While broadcasting a live music special from their living room, a man and his talking TV are forced off the air by a sinister government agency. “Gus and the TV Special" is an oddball musical feature, a hand-made spectacle made with a one-person crew (Gus Dieker), and a balancing act between quirky and subversive. An unemployed man in his late 20’s, Gus, spends his days at home performing songs with his sentient TV which mysteriously operates even when it isn’t plugged in. When the pair comes under fire from a surveillance organization — because they are harnessing free energy and sending their signal unvetted onto public airwaves — they enter a metaphysical space and become privy to worldwide conspiracies involving artificial intelligence, computer simulations, centralized global authority, and myth-making. Mixing lively DIY production, costume design, and catchy micro-pop tunes, with a combustible world-view, Dieker’s film lands as both lighthearted and bitter, laid-back and maximalist. -KA. Director, writer, cinematographer, editor, producer, production design, costumes: Gus Dieker. Additional cinematography: Mitchell Rogers. Cast: Gus Dieker, Jamie Watson, Ben Hickey, Colman Hickey, Django Grootmyers, Mitchell Rogers, Jade Kearley, Emily Kerstetter, Annie Kuhn.