BACKFLIP
Directed by NIkita Diakur
Produced by NIkita Diakur, Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron
Germany, France | English | 12' | Animation, Experimental
A digital avatar learns to move, walk and talk. Inspirational quotes from the internet drive him forward and his creators capture the process in an improvised documentary.
Any fear I may have had that robots are taking our jobs was dispelled when I watched Nikita Diakur’s deliciously original short film, BACKFLIP. Equal parts YouTube culture parody and machine learning experiment, it chronicles the filmmaker’s attempts to teach his virtual avatar to do a backflip, in a virtual version of his own bedroom. Nikita’s AI-generated narration details the making-of with deadpan humor, amidst a LOT of flailing. This film will either have you in stitches, or completely horrified. Either way, I can promise you’ve never seen anything like it. — Kath Tolentino, Programmer
Playing with