Private Project

NOVA

A teenager unwillingly deletes her best friend in this bittersweet coming of age story set in a world where augmented reality has gamified existence.

  • Andréanne Germain
    Director
  • Andréanne Germain
    Writer
  • France Huot
    Key Cast
  • Amazon Polly (Voice Generator)
    Key Cast
  • James Goddard
    The Next 150 : Documentary Futurism Project Coordinator
  • Andréanne Germain
    Editor, VFX and Colourist
  • Matthew Wiewel
    Narration Recordist
  • Svetla Turnin
    Executive Producers
  • Ezra Winton
    Executive Producers
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Sci-fi
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 51 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 10, 2018
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 4k
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Cinequest Film And VR Festival
    San Jose
    United States
    March 3, 2020
    USA Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Berlin Sci-fi Filmfest - WINNER - Best Experimental/Music
    Berlin
    Germany
    November 30, 2019
    European Premiere
    Official Selection - WINNER - Best Experimental/Music
  • Videodrunk Film Festival : Alternative Cinema - WINNER - Top Prize Best Canadian Film
    Toronto
    Canada
    November 29, 2019
    Official selection - WINNER - Top Prize Best Canadian Film
  • Junction North International Documentary Festival - Official Selection
    Sudbury
    Canada
    March 1, 2019
    Official Selection
  • Deep Cut Film Festival
    North Bay
    Canada
    January 25, 2020
    Official Selection
  • North Bay Film Festival
    North Bay
    Canada
    November 16, 2019
  • Big D Mobile Phone Fest
    Dallas, Texas
    United States
    April 5, 2020
    Official Selection
  • La Cinémathèque québécoise (Launch)
    Montreal
    Canada
    September 13, 2018
    Launch
    N/A
  • Pleasure Dome Screening Series
    Toronto
    Canada
    September 29, 2018
  • Our Futures Conference by Quest University
    Squamish
    Canada
    March 30, 2019
  • RiVAL: the ReImagining Value Action Lab Screening
    Thunder Bay
    Canada
    October 26, 2018
  • The Common Cinema Screening Series by SAW Video & Media Arts Centre
    Ottawa
    Canada
    November 30, 2018
  • La Cinémathèque québécoise
    Montreal
    Canada
    November 28, 2018
  • Public Screening Organized by Regent Park Film Festival, Halifax Public Libraries, Atlantic Filmmakers COOP
    Halifax
    Canada
    February 2, 2019
  • Public Screening Organized at Kingston Frontenac Public Library
    Kingston
    Canada
    May 16, 2019
  • VIVO Media Arts Centre Screening
    Vancouver
    Canada
    June 7, 2019
  • PAVED Arts Screening
    Saskatoon
    Canada
    June 14, 2019
  • Screening hosted by Faucet Media Arts Centre and Struts Gallery
    Sackville
    Canada
    June 18, 2019
  • Sudbury Design Society Gala - AWARDED - Insight Award for Motion Graphics and Animation
    Sudbury
    Canada
    September 26, 2019
    Insight Award for Motion Graphics and Animation
Distribution Information
  • Cinema Politica
    Country: Canada
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Andréanne Germain

Germain’s love of movies began in the 90s, when she’d skip school to catch a weekday matinee from the back row of the theatre, feet up on the seats below. A French Canadian filmmaker and picture editor, she has directed docs for the National Film Board of Canada, couchsurfed across Europe to produce documentary content for TV5’s Müvmédia and has worked in feature film distribution for Universal Studios. When she isn't working on her own projects, she finds herself editing branded content for various agencies.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

What are your influences and inspiration for this project?

NOVA was inspired by Spike Jonze’s sci-fi romance Her, Yuval Harari’s book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, mobile game apps, discussions on r/futurology and r/collapse reddit threads and Ontario’s Universal Basic Income experiment.

What are your hopes for the audience's response?

Growing up, my favorite sci-fi stories were the ones set in techno-utopian futures, like Star Trek. I wanted to explore this type of utopia from a contemporary vantage point. However, I discovered that the concept of utopia is deeply personal. Consequently, the film draws questions from its viewers and stimulates conversations afterwards. That’s the goal, to have people come away from watching NOVA fantasizing about their own versions of what a utopian society would look like - to get people thinking about what kind of solutions we could enact for a better world. Imagination is the first step to innovation.

Why did you decide to shoot this from the first person perspective?

I wanted to reference first person video games to show how this new brain-computer interface has gamified everyday life for her. However, the decision not to show the characters on screen also served to make the audience feel disconnected and experience their isolation and loneliness.

Can you tell us about some of the behind the scenes creative decisions that make this film unique?

Sure! As you know, NOVA is an artificial intelligence that lives in the main character’s brain-computer interface. And so, to generate her voice, I used Amazon Polly, a program that generates voices for mobile app developers by Amazon Web Services. The result is a warm nurturing tone that is just a touch uncanny, especially when it tries to be funny. Also, to really nail the gamification aspect of the brain-computer interface, some of the sounds and graphics were sourced from indie game creators at OpenGameArt.org (thanks guys!). The explosion graphics for when NOVA boots up and turns off are actually NASA artist renditions of the birth and death of a supernova.

Is it true the writing process involved Dungeons and Dragons?

Yes. The project began with a world building exercise, I then used the game dynamics from Dungeons and Dragons to create the characters by rolling a 20-sided dice to determine their personalities and attributes as well as to dictate how the plot was to take shape. Why? It’s neat that a film that features gamification was created by gamifying the writing process, but I have to admit it was mostly a fun writing experiment!