Artificial Existence

A mother desperately yearns to escape an oppressive dystopian society where humans have merged with machines and life is automated by artificial intelligence, but her family would rather live in technological comfort than escape with her into the unforgiving wilderness.

Starring:
Sé Marie Volk – “Evelyn”
Charles Mengine – “Adam”
Jonah Rensi – “Seth”
Rory Marshall – “Jaxon”
Paul Guggenheimer – “Dr. Erickson”
Alisha Westerman – “Scarlett”
Katherine Kennard – “A.I.”

Additional cast:
Rosie Koster
Bill Kuzmirek
Grace Lopicollo
Susie Garrison
Joseph Kleppick
Mona Bapat

Writer / Director / EP – John D. Marshall
Produced By – Katherine Withrow & Mark Chapman
Co-Executive Producer – Jarrett Rice
Director of photography – Mark Chapman
Production Designer – Chris Frank
Music Supervisor – Jason Deutsch
Music By – Lôr, Rich Bradford, Matt Bradford, Matt Gramc
1st assistant director – Luke Keibler
Additional 1st ad – Max Cianci
Makeup Artists – Danielle Mock, Shawn Wallisch
Gaffer – Nathaniel Peters
1st AC – Brett Wagner
2nd AC / swing – Nolan Duncan
Arri Tech – Troy Bogdan
Editor – John D. Marshall
Sound Recordists – Jason Deutsch, Matt Bradford, Matt Gramc
Sound Mixing – LWG Production, Matt Gramc
Sound Design / Foley / Sound Editing – LWG Production
VFX / Color / Finishing – Cinephoria Productions
Set Decorator / Prop Design – Jarrett Rice
Production Assistants – Evan Szejko, Mike Spinos

Camera and Lenses Furnished By – Cinefit, Inc. & The Camera Department
Grip & Electric Provided By – Midwest Grip and Electric & Led By Light

It’s been an incredible journey making this short. I wrote it in 2017 concerned about the subtle ways A.I. will destroy society, filmed it right before the global pandemic, and here we are releasing it online in 2023 dealing with the frightening, rapid development of A.I. We joked in post that as long as we released it before the end, it would be a success.

I believe the message of this film and the idea of protecting our humanity at all costs has only grown in importance since we started this film, and I hope that this short is a warning to viewers that we should be careful about the technology we adopt because it could easily destroy us without us noticing until it is too late.

Thanks for watching.

John D. Marshall
Writer/Director