How to Lose It |

AI, late-stage capitalism, and kin

A short film in 2-parts:

Part 1: An art teacher, Vichit, slowly escapes into her mind’s sandy landscape when she is squeezed between a toxic AI-admin bot and challenging students.

Part 2: Vichit’s students wander Berlin’s parks as they speak about their struggles under late-stage capitalism and finding a way forward in confusing times.

Status: In Production

CAST

Vichit, Sylvia Schwarz
Janine, Rhys Williams
John, Filip Wencel
Susi, Aisha Kalymzhanova
Dancer, Marcelo Kuna

CREW

Writer & Director, Laura J. Luktisch
Editor, Elena Shchelokova

VICHIT’S STORY
Camera – Daelan Dublado, Celia Tekin, Lorena Wildhaber, Sofia Gargantini
Art Direction – Zoya Nur Zadkiel [Home], Laura J. Lukitsch
Production Assistance – Lorena Wildhaber, Elena Shchelokova

STUDENT’S STORY
Producer – Lior Klein
Camera – Daniel Periera
Sound – Ian Busch Verni
Production Assistant – Karun Gill

BEHIND THE SCENES

BACKGROUND

THE STORY

One of the top tech trends for 2024 was the Augmented Connected Workforce, using AI to increase worker efficiency. (Gartner, 2024) According to the World Economic Forum, AI technology will benefit employees by helping them acquire new knowledge and skills, increase their well-being, and become more efficient. (World Economic Forum, 2022) This film explores what would happen if this technology is turned on the workers and used to squeeze even more productivity out of them, to tie them more closely to work?

As a teacher myself, working with young college students, I also reflect on what it might be like to be coming-of-age in such times of economic and political uncertainty. I wondered what would be the pathway to a better way forward for individuals and humanity.

PRODUCTION

I worked with cast and crew I have met over the years working at Catalyst – Institute for Creative Arts and Technology and through other art circles living in Berlin, Germany. Most of the crew is made up of former students. As someone who mostly worked in the documentary and corporate short format, this was my first attempt to write and direct a solo fiction short film. My inspiration came from films like La Pointe Courte (1955) by Agnes Varda relating to how she staged her actors, the colors of Jaques Demy’s film The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), and the quirky staging of choreographer Jess Curtis’ work, Dances for Non-Fictional Bodies (2011).