Creative Control is in the Narrative Competition at SXSW and will be premiering March 14th. Take a look below for the trailer, and stay tuned for our review of this very interesting black and white comedy.
The setting is New York, 5 minutes in the future. In the immaculately composed world of writer/director/star Benjamin Dickinson’s sophomore feature CREATIVE CONTROL (the follow-up to his widely acclaimed debut FIRST WINTER), the glorious technological advances and communication devices of the near future meant to increase connectivity and alleviate bordeom are only increasing the anxiety level of the insecure New Yorkers who’ve inherited them. David (Dickinson) is an overworked, tech-addled advertising executive developing a high-profile marketing campaign for a new generation of Augmented Reality glasses. Feeling stuck in his relationship with yoga teacher Juliette (Nora Zehetner, BRICK, IFC’s “Maron”), he envies the charmed life of his best friend, fashion photographer Wim (Dan Gill, THE WEDDING RINGER) and his entrancing girlfriend Sophie (Alexia Rasmussen, CALIFORNIA SOLO) – so he uses the glasses to develop a life-like avatar of her. Unwittingly, fantasy and reality begin to blur. As passions escalate and things get increasingly out of hand, the friends are forced to deal with the impending collision between their public, private and imaginary lives. A cerebral head-trip told in gorgeous anamorphic black and white cinematography and carefully structured long-take tableaus, the film features unforgettable supporting turns by comedy genius/lunatic Reggie Watts and Das Racist’s Heems. CREATIVE CONTROL is an entirely unique vision of the intersection between the present and the future by one of independent cinema’s most promising new voices.