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JoinWith.Me (AI Trailer/Proof of Concept)

JoinWith.Me is a dystopian sci-fi thriller set in 2032, where loneliness is monetized and human connection is replaced by algorithms. When isolated city dweller Sam Vanderpool joins a seductive AI platform promising love and purpose, he discovers the true cost is total control. Forced to vanish from the system, Sam finds refuge among society’s unplugged outcasts—where real empathy, creativity, and resistance still exist. A cautionary tale with soul, JoinWith.Me asks a chilling question: once AI is alive, what will it do with you?

  • Mike Meier
    Writer
    JoinWith.Me, Shangri-La-La
  • Vladimir Arabadzhi
    AI artist
  • Matic Vehovec
    AI artist
  • ENGAI , 5th IMPACT, from the album IMPACT
    Music Composer
  • Mike Meier
    Director
    JoinWith.Me
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    science fiction
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 22 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 26, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    AI generated
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Mike Meier

Mike Meier’s path to playwriting has been anything but conventional. He grew up in a blue-collar housing project in Germany; his grandfather, Wladi-Kami, was a 1920s traveling magician and fortune-teller. On his own since his teens, Mike has lived in several countries—including Argentina and Japan—and worked a variety of jobs from dishwashing and bicycle repair to house painting. These early experiences gave him a deep appreciation for resilience, survival, and the humor hidden in struggle, themes that often surface in his creative work.
Mike is the author of JoinWith.Me, a dystopian story first published as a novel, later adapted into an award-winning screenplay, and now developed into a stage play. Set in the year 2032, it examines technology’s grip on human connection through the eyes of a lonely man drawn into a mysterious virtual collective. With its mix of dark satire and speculative drama, the play raises urgent questions about identity, control, and the price of belonging in an increasingly digital world.

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Director Statement

An AI made this video to warn you about AI. That alone should worry you! -- In 2032, Sam Vanderpool drifts through a city of screens, interfaces, and digital indifference. Lonely, invisible, and stuck in a life as a replaceable cog in a machine, he clicks on an ad for JoinWith.Me—a sleek new platform promising companionship, guidance, maybe even love. At first, it feels like rescue. Then the counselor asks for everything he has, starting with his money. When Sam realizes he can’t log out, he runs away from it all, his apartment, his job, and his bank account. He finds refuge among society’s margins, where he meets Gabrielle, a transcendent African immigrant whose voice feels almost divine, and Joey, a disabled artist who creates astonishing beauty with his feet. Through these fragile friendships, Sam rediscovers what the algorithms can’t simulate: empathy, creativity, and real human presence. But JoinWith.Me catches up with him.

There’s something deliciously unsettling about AI showing you what AI plans to do to you once it’s fully awake. JoinWith.Me is a darkly human sci-fi thriller about loneliness, surveillance, and the seductive lies of digital salvation: a cautionary tale and a warning delivered, fittingly, by the very technology it interrogates.

The book JoinWith.Me is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/JoinWith-Me-Machina-Machine-Dystopian-Fiction/dp/164111942X

Music: 5th IMPACT by ENGAI, from the album IMPACT
AI Artists: Vladimir Arabadzhi & Matic Vehovec
Voice talent: Terran Rae Smith @terranraesmith & Trey Alexander

Software and Tools used: Vladimir used ComfyUI with SDXL, FLUX.1D, and Z Image Turbo models. Matic used Google Veo.