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Cyberstein

First there was Frankenstein and now thereʻs Cyberstein, a science fiction comedy set in the near future when Dr. Cyberstein, a brilliant neurologist and pioneer in artificial intelligence has invented the technology to transfer her consciousness into cyberspace. But before Cyberstein can complete transference, her idiot-savant assistant Igor accidentally transfers her mind into cyberspace, creating hilarious havoc on the net!

In 1992 Lynda Williams and Chris Seguine produced an interactive nonlinear movie, Cyberstein. Lynda wrote, directed and edited the film, and Chris was the technical director and produced the animations and interactive technology. The film was shot at the San Francisco Art Institute in the famous Studio 39 and debuted at the Climate Theater in San Francisco for nine shows over three weekends in June, 1992. The film was recorded in 3-D binaural audio and the audience was equipped with head sets and voting devices. We believe this is the first interactive film ever produced.

During a critical junction in the story, the film would pause and VOTE NOW would come up on the screen and the audience would vote to either "Kill Igor" or "Escape" as shown on the right image. A computer would tally the votes and continue the film which switched between two different plot lines. Truth be told, they both came to the same ending which was a happy one. Cyberstein is an edited linear version of the non-linear film including as many scenes as possible while trying to maintain a logical enjoyable story.

The bucket head "Jeeter Tech" was designed by artist Scott Jeeter. Animations and interactive computer voting and switching program was created by Chris Seguine. The voting control device was created by Charles "Bud" Lassiter.

WARNING: The audio is a bit distorted from compressing 3-D binaural audio to stereo audio for this linear edit.

Bergen Williams, known for playing Big Alice on the soap General Hospital, stars in the lead role. Lynda, aka The Physics Chanteuse, plays her idiot-savant assistant Igor. Other parts are played by Wendy Brummer, Sharon Donahue, Matt Kochs, Joel Kohn and many other friends played extras.

Fun History: In 1992, San Francisco was the epicenter of virtual reality, cyberspace and the internet. There were only a few hundred websites at the time and the term "surfing the internet" was coined and popularized in 1992. Both Lynda and Chris were immersed in the cyber VR world evolving in realtime in SF. Chris was a student at SFAI and Lynda worked as the assistant manager of the New Genre department when they met and started collaborating together. The first scenes showing VR pioneer Jaron Lanier and musician Todd Rundgren where shot by Chris and Lynda at the CyberArts International conference in Los Angelas in 1992. The world wide web was so new that few people were aware of it outside of the SF Bay Area. The use of the word "icon" in the film sounds outdated today because the word "avatar" wasnʻt in use yet. There "internet" was not in popular use yet. It would take decades for the modern lexicon for the internet to evolve into what it is today.

  • Bergen Williams
    Key Cast
    "Dr. Cyberstein"
    Big Alice, General Hospital
  • Lynda Williams
    Key Cast
    "Igor"
    The GoGo Show, The Birth of Venus, To Tell The Truth, Cosmic Cabaret
  • Lynda Williams
    Director
    The GoGo Show, Cosmic Cabaret
  • Lynda Williams
    Writer
    The Go Go Show, Cosmic Cabaret
  • Lynda Williams
    Producer
    The GoGo Show, Cosmic Cabaret
  • Chris Seguine
    Animator and Technical Director
    Chasing Banksy, Skinned Deep
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Short, Web / New Media
  • Genres:
    Scifi, comedy, New Media, Interactive
  • Runtime:
    26 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    June 4, 1992
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    3/4" video
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Climate Theater
    San Francisco
    United States
    June 4, 1992
    North American Premiere
Director Biography - Lynda Williams

Lynda was born singing and dancing and started producing shows in middle school. After high school she moved to Hollywood to become an actress but was dismayed by the vacuous sexism of the industry so she went to college to write her own stories. Through luck or fate, Lynda took a physics class and excelled at it which surprised everyone, least of herself, because most people thought sheʻd end up a dancer in Vegas. She became a physics major and anti-nuclear activist and started creating shows and media on science. For over a decade she entertained scientists and the public with her Physics Chanteuse persona in her original Cosmic Cabarets written for both stage and Planetaria. She went on hiatus while being a single mother and raising her son, working as a full time tenured physics teacher at Santa Rosa Community College. Her passion for social and environmental just flourished and she produced articles and works to empower people through scientific literacy. Now that her son is off to college, she retired from teaching and has resumed producing performances and media from her home base in Hawaii.

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Director Statement

Cyberstein was decades ahead of its time both in subject matter and technical innovation as an interactive immersive nonlinear film. Iʻm grateful the video tape survived over thirty years and the digital transfer is beautiful. The audio is a bit distorted from compressing 3-D binaural audio into stereo, my apologies for that but the visuals and animations are stunning. Most importantly, my sister Bergen gave a brilliant performance in the title role as Cyberstein. It is thrilling to see her in a lead role playing a genius, because she was one. Unfortunately because of her size and grandeur she was mostly cast in Hollywood as dykes, bullies or idiots. This new digital release of Cyberstein is dedicated to her memory as she died in 2021.