Big news! I’m happy to announce that my sci-fi short film, CROSSING ACHERON, was selected for the 2023 Coney Island Film Festival, continuing its festival run. It was previously shown at the 2021 New York Pause Film Festival, the 2021 New Haven International Film Festival and the 2023 Chicago Blow-Up Arthouse Filmfest. I’m excited that my film—made in the depths of the pandemic and tackling themes of both disease and loss—has maintained its widespread appeal, even after the return to ‘normal life.’
Crossing Acheron imagines a world not so different from our own, in which rampant plague and brain-altering technology are inexorably intertwined. A woman finds herself faced with an impossible decision: end her life by uploading her consciousness to an AI generated world that contains the soul of her deceased mother, or live out her days in an unfriendly city riddled with illness.
Although the technology in the film seems like an unlikely innovation, Elon Musk and other Silicon Valley giants have a demonstrated interest in the consolidation of human consciousness with machines. Despite the idea’s chilling implications, there are those who not only believe in its feasibility, but believe that such a technology is an imminent reality.
In an era mediated by invasive AI, Crossing Acheron is a contemporary reflection on Descartes classic assertion—“I think, therefore I am”—asking crucial questions about what it means to have a mind, what it means to be alive and what it means to die. How does the capacity to digitize a consciousness change us existentially, individually and ethically?
It’s exciting to know that the film will be up on the big screen once again!
The Coney Island Film Festival will take place May 5-7, 2023. Those interested in watching a screener or writing a review may contact me through this website. Thank you!
