In the near future, artificial intelligence is part of our livelihood, in human form, as caretakers and even lovers. But what happens when they start to break down? A programmer named John, attempts to repair his android girlfriend, but when she gets worse, he looks for answers in the black market. What he finds is a disturbing truth.

Director's Statement

At the time I started writing this story, there was a Japanese commercial I saw about a product called Gatebox by Vinclu – which is basically a holographic version of Amazon’s Alexa. The commercial starts with a lonely, young man who is greeted good morning by a hologram anime character. As he prepares to go to work she keeps him company. At work she continues to encourage him with text messages throughout and until the end of the day, when he is excited to return home to Gatebox. From the street, the man looks up at his apartment and the lights are on, as if she is waiting for him. He tells her that he feels good that she is always there for him.

With so much talk about artificial intelligence, especially around ChatGPT and AI generated art, I

continue to think about our relationship with AI, positive and negative. We have heard stories and seen movies about people being in relationships with AI. But what happens after that? What would happen with basic human rights, marriage laws, or something like property ownership? Most stories show AI wiping out the human race but what if they just wanted to coexist? I think we would still have to deal with our own prejudices and intolerance.

Crew

Gerard Dy - Writer/ Director

Gerard studied electrical engineering in college, which led to sparking interest in the technical aspects of filmmaking, and an exciting way to bridge science and art. As a first generation Filipino-American, he strives to explore themes of acceptance of cultural identity and self-love. In 2022, Gerard received a certificate in Directing through UCLA extension, creating his thesis film ‘No Updates Till Tomorrow’, which is currently being exhibited in several film festivals. Gerard’s next work will explore the conflicts of his hyphenated cultural identity and continue his journey in filmmaking mastery.

Cynthia Lau - Editor

Cynthia Lau first discovered her love for video editing and motion graphics during her college years as a Digital Media student at Otis College of Art and Design. After earning her BFA, she

pursued her career in the media industry as a motion graphics designer and content creator.

She has worked on a variety of projects, including working as an assistant editor, editing narrative short films, creating promotional logo animations, corporate video content, and more.

Throughout her career, Lau always felt a sense of joy and wonder while editing. To her, it's where the magic happens and when the story starts coming to life. She is currently enrolled in the UCLA Extension Directing Certificate Program and her goal is to continue creating the post-production magic that editors can create.

Jaimie Pangan - Composer

Jaimie Pangan (stage/artist name) is a violinist and a music composer for film, TV and games based in Los Angeles, California. Originally hailing from the Philippines, she loves experimenting string sounds with electronic elements and creates hybrid ambient textures that blend with cinematic drama.

Prior to pursuing music, Jaimie worked at IBM Philippines as an Information Technology Specialist and has obtained a patent for an AI hit song generator their team developed with IBM Japan and Singapore.

After 3 years of working in the tech industry, she pursued music through the Master of Music in Screen Scoring program at the University of Southern California. Some of her musical achievements include being nominated for the Hollywood and Music Media Awards under the Contemporary Classical and

Best Rom-Com Song category, and was featured in major publications such as Inquirer.net, The Manila

Times and When In Manila. In 2020, she was invited to be a voting member of the Recording Academy, and in 2021, she became a GRAMMYs NEXT alumni. Her music can be heard on different platforms such as Netflix, Amazon and various Academy Award Qualifying film festivals. She also assisted in the music

department of productions under Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, etc. In her spare time, she loves to study Japanese 日本語, watch films, read a good book, dye her hair, craft non-alcoholic drinks, play Genshin Impact/Pokémon and eat Korean/Japanese food.

Behind the Scenes: