Experiencing Interruptions?

Virtually Happening

Carl is a talented coder working for a hacktivist group, trying to plant a devastating virus in the global financial network. He never came to terms with his girlfriend having killed herself over personal debt. He hates the banks... But Carl's an idealist and when he finds out the group's purposes are theft oriented rather than ideological, an inner conflict arises in him.

Is Carl really doing this for noble reasons... Or is he acting out of sheer spite for his emotional loss?.. Will he play along with this crime? A contemporary dark dystopia about human nature, relationships and ethics.

  • Miguel Melo Queiroz
    Director
    Encontro com o Criador, Carved, Eudaimonia, Misanthropos
  • Darrel-Kirk Lambert
    Director
  • Philip Johnstone
    Writer
  • Darrel-Kirk Lambert
    Producer
    #Offline, The Gurney
  • Jamie Robson
    Key Cast
    Confusions of a Wasted Youth, Not Required Back
  • Chloe Webster
    Key Cast
    Indian Summers, 1965
  • Alex Tyler
    Key Cast
  • Miguel Melo Queiroz
    Cinematography
    Encontro com o Criador
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Sci-Fy, Thriller
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 43 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 5, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    Portugal, United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    ProRes 4444XQ and CinemaDNG
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
Director Biography - Miguel Melo Queiroz, Darrel-Kirk Lambert

Miguel Melo Queiroz was born in Lisbon, Portugal, where he started experimenting in Super-8 film at the age of 15. His career began in 1999 as cell animator, editor and VFX artist.
In 2005 Miguel founded his indie filmmaking studio/trademark "Artimedia", where his work as short film director, cinematographer and post producer has been featured in documentaries by Channel 4 and ARTE. He is also Known for Encontro com o Criador (2012), as camera operator, editor and VFX artist. Miguel is based in the United Kingdom and has a masters degree in Film (Cinematography).

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This is a film which reflects on the humanist paradigms of the contemporary financial crisis and digital technology. The use of wide angle lenses together with a claustrophobic bunkerish scenario helps creating a disorienting atmosphere as it drives the audience through a "Rites of Passage" narrative of two friends who can imagine a perfect society, yet can't maintain decent relationship. When the fragile balance between the characters is disturbed, the quarrels begin and inner and outer conflicts have to be dealt with by the protagonist, until overall balance is finally reached and the human soul is symbolically saved.

Aesthetically speaking, we created a noire dystopian setting with depressive visuals, by combining digital technology with a decadent underground environment. There is a great deal of connotation in these contrasting visual signs: They depict the paradox between the efficiency of digital technology and increasing human vulnerability. The film uses unsettling dark looks and oppressive spaces to convey the anxiety of a technological material world where hope in human nature struggles for its place. Yet, by tapping into the inner universe of the protagonist, the film hermeneutically transcends form and asserts a symbolic battle for hope in human nature.