Tag: Thriller

When I was making my feature The Way You Dance in Vancouver earlier this year, I was invited to a Royal Bank of Canada event in partnership with the Whistler Film Festival. There, I bumped into Cassandra Naud and Emily Tennant, the two leads of Influencer, a thriller feature I had caught on Shudder. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was a Canadian production shot in Vancouver—and that both lead actors were Canadian as well. I remember Influencer as a smart, character-driven thriller centered on a psychopath (played by Naud) who takes over the identities and assets of her victims, all of whom are influencers.

First, as someone who has used and observed technology since I was 12, getting my first Apple IIe in 1983, all technology, including AI, is not to be feared of but rather understood and used. Having worked with the advancement of computing, the transition of celluloid to digital filmmaking and flatbed editing to non-linear editing… etc., I can attest that AI, like any other technology, is not here to impede but to simplify and enhance human life.

In memory of Michael Jackson, who passed away on June 25, 2009 and the current controversy of HBO’s Leaving Neverland, I’m sharing an essay I…