It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children--four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness--sneak out to hear their fortunes. Their prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11, hoping to control fate; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality. The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds. (less)

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It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychi... (more)

It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children -- four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness -- sneak out to hear their fortunes. Their prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco. Dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy. Eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11, hoping to control fate. Bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality. The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds. (less)

The Immortalists follows two biomedical scientists seeking to radically extend human longevity through regenerative medi... (more)

The Immortalists follows two biomedical scientists seeking to radically extend human longevity through regenerative medicine. But not without controversy and concern. Bill Andrews is a molecular biologist and famed long-distance runner now racing against the ultimate clock. Hundreds of years from now, we're going to look back and be shocked by this horrible world we used to live in where people get old and die, says Andrews. Aubrey de Grey is one of the most famous figures in anti-aging research, a theoretical biologist. He believes the first person who could live to be 1,000 is alive today. Andrews and de Grey differ in style and approach, but are united in their common crusade: to cure aging or die trying. De Grey proposes an intervention that would delete the telomerase gene in the body. Andrew's research is fundamentally the opposite - he is trying to trigger the gene in cells to produce telomerase. They both publicly disagree with other biologists who believe that curing aging is neither possible nor desirable. In an Oxford debate, de Grey spars with British neurobiologist Colin Blakemore over the basic scientific and ethical questions. As Andrews and de Grey battle their own aging and suffer the loss of loved ones, their journeys toward life without end ultimately become personal. The Immortalists raises fundamental questions beyond whether eternal life is possible. How would being 'forever young' alter the human condition and our world? (less)