Tatum Matthews (The Waltons: Homecoming) brings A.I. to life in the sci-fi mystery thriller, The Artifice Girl.
SYNOPSIS: A team of special agents discovers a revolutionary new computer program to bait and trap online predators. After teaming up with the program’s troubled developer, they soon find that the AI is rapidly advancing beyond its original purpose.
The Artifice Girl is directed and written by Franklin Ritch in his feature film debut. The film stars Tatum Matthews (The Waltons: Homecoming), David Girard (short “Teardrop Goodbye with Mandatory Directorial Commentary by Remy Von Trout”), Sinda Nichols (That Abandoned Place, “Bubblegum Crisis”), Franklin Ritch and Lance Henriksen (Aliens, The Quick and the Dead)
Check out our interview with Tatum:
Director’s Statement – Franklin Ritch
Several years prior to writing The Artifice Girl, I’d read a few articles about how A.I. and technology were being used in clever ways to hunt down predators and criminals online. I was fascinated by the ingenuity of the developers and often wondered what kinds of interesting conversations they were having behind closed doors. But the idea felt too massive and complicated for someone as technologically ignorant as I was.The idea stayed dormant for a while until the first few weeks of the pandemic. While revisiting the ‘Artifice’ concept, the striking image of a CGI child that candidly explained its function suddenly sparked a thematic connection between the budding adolescence of A.I. and repressed childhood trauma. That parallel gave me the confidence to start the first draft while researching as much as I could about the necessary technology that The Artifice Girl would involve.
A lot has happened in the world of artificial intelligence since we began this project in 2020. New developments have become more frequent as the accessibility has become more normalized. Some people are understandably excited while others are reasonably terrified. The futurism of The Artifice Girl may become completely outdated far sooner than any of us expected. But for the time being, I hope our film continues to incite nuanced conversations about the nature of A.I. There are countless films where A.I. characters become villainous as a result of their overgrown intelligence. They become something to fear and fight against. As we begin to see the negative repercussions of A.I. in the worlds of art and commerce, I think we’re also beginning to discover the true real-world dangers of these technologies. However, I don’t believe these new advancements will resemble destructive monsters like THE TERMINATOR or HAL9000. I think they’ll reflect the best and worst parts of our nature… like our children do. Even now, while these programs begin to threaten many people’s jobs and livelihoods, it may seem absurd to consider discussing “artificial-civil-rights” or practicing kindness to our (semi) smart household devices. But I think forming habits of compassion and thoughtfulness will become important, not just to the future of A.I, but to the future of our children.
