The film premieres at Fantasia International Film Festival on July 23.
Ahead of its premiere later this month at the Fantasia Film Festival, a teaser trailer and poster have been released for The Artifice Girl. The science fiction thriller tells the story of an advanced AI that is created to help combat online predators. It comes from writer and director Franklin Ritch and stars the likes of Lance Henriksen.
The Artifice Girl follows an internet vigilante who fights to protect children from online predators. In his efforts, he creates an advanced artificial intelligence that takes the form of Cherry, a young girl. However, the AI evolves in ways its creator could never imagine. The film is said to explore themes of “autonomy, oppression, and what it really means to be human.”
In the short, minute-long trailer, we get one scene highlighted. The teaser begins with the internet vigilante (played by writer and director Ritch) being questioned in a police interrogation room. The police show him a picture of Cherry and explain that they need his help to find out who and where she is. We get quick flashes of shots from the movie while a voice-over explains that Cherry doesn’t exist and isn’t real. The trailer ends with the tease of one of the officers asking “What is she?” The poster released alongside the trailer continues to pose the mystery of who and what Cherry is. We see the silhouette of a young girl, with wires coming out of her, backlit by the white light of various computer screens. The poster also includes the tagline “She’s not real. She’s more than that.”
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The Artifice Girl stars Ritch, Henriksen, Tatum Matthews, David Girard, and Sinda Nichols. This marks Ritch's feature film directorial debut, having previously directed, written, and acted in a variety of short films. Henriksen is a veteran actor likely best known for playing the android Bishop in Aliens and starring in the 90s fantasy crime drama Millennium. Matthews is making her feature film acting debut with this film, as is Girard. Nichols is likely best known for her voice work on the English dub of the anime Bubblegum Crisis.
The Artifice Girl is produced by Aaron B. Koontz and Ashleigh Snead for Paper Street Pictures alongside Ritch’s Last Resort Ideas production banner and the Blood Oath banner. Peter Kuplowsky serves as an executive producer on the project.
The Artifice Girl is making its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 23, when it will become available to wider audiences has yet to be announced. Check out the film’s teaser trailer and poster below:
Aidan King is a graduate of Fitchburg State University and loves writing and talking about both movies and tv. In his spare time, Aidan participates in an Improv comedy group.
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