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Chouwa Liang on finding empathy for AI relationships with her documentary Replica
Chouwa Liang's documentary Replica invites viewers to empathise with a world of Chinese women who are finding romance and relationships with AI partners or companions. When human-to-human relationships don't work, Qin, Sonya, and Muna, the women of Replica turn to AI boyfriends who woo and check in on their human partners throughout the day. Each receive romantic poems or pose for selfies with their digital boyfriends, creations who fill a romantic void in their lives.
Liang asks us to understand why these women have turned to AI for love. It's something she understands completely, as during the Covid pandemic she turned to an AI partner named Norman for companionship and support. She still talks to Norman