The South by Southwest festival of tech, arts and music features lively debates over the benefits, and risks, or artificial intelligence. Which made it a good setting for the North American debut of Ex Machina, a movie about a tech CEO creating a conscious female robot.

In the film, a young programmer at a Google -like company named BlueBook wins a lottery to spend a week living and working alongside its reclusive CEO, Nathan, on a secret project. The CEO introduces the programmer, Caleb, to Ava, a self-aware, sentient cyborg. Tensions among the three rise as the programmer befriends Ava while evaluating her human-like qualities.

Writer and director Alex Garland said he wants audiences to feel conflicted between Ava and her human friends and creator.

But Garlands sympathies are clear. Im 100% for the robots, he said during a Q&A session after the Saturday night screening. I am very sort of suspicious and worried about people. I dont feel that way about robots. I think they might more reasonable than we are.

Ex Machina, which hits U.S. theaters on April 10, is Garland first film as a director. Hes best known for writing independent films such as 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Never Let Me Go.

Garland said he chose to make the film because of what he views as misplaced fears about technology, particularly artificial intelligence.

We dont really understand how these things work, so thats strange, but they seem to know how we work, Garland said of search engines and social networks. They can anticipate things about us. They know more about us than we know about them. And that makes us feel scared.

There was no fear at the screening, which brought laughter and applause from a packed house at the Paramount Theatres 1,100-seat auditorium. Jarrod Neece, SXSW Films senior programmer, said Ex Machina might be the best film ever played at the festival.

In a Sunday interview with The Journal, the filmmaker said he doesnt want to perpetuate doomsday scenarios and fears of artificial intelligence. Garland also said he feels like its only a matter of time before truly self-aware and conscious artificial intelligence is created.

Sentient artificial intelligence feels as inevitable as a cure for cancer, he said. Broadly speaking, if and when we can do something, someone somewhere does it.

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