December 6, 2022 | Holly Rushakoff
鈥淒o you think it鈥檚 possible to build a computer that simulates real life? 鈥� If you were living in a simulation, would you be able to tell?鈥� So begins The Goji Project, a short science fiction film produced by students in MACS 480: Advanced Filmmaking last spring. The film has received recognition from three film festivals this fall.聽
The Goji Project won from in October, which awards films in a monthly competition for filmmakers around the world. It also received an honorable mention for a student film at , and a certificate of achievement in the Sci-Fi Short category at LA International Film Festival鈥檚
Students produced The Goji Project in the course taught by Victor Font, lecturer in the Department of Media & Cinema Studies, and premiered it at the UIUC Student Film Festival in April. The nearly 23-minute film was written and directed by Lincoln Rogers, then a senior in advertising who graduated in May 2022.
鈥淭he best part of the whole process for me was the connections I made with the other people in the class,鈥� said Rogers, who is now a creative maker at SOCIALDEVIANT, an advertising service in Chicago. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e in go-mode, on the clock, filming, those connections happen really quickly鈥�. And what started as a script that I read to the class over a Zoom meeting became this story that was really meaningful to everybody, that we all got to have a hand in bringing to life.鈥�
Rogers was inspired by a philosophical piece called by Nick Bostrom: 鈥淗ow likely is it that we are the first real humans, rather than digital copies made by humans far more advanced than us?鈥� Rogers explained. He contemplated how people derive value from their lives and make sense of patterns and coincidences.
What started as a script that I read to the class over a Zoom meeting became this story that was really meaningful to everybody, that we all got to have a hand in bringing to life.
Lincoln Rogers
Writer and Director of The Goji Project
鈥淢y favorite scene is the conversation between the two Gojis, when orange-hair Goji says [to blue-hair Goji] that, 鈥楴o matter what the simulation means, it is beautiful.鈥� The unknowns of the universe can be terrifying, but they came together in this crazy way to create a beautiful world for us.鈥�
As a Media student, Rogers knew he wanted to make movies and said Font 鈥渋s an amazing professor鈥� and took his Advanced Filmmaking course twice 鈥渂ecause it was such a valuable experience.鈥� Rogers is already working on his next film鈥攁nother sci-fi鈥�”about a man who works at an insurance agency who has an advanced AI assistant implanted in his brain.鈥�
Font created the Advanced Filmmaking course in 2019 but it wasn鈥檛 offered in 2020 due to the pandemic. The Department of Media & Cinema Studies has been collaborating with the Department of Theatre in the College of Fine and Applied Arts to recruit student actors for their Advanced Filmmaking course. This fall, Theatre鈥檚 Advanced Scriptwriting course will generate the script to be used this spring. The class will also collaborate again with Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, as they did in 2019 with the Department of Theatre to create the short film . The MACS course plans to film before spring break and to edit a first draft to present at the 2023 UIUC Student Film Festival.
鈥淢ore resources lead to more talent, better productions, and more achievements,鈥� Font said about the cross-campus collaboration. He also hopes their recognition by film festivals will attract more students interested in pursuing media and cinema studies as a major and a career.
鈥淚鈥檓 sure this is our first award of a lot and better ones to come,鈥� Font added.
See behind-the-scenes photos from various stages of filming The Goji Project, which used the new production studio in Gregory Hall to hold auditions and the television studio set at Illinois Public Media to construct a dorm room.
Watch The Goji Project:
Film credits:
- Written and Directed by: Lincoln Rogers (BS 鈥�22, advertising)
- Executive Producer: Victor Font, lecturer of media and cinema studies聽
- Original Score: Tony Rogers (Lincoln鈥檚 father)
- Director of Photography: Robyn Pease (Class of 2023, media and cinema studies)
- Chief Lighting Technician: Nathan Carlberg (BS 鈥�22, media and cinema studies)
- Starring: Raiya Wen and Ben Mathew (both BFA 鈥�22, theatre/acting, College of Fine and Applied Arts)
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