FEELING FROM AFAR, FOLLOWED BY A CONVERSATION WITH FILMMAKER JON RAFMAN AND FESTIVAL CURATOR A.E. BENENSON
About the program:
A look at those digital systems that try to optimize humans by alienating their emotions from their actions, i.e. where
the drone operator and the webcam stripper make strange bedfellows. Where does the self go when it’s split into two
by a computer?
And what of the self-made shut-in whose entire affective reality is built on the input of strangers online:
are they any different than the hypothetical robot that downloads its feelings?
Films:
Omer Fast – 5,000 Feet is the Best, DE/US 2011, 30:00 mins.
An experimental documentary that weaves together fact and fiction to tell the true stories of a Predator Drone operator and the psychological aftermath his experiences wrought on his life and others.
Jon Rafman – Betamale, 2013, US, 7:00 mins.
A non-linear portrait of a new kind of digital underground man, whose affective environment consists of violent video- games, arguments on message boards, and erotic fixations on avatars.
Ann Hirsch – I: Decay Part, II: Touch Me Again, Part III: Body Conscious, US, 2013, 21:00 mins.
Ann Hirsch — I Decay Part III: Body Conscious, US 2013, 10:37 mins
Two videos from a series that use a range of digital video vernaculars to navigate questions of contemporary feminism, sexuality, objectification, and their interplay on social media.
ThePeacefulWhisperer –”Role Play #3: Massage Therapist (ASMR)”, US, 2013, 10 mins
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) describes the powerful feeling of tingling and relaxation supposedly produced by certain audio-visual cues such as whispering, light tapping, and blowing. Though there is currently no scientific evidence to support this phenomenon, followers have built up a thriving YouTube community around ASMR.
From the “roleplaying” subgenre of ASMR, this video features a young attractive woman who caresses her webcam as
if it were the viewer’s body.