‘I’m Not A Robot’ Takes AI Fears To New Levels – Contenders Film: The Nominees

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If you think I’m Not a Robot is simply science fiction that could never happen, think again.

The German-made short film centers on a office worker who cannot get her computer to recognize her as a human being after repeated failed attempts to prove she is not a robot. The wild premise goes on from there, and it is so pertinent, with so many questions to answer in just a 22-minute running time that the filmmakers are developing it as a full-length feature.

So how did the idea come about in the first place? At Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees event, director Victoria Warmerdam explained that it all started innocently enough.

”Yeah, I think it was like four or five years ago. It took us quite some time to make this film because we had to postpone shooting a couple of times because of Covid,” she said. “But I think around five years ago, I was trying to get through these captures and I was failing for like four or five times and I thought, ‘This might be a fun way to find out I’m a robot because it’s such a frustrating thing.’ But you know, when you think about it, like, OK, what if you are actually a robot, or at least your world and everything you thought your world was is not what it seems? And that was at the same time, a very frightening idea.”

Producer Trent also was on the panel and talked about the attraction of making shorts and how they can be valuable tools in getting financing for future projects.

“It’s quite a luxury to have a short, to be able to show it to investors and financiers and say it’s going to be a feature. It’s a wonderful proof of concept, especially since we are nominated now,” he said. “It means that there is some success around it and people want to see it and it has been seen a lot. So it’s wonderful to have a short and say, ‘We want this short to make into a feature.’ But, like Victoria said, of course it’s another story because it’s not the story about the woman who finds out I’m not a robot or whether she finds out or not. We won’t spoil, but it’s not about that. It’s about much more than that, of course.”

Check back Monday for the panel video.

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