Once a thing of science fiction, robots are slowly being introduced into society. But what if these machines we’ve created to help us begin to gain sentience? Can a robot love? These short films from DUST explore the future of humanity’s relationship with robots.
ABE
Directed by Rob McLellan | 7 mins, 30 seconds
A self-aware robot seeks out love and meaning with horrifying results.
DONNY THE DRONE
Directed by by Mackenzie Sheppard | 10 mins, 21 seconds
The world’s first sentient machine goes on stage to accept a prestigious “Person of the Year” award as an auditorium of humans are confronted with his emotional and controversial story. Featuring the voice of Guy Pearce.
NO-A
Directed by Liam Murphy | 5 mins
A battle of massive machines. Bullets ricocheting, metal mashing, glass shattering, buildings crumbling. Stuck right in the middle of chaos with no explanation. But no explanation is needed.
NUMBER 13
Directed by Steve Petersen | 3 mins
Based on the DARK HORSE comic, NUMBER 13, a young cybernetic amnesiac, wanders a post-apocalyptic wasteland searching for a father he can’t remember.
PROPAGATION
Directed by Karrie Crouse & Will Joines (music by Com Truise) | 4 mins, 27 seconds
After discovering her own User’s Manual, a docile A.I. housewife becomes self-aware and takes her inevitable revenge.
ROBOT & SCARECROW
Directed by Kibwe Tavares | 12 mins, 23 seconds
When a robot pop princess flees her keeper she runs straight into the arms of a lonely scarecrow desperate for adventure. They spend an incredible night together, caught in a heady vortex of music and magic.
SEAM
Directed by Rajeev Dassani & Elan Dassani | 19 mins
In the not-too-distant future, a tenuous peace between humans and remarkably humanlike “machines”—some don’t even know they’re not real—is tested when synthetics begin spontaneously exploding. A military-led search for these unwitting suicide bombers begins, sending a terrified machine woman and her human partner on the run.
SINNER
Directed by Stash Capar | 12 mins, 39 seconds
In a dystopian future where the world has devolved into a pre-industrial state, the Purists rule supreme. The Purists blame technology for all the world’s past ills, and have deemed it to be inherently sinful. A handful of Companions, human-like artificial intelligence, have managed to make it through the apocalypse. They survive the only way they can –by hiding in plain sight.
TEARS OF STEEL
Directed by Ian Hubert | 10 mins
When Thom broke up with his girlfriend Celia to follow his dreams and become an astronaut he didn’t realize it would lead her to use her robotics skill against all of humanity. Now he must try to heal her broken heart and save the world.
HUM
Directed by Tom Teller | 7 mins, 45 seconds
A solitary dish washing robot living out his life in the back room of a restaurant is enlightened to the world that exists beyond his four walls, with the help of a small friend he breaks free of confinement to pursue his dream of exploration.
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DUST is the first multi-platform destination to experience stunning visions of the future from filmmakers of
tomorrow. We feature the best sci-fi short films, series, and innovative content that cuts through the present to invite the future. With vivid special effects, complex characters, and captivating plots, prescient themes are explored and tantalizing questions asked. Whether it’s a utopia worth striving for, an apocalypse to avoid, or a truth about the ways technology is changing the human experience – we amplify the voices and visions that will shape the future through imagination.
Join curator Willy Hartland for this sun-filled sampler of animated films set at the beach.
Program
1. Michaela Müller “Miramare” 2010 8 mi
2. Dave Fleischer “Betty Boop’s Lifeguard” 1934 6 min
3. Malcolm Sutherland “Tourists” 2002 7 min
4. Willy Hartland’s “Wham Blam Thank You Clam!” 1982 2 min
5. Bill Plympton’s “Deep End” 2014 4 min
6. Bill Plympton’s “Summer Bummer” 2012 1:49 sec
7. Kirsten Lepore’s “Hi Stranger” 2016 2:43 min
8. Xeth Feinberg’s “Bulbo in Surf n Turf” 2004 1 min
9. Xeth Feinberg’s “Our pal Bulbo in Back to Nature” 2004 1 min
10. Anthony Gross & Hector Hoppin’s “LA JOIE DE VIVRE” 1934 9 min
11. Louis Netter “Paradise Beach” 2009 2:11 min
12. John Morena “Piss & Vinegar” 2017 30 sec
13. John Morena “Home: A Portrait of New York City” 2017 30 sec
14. Bruno Bozetto “Mister Rossi at the Seaside” 1964 10:35
15. Kirsten Lepore’s “Bottle” 2011 6 min
16. Pes “The Deep” 2010 1:34 sec
New Wave: Dare To Be Different: How a small Long Island radio station became the “voice of a generation”
August 1982. Bands like the Ramones, the Clash, U2, the Smiths, the Cars, the Police, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Blondie, Tears For Fears, Elvis Costello, Duran Duran, and the Cure are redefining a fresh new music scene. But to the disenfranchised youth weaned on bland Top 40 and corporate rock, these artists might have escaped notice were it not for a small, independent radio station broadcasting from Long Island, NY. This was WLIR.
