The C.R.O.W.D.
2022 · 5m · UK
Directed by Liam Abbott
Tones: contemplative, tense
Dr. Lisa administers what looks like a routine Turing test on an AI, but the session quickly spirals into something stranger as the boundary between examiner and examined dissolves.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
The Turing Test is basically a tired thought experiment at this point, but Abbott flips the script so completely that by minute three you genuinely can't remember who's supposed to be human—that's the kind of subversive move that makes consensus look stupid.
The film understands its lineage in AI cinema and philosophical inquiry, but what elevates it is the formal precision of the reversal: each question, each pause, each cut systematically destabilizes the power dynamic until the form itself becomes the argument.
Shot in 48 hours and it never feels rushed because Abbott makes one brilliant decision early—the camera positioning subtly shifts perspective with each exchange—and that single formal choice carries the entire conceptual weight on its shoulders.
Reviews
A Sci-Fi Short That Flips the Turing Test on Its Head
Festivals
- Sci-Fi London 48-Hour Film Challenge 2022, Winner