APPOFENIACS - A Technology Movie about Human Behavior
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Hey friends, Barbarella here. APPOFENIACS is in theaters now, and it should be required viewing. Not only does it serve as a reminder that you cannot believe everything you see online, but it also points out the potential extreme consequences of things that one posts.
Duke (Aaron Holiday) posts deepfake videos, presumably because it’s fun for him, but also because he knows on some level, it will adversely affect those involved. Even with that knowledge, he remains oblivious to the consequences of his actions. Those on the receiving end, though, must desperately try to escape those consequences.
Told through intersecting stories of those impacted, the film posits that the horror is not in the lie, but in what happens when it is believed. Reputations, prosperity, and even lives may be destroyed. We follow Poppy (Simran Jehani) to the desert for a weekend of fun. We meet prop-maker Clinto Binto (Sean Gunn), and we witness Lazzy (Paige Searcy) argue with the wrong guy in line at a coffee shop, none of whom know how their lives are about to be upended.
Chris Marrs Piliero’s film takes a genuinely hard look at what could happen when paranoia and confirmation bias take over in the age of deepfake videos. “Seeing is believing” no longer carries much meaning when anyone could face-swap or manipulate media to tell a dishonest narrative. The story proves frighteningly possible, as it doesn’t involve the supernatural or a boogieman who never dies. Rather, it shows us how our own beliefs and fears can
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