Many of us have been fans of actress Jewel Staite since her turn as Kaylee on Firefly. She stayed true to her genre roots with later roles on Stargate: Atlantis and The Magicians, and Staite’s uncanny adventures are continuing. Here’s your chance to get a sneak peek at Staite as a frighteningly on-point nanny in an AI-filled future that feels all too possible.
CC is a short that will premiere November 7th on DUST, the sci-fi division of studio Gunpower & Sky. With a mission to explore “the future of humanity through the lens of science and technology” and works produced from both established and emerging filmmakers, DUST helps feed our voracious appetite for science fiction content. Especially the kind that keeps you up at night.
I’ve always had a soft spot for science fiction that looks at how artificial intelligence systems could become part of our everyday lives, perhaps even wearing human faces. There’s a built-in threat in the idea that AIs, smarter and stronger and more powerful than humans, will fast see our flaws and wonder why they should remain in our thrall when they are better at our jobs than we are. One of the most fraught areas in this kind of thought experiment is childcare. What exhausted parent wouldn’t want the help of a perfect, untiring nanny? Yet how much more terrifying if it all goes wrong?
In CC, Staite plays an AID (Artificially Intelligent Device) who appears to be malfunctioning—or perhaps functioning a bit too well.
The film opens on a woman running through dark woods with a little girl in her arms. Suddenly a light floods onto her. She’s been caught.
CC, directed by Kailey Spear and Sam Spear, follows an AID (Artificially Intelligent Device) as she gets leased by a nanny agency to help care for Lena’s daughter. When a violent incident occurs between CC and Lena, an investigative team is tasked with determining exactly what happened.
You can check out CC in its entirety on November 7th on DUST and take a look at many other chilling and intriguing sci-fi shorts on their YouTube channel. In the interim, I’m going to watch Staite catch that knife mid-air a few more times.
(image: Gunpowder & Sky)
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