Variety debuted the trailer for The Artifice Girl, the first sci-fi feature film from writer-director Franklin Ritch. The key art for the sci-fi flick was also released.
“The Artifice Girl” follows the punishing interrogation of a rogue tech wizard responsible for creating an elaborate AI program to lure child predators and abate human trafficking. As the tech grows sentient and develops its own moral code, the characters are caught in the cross-hairs as they debate authoritative overstep, boundaries and abuse of power while questioning the fate of anonymity and autonomy.“The Artifice Girl” casts memorable up-and-comers David Girard (“Teardrop Goodbye”) and Sinda Nichols (“That Abandoned Place”) as special agents Amos McCullough and Dena Helms, and Tatum Matthews (“The Waltons: Homecoming”) as Cherry, along with Lance Henrikson (“The Blacklist”), and Ritch, himself, who plays Garreth, the troubled vigilante whose lofty creation kicks off the moral quandary.
The Artifice Girl is included in the Cheval Noir program at the festival. It will compete with other anticipated titles such as The Elderly, Polaris and Next Sohee.
The film was produced by Aaron B. Koontz and Ashleigh Snead of Paper Street Pictures, Blood Oath, and Ritch’s Last Resort Ideas. Friend to many here at ScreenAnarchy, Peter Kuplowsky, served as an executive producer.