Denis Newiak

Dead phones, chaos in hospitals, looming nuclear meltdowns: For years, experts all over the world have been warning of a widespread power blackout—and the devastating consequences for society as a whole. However, just as before the Covid-19 pandemic, politicians and the public are hardly aware of the far-reaching risks: A blackout would catch us almost completely unprepared. As for other (supposedly improbable) disruptive events, disaster movies and sci-fi series have long shown what would happen if modern society were to lose its lifeblood. Denis Newiak looks into those filmic fictions for answers to pressing questions: How can we prepare ourselves for the dramatic consequences of such a crisis? And can the collapse of modernity still be stopped?

Denis Newiak, born 1988 in Potsdam, studied European Media Studies at the University of Potsdam and Film Studies at the Free University of Berlin. He completed his doctorate at the BTU Cottbus, Germany, on expressions of loneliness in film and TV. He completed several extended research stays at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. In addition to journalism and media theory, he teaches management and leadership techniques at several universities. He works as a coach for communication, team leadership, and project management, is a volunteer paramedic with the “German Life Saving Association” (DLRG) and is a licensed sports trainer for ballroom dancing.