Interview:
Franklin Ritch,
star/writer/director,
"The Artifice Girl"
![]() Written and directed by Franklin Ritch, and produced by the Austin-based Paper Street Pictures, The Artifice Girl asks a hard question with no clear answer: can an artificial intelligence evolve beyond independent thinking to earn the right to free will? In The Artifice Girl, Ritch stars as Gareth, a survivor of childhood sex abuse who creates the software for an artificial intelligence that identifies and interacts with online predators and traffickers through a pre-teen avatar named Cherry. Gareth’s creation is so photorealistic and so intuitive that a law enforcement agency initially believes Gareth is exploiting a real child to lure his targets out of the dark. The Artifice Girl begins to explore the moral and ethical implications of Cherry’s existence, function, and technological advancements when Gareth joins the law enforcement agency to further his campaign against who intend to harm children. The Artifice Girl also stars Tatum Matthews as Cherry, Sinda Nichols and David Girard as the investigating officers, and Lance Henriksen as the elderly Gareth. The Artifice Girl, which premiered locally during this year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival, is now available for for digital and on-demand viewing and will screen at 6:45 p.m. Saturday, April 29 at the Alamo Drafthouse Mueller with Franklin Ritch in attendance. The Jacksonville, Fla.-based Franklin Ritch previously directed the Fantastic Fest short film Bedridden and the feature film Teardrop Goodbye with Mandatory Directorial Commentary by Remy Von Trout. Aired: April 25, 2023. Web sites: https://www.facebook.com/theartificegirl https://www.facebook.com/franklin.ritch https://www.paperstreetpictures.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Paper.St.Pictures |
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