808
On The Level (Experimental Visions) • 11m
In a near-future saturated by technology, Mars introduces Jay to a world outside their company’s confines. “808,” directed by Athina Wilson, is a gritty dystopian vision (shot on 16mm) reckoning with a world lacking in empathy and human touch. Mars is new to the job, a content moderator in a depressing office where her job is to watch potentially disturbing videos all day and then answer “yes” or “no.” This puts her and everyone else who works there in a vulnerable state of mind, prone to outbursts of violence and dismay. That’s where she meets Jay, a guarded young man who’s become numb to the job and to the larger outside world. Mars still has a glimmer of hope and sparks to Jay, attempting to bring some light into his life. Wilson’s film is a raw but imaginative glimpse into a dark future (not so different than the present), delivered with scrappy world building and cautious chemistry between its two leads, Annika Wagar and Jordan Obzarzanek.
Up Next in On The Level (Experimental Visions)
-
Boiler
A young couple heads home for the holidays to find themselves trapped at a family dinner where awkward tension boils into rage. Avant-garde filmmaking based on a poem by Bob Holman, “Boiler” marches to its own beat, a weirdo vision directed by Nicholas Motyka. This isn’t your average meal — for s...
-
Fucked Like a Star
A poetic meditation on women's work and the dream life of ants, set to the words of Toni Morrison. Directed by Stefani Saintonge, “Fucked Like a Star” is a lovely translation and a profound rumination on the natural world. Told in four parts, the film is rendered with all the complexity of the so...
