2091 is a short film directed by Carlos J Matos of Spain. The film has a run-time of about 7 minutes, without dialogue, which makes it more of a sci-fi music video considering the upbeat, action packed electronic score laid over futurist set design and cinematography.
Set in the distant year of 2091, three female cyber warriors or “warrior-hackers” go into battle against a gigantic supercomputer, an AI figure known as Control in an epic effort to liberate their city and the future of humankind. The film’s set design is the highlight of this film, as the futuristic stage for the battle uses minimalist sci-fi imagery to portray the character of Control, a 3D computer prism awaiting the three warriors. The warriors seep through firewalls, in the cybernetic setting that presumably may resemble the notion of space in the future. No not outer space, space in its truest sense of the word. It is an alternate universe if you will, where computers and humans can connect with each other’s physical spaces—where warriors travel through proxies, codes, and firewalls to meet Control.
The costumes for the warriors are futuristic as well, minimal and cosmic yet relevant enough and not overdone. The exposition of the warriors resemble a futuristic cat-walk, perhaps encoded as such by the director due to his expertise in the intersection of fashion, music, and cinema. The lighting is mostly in blue and red, with the former coming from human energy and the red signifying the computer’s energy. This colour scheme resonates with an authoritarian state, of surveillance and police, all culminating to feed the theme of control.
The blatant name for the AI, Control, is there for a reason. At the time of this review’s publication, many around the world are commenting on and discussing the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. As a generation growing with the tech conglomerates, we are slowly becoming aware of the inner details that social networking platforms use, helped by machine-learning processors that generate exposure of content based on algorithms being learnt and processed by the machines themselves. Hidden beneath oceans and atop mountains, supercomputers possess what no intelligence ministry and secret service agency could ever hope to attain—data belonging to billions of individuals on the largest scale imaginable to humankind. 2091 speaks to that theme if you’re willing to search for it in the subtext.
We often mistake AI and paint the dystopian future depicting robots that overcome their dependance on humans and take over society. Yet most of us are unaware that through AI technology, our daily lives are affected to the extreme in the present day. Think of instagram filters, self-learning keyboards, audible pick-ups on smartphone microphones for advertising purposes, and the list goes on. What AI through machine learning can do in an instant, almost no humans can achieve in a lifetime. And of course, at an age of instant gratification where we rely on the cybernetic extension of ourselves through social media and computers, we become immune to what the potential hazards may be in the future. We have become what Control has wanted us to become, co-dependent on these machines for a measure of our self-worth, determining our status in a society bound by wires and cables rather than communities hand-in-hand. Of course some may argue that this is a grim argument and that we are not completely there, but if we are not careful and resilient about how we regulate AI in our daily lives and human interactions, we may very well be headed towards this grim picture, as depicted in 2091.
2091 in a sense makes us question the future of AI. Although sci-fi and surreal imagery take us into an unknown world, there are no robots with guns, but an entity that controls. It is a battle of the mind between the warriors and Control. No punches thrown, no bullets shot, it is purely our minds that can ultimately return our control over ourselves and not let computers determine the fate of humans and human nature. And to use no dialogue to transfer such a message is a praise-worthy feat for Matos. The film swept the L’Hospitalet International Film Festival in Barcelona, having won Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best VFX, and Best International Short Film. The film is touring the world and getting recognized for its ingenuity, becoming a finalist in the Madrid Indie Film Festival, and official selections in the London Fashion Film Festival, Aesthetica Film Festival, and La Jolla International Film Festival.
By: Darida Rose
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