AliEN0089
Viewer Advice: Contains stroboscopic imagery, strong impact themes.
Virtual and real-world violence blur in this terrifying, Sundance award-winning short.
A female gamer who’s experienced online harassment and doxxing uploads a testimonial video blaming fellow users for her death. Meanwhile an unknown entity breaks into her home and uploads a catastrophic virus onto her computer. Is the presence stalking her all in her mind? Or has misogyny transcended the screen to reap bona fide havoc? Combining dizzying layers of live-action footage and CGI animation, writer/director Valeria Hofmann’s film, which won Sundance’s Short Film Special Jury Award in International: Directing, dissolves the boundaries between digital and physical realms, exploring how the bloodlust of first-person shooters can spill out into actual political and domestic violence.