For a brief, but startling, five year period, this wildly influential station battled the FCC, faced financial struggles, competed with signals far stronger than theirs and faced shutdown at a moment’s notice. But none of that stopped ‘LIR from doing what no other station would or could. It spotted musical trends from Europe, discovered new and intriguing artists and was responsible for breaking many of these bands in America. ‘LIR nurtured a local club scene and created a heritage that’s since spawned hundreds of tribute sites and message boards.
Curated by a staff of like-minded and adventurous personalities, ‘LIR spoke a new language to its audience. It was the social network of its day and its fans quickly became family.
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes, Sonny Tufts
In the midst of a summer heat wave, New Yorker Richard Sherman ships his wife and their son off to Maine for vacation. Left alone to work back in Manhattan, Richard encounters a gorgeous blonde model who has moved into the apartment upstairs, and becomes immediately infatuated. While pondering infidelity, Richard dreams of his beautiful new neighbor — but will his fantasies about her become a reality?
Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Diane KEaton, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Talia Shire
Francis Ford Coppola’s epic masterpiece features Marlon Brando in his Oscar-winning role as the patriarch of the Corleone family. Director Coppola paints a chilling portrait of the Sicilian clan’s rise and near fall from power in America, masterfully balancing the story between the Corleone’s family life and the ugly crime business in which they are engaged. Based on Mario Puzo’s best-selling novel and featuring career-making performances by Al Pacino, James Cann and Robert Duvall, this searing and brilliant film garnered ten Academy Award nominations, and won three including Best Picture of 1972.
Starring: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, Jackie Gleason
All he wanted was some Coors! Get ready to tear up the highway with the Bandit (Burt Reynolds), a fun-loving, fast-talking trucker who takes on his craziest haul yet – delivering 400 cases of beer from Texarkana to Atlanta in just 28 hours. With Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) hot on his trail and eager to teach him some respect for the law, the Bandit joins forces with good ol’ boy, Cledus (Jerry Reed) and runaway bride Carrie (Sally Field). Gear up for huge laughs, pedal-to-the-metal action, and some of the wildest car crashes ever filmed!
Starring: Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp, Nicole Kidman, and Ruth Wilson
Enn (Alex Sharp) is a shy suburban London teenager in 1977, sneaking out with his best friends to after-hours punk parties. One night they stumble upon a bizarre gathering of sexy teenagers who seem like they are from another planet. In fact, they are from another planet, visiting Earth to complete a mysterious rite of passage. That doesn’t stop Enn from falling madly in love with Zan (Elle Fanning), a beautiful and rebellious alien teenager who, despite her allegiance to her strange colony, is fascinated by Enn. Together they embark on a delirious adventure through the kinetic punk rock world of 1970s London, inadvertently setting off a series of events that will lead to the ultimate showdown of punks vs. aliens, and test the limits of how far each of them will go for true love.
Starring: Susanne Sachße, Viva Ruiz, Kembra Pfahler
When an injured male leftist on the run discovers the remote stronghold of the Female Liberation Army — a radical feminist terrorist group whose mission is to usher in a female world order — one of the members takes pity on him and hides him in the basement. However, the man in the basement is just one of many secrets threatening to disrupt the FLA’s mission from within. Balancing sharp social commentary and salacious popcorn entertainment, iconic filmmaker Bruce LaBruce has created an experience that’s a blast to watch and just as much fun to dissect afterwards.
Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattrall, Chris Noth, Jessica Giesenkirchen, Jennifer Hudson
Four years after the earlier adventures of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her best gal pals, she and her intermittent lover, Big (Chris Noth), are in a committed relationship. Samantha (Kim Cattrall), having survived cancer, has a monogamous relationship with Smith Jerrod. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and her husband live on Park Avenue, and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), now in Brooklyn, feels the pressure of family life.
Starring: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Albert Brooks, Steve Zahn
Meet Jack Foley, the most successful bank robber in the country. On the day he busts out of jail, he finds himself stealing something far more precious than money … Karen Sisco’s heart. She’s smart. She’s sexy, and unfortunately for Jack, she’s a Federal Marshal. Now, they’re willing to risk it all to find out if there’s more between them than just the law.
