Documentary filmmaker Rodney Ascher tackles this question "are we living in a simulation?" with testimony, philosophical evidence and scientific explanation in his search for the answer.

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Synopsis

What if we are living in a simulation, and the world as we know it is not real? To tackle this mind-bending idea, acclaimed filmmaker Rodney Asher (ROOM 237, THE NIGHTMARE) uses a noted speech from Philip K. Dick to dive down the rabbit hole of science, philosophy, and conspiracy theory. Leaving no stone unturned in exploring the unprovable, the film uses contemporary cultural touchstones like THE MATRIX, interviews with real people shrouded in digital avatars, and a wide array of voices, expert and amateur alike. If simulation theory is not science fiction but fact, and life is a video game being played by some unknowable entity, then who are we, really? A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX attempts to find out.

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His first feature, 2012’s ROOM 237 looked at The Shining through the eyes of five very different people. He visualized their wildly different interpretations of Kubrick’s classic by juxtaposing excerpts of the film with everything from Murnau’s Faust to the cover of the January 1978 issue of Playgirl magazine creating a trip down the rabbit hole that Chuck Klosterman, writing in Grantland, said “Obliterated my cranium.” It premiered at Sundance, went on to play Cannes and the NYFF before screening at over 30 festivals and being released theatrically all over the world. The film was largely made on his home computer at night and on weekends on a budget in the low three figures (before legal fees.)

Rodney Ascher

His first feature, 2012’s ROOM 237 looked at The Shining through the eyes of five very different people. He visualized their wildly different interpretations of Kubrick’s classic by juxtaposing excerpts of the film with everything from Murnau’s Faust to the cover of the January 1978 issue of Playgirl magazine creating a trip down the rabbit hole that Chuck Klosterman, writing in Grantland, said “Obliterated my cranium.” It premiered at Sundance, went on to play Cannes and the NYFF before screening at over 30 festivals and being released theatrically all over the world. The film was largely made on his home computer at night and on weekends on a budget in the low three figures (before legal fees.)

Last year he premiered THE EL DUCE TAPES (with co-directors David Lawrence and Ryan Sexton) at Hot Docs and the BFI / London Film festival. The film, focussed on the notorious lead singer of the 2nd most offensive rock band of the 1980s and 90s was made almost entirely from archival footage shot on a VHS camcorder. The project began as a time capsule and a character study but became strangely reflective of 21st Century socio-political controversies which became inescapable during the making of the film. A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX is his most ambitious film yet, using multiple styles of 3D animation to illustrate the experiences and philosophies of people who suspect the world itself is not quite real.

His follow up, THE NIGHTMARE was called The Scariest Movie of the decade” (Birth.movies.death) which might be overstating it, but looked great on the poster. Creatively, the film completely changed tactics from Room 237’s archival-driven montage. To visualize real people’s seemingly supernatural experiences during bouts of ‘sleep paralysis’ his team filmed interviews at night in the subjects’ own bedrooms and created stylized re-enactments inspired by the interviewees’ drawings and his own personal memories of a visitation by a ‘shadowman.’ Like Room 237, it premiered at Sundance before traveling around the world including an Imax screening in Moscow.

Other Projects include an GIF-centric music video for the Hugo-nominated hip-hop band CLIPPING (featuring Hamilton’s Daveed Diggs) and editing Andy Kaufman’s posthumous (?) comedy album, ANDY AND HIS GRANDMOTHER (Drag City) from a newly unboxed archive of 80+ hours of cassette recordings the comedian made in the late 1970s. He also created PRIMAL SCREEN a documentary series for the Shudder network and directed a short comic horror film for Hulu about the creation of a Halloween sound effects record (starring Knives Out’s Noah Segan and Barry Lyndon/Eyes Wide Shut’s Leon Vitali.)

Last year he premiered THE EL DUCE TAPES (with co-directors David Lawrence and Ryan Sexton) at Hot Docs and the BFI / London Film festival. The film, focussed on the notorious lead singer of the 2nd most offensive rock band of the 1980s and 90s was made almost entirely from archival footage shot on a VHS camcorder. The project began as a time capsule and a character study but became strangely reflective of 21st Century socio-political controversies which became inescapable during the making of the film. A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX is his most ambitious film yet, using multiple styles of 3D animation to illustrate the experiences and philosophies of people who suspect the world itself is not quite real.

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Reviews

ABOUT

Synopsis

FILMMAKER

Rodney Ascher

Reviews

If you like a glitch in the matrix