Guided by his granddaughter, this film uncovers the mind behind the Information Age - a Black American genius history never expected to win
The Story
David H. Blackwell redefined how decisions are made when the future can’t be known in advance, teaching economists to reason under risk, strategists to choose without full information, and learning systems to improve over time.
A prodigy from segregated Illinois, Blackwell earned his Ph.D. at just 22. In 1954, the same year as Brown v. Board of Education, he became the first Black professor in the University of California system. With his wife, Ann Lizaabeth Blackwell, a classically trained pianist, he raised eight children while advancing a new mathematics of intelligence.
Working independently, Blackwell developed what would later be called dynamic programming and showed, mathematically, how machines could learn from experience, work that would go on to underpin machine learning and adaptive systems. At a time when many believed intelligence required programming every possible outcome in advance, he demonstrated that learning happens over time: through decisions, feedback, and revision as conditions change.
His ideas still run quietly beneath modern economics, computing, and artificial intelligence, shaping the future long before it had a name.
This is his story.
Film Structure
GAME of GENIUS weaves three interdependent arcs unfolding in parallel throughout the film:
DAVID BLACKWELL’S MATHEMATICAL WORKS
David H. Blackwell redefined how the world makes decisions in the face of the unknown and the consequential, developing mathematics that still governs how intelligent systems learn today.BLACKWELL’S NAVIGATION OF MID-CENTURY AMERICA
From Cold War strategy to segregated classrooms, Blackwell confronted the world's most consequential problems with unflinching clarity, forging frameworks that outlasted the era's constraints and the forces meant to contain him.LEZA BLACKWELL’S PRESENT-DAY INVESTIGATION
A journey to understand her grandfather's life and legacy, and to share it with the world, reframing the origin story of modern intelligence.
LISA’S INVESTIGATION
When a powerful AI platform is named “Blackwell” after her grandfather, Leza is… intrigued. The recognition lands with her circle of friends who are impressed, but something doesn’t add up. She thinks back to moments of acknowledgment, including his White House honor under Barack Obama, and realizes she cannot clearly explain what David H. Blackwell did, or why the world suddenly seems to care.
That dissonance becomes the engine of the film.
Leza asks questions. She listens carefully. And when the answers remain incomplete, she follows her grandfather’s advice: return to first principles and work it out.
Visual Style + Approach
BARRY JENKINS: Visual restraint, emotional depth
GORDON PARKS: Elegance and dignity in photography
STEPHEN HAWKING: A Scientific genius as personal stakes
ERROL MORRIS: Dramatic surprise
ALFRED HITCHCOCK: Mathematical suspense, quiet tension
VISUAL LANGUAGE
The film moves fluidly through time, blending archival footage, vérité moments, cinematic interviews, and stylized first-person reenactments. Expansive visuals echo the elegance of Blackwell's thinking; tighter, more intimate scenes reveal the emotional toll of erasure.
INTIMATE MOMENTS
In stylized reenactments, Blackwell's life unfolds in gestures both grand and intimate: blindfold chess with von Neumann, quiet piano sessions with Ann Madion—his Juilliard-trained wife, raising eight children against the backdrop of a divided nation, always choosing clarity over power.
Why This Story Matters Now
AI systems are reshaping the world—but whose values are embedded in their code?
As Congress debates AI regulation and tech giants reshape society, the question of whose ideas get remembered—and whose are erased—is more urgent than ever.
Blackwell's theories offer mathematical blueprints for fairness, adaptability, and responsibility.
In an age of erasure and accelerating automation, GAME of GENIUS corrects the record—and offers a human-centered vision for what comes next.
Join us in bringing this story to light.
We are building a film that rewrites history and reframes the future.
Every contribution—from major donors to individual supporters—brings us closer to ensuring David Blackwell's story reaches the audiences who need to hear it.
YOUR CONTRIBUTION HELPS US:
• Preserve and share David Blackwell's groundbreaking legacy
• Correct the historical record about AI's origins
• Inspire the next generation of diverse mathematicians and scientists
• Create educational resources for schools and universities
• Build a more inclusive narrative about American innovation
