Body Prison
Logline:
A young woman living in a body-positive matriarchal space cooperative is sentenced to try a vicious new punishment on a correctional satellite.
Summary:
In the future, aboard matriarchal space cooperative “Liberty”, women are born and live their lives without the shadow of the patriarchy over them. So when Sasha Rivera arrives at the correctional facility station to receive chastisement for public nudity, she is stunned at the form of her punishment: 1 hour of body dysmorphia, administered by a new, wicked customized AI program. Having grown up completely loving her body, her first experience feeling bodily shame leaves a bitter taste in her mouth.
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Cameron KitDirectorChlorine, Song is a Spell, Resist
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Julia ReingoldWriter
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Julia ReingoldProducer
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Julia ReingoldKey Cast"Sasha Rivera"
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Project Type:Short
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Genres:Sci-Fi, body horror
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Runtime:5 minutes 59 seconds
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Completion Date:August 11, 2023
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Cameron Kit is a feminist sci-fi filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY.
She has directed over 30 short films which have been featured in over 15 international festivals. Her film "Chlorine" was featured in 9 festivals and won best cinematography at the New York Cinematography Awards. She has hosted a sci-fi movie review podcast, "They Came From Outer Space" for over 3 years and 60+ episodes.
Her mission is to create films that inspire women and queer folks to build the future they want.
This film was originally written and drawn by co-creator Julia Reingold after her decision to get a breast reduction, and was shot just a week before the surgery. It’s a response to the realization that body dysmorphia is terrorism. As a differently abled woman she feels this acutely.
What attracted me to this story was Julia’s comic series “Inheritance” - which paints a wild, sexy, daring vision of what a matriarchal society could look like. In space. As a science-fiction body horror, this film works in reverse to speak to the kind of idealistic society that comprises the “Inheritance” universe. Imagine a society where no one is born hating their body, where no one grows up feeling their body is ugly. As someone who has struggled with terrible body image for a large part of their life, I felt this script hit home.
While the Body Dysmorphia Algorithm seems insidious and hateful, it is in fact just executing its code, playing on the internal budding self-awareness of the inmate being tortured.
This is a new punishment being tested, but can we say it’s working?