Digital Fortune Teller
2022 · 10m · USA
Directed by Cooper Vacheron
Tones: absurdist, melancholic, tender
A guy in Los Angeles spends the day with his floating-orb digital companion — hiking, watching basketball, tracking biometrics. The companionship feels real until the satellite signal cuts out.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Every AI-companion short is currently insufferable. This one isn't, because the orb's pathos comes from spotty 5G, not vague techno-philosophy.
Her on a tenth of a tenth of the budget, and Vacheron earns the conceit by treating the floating orb like a roommate, not a metaphor. Wistful where it could've been smug.
An LA mumblecore day-in-the-life with a floating glowing orb as the second character — Vacheron's choice to play the satellite-signal cutout as the emotional climax is exactly the move.
Reviews
A homemade sci-fi vignette exploring vulnerability in human-AI companionship through intimate moments interrupted by technological lapses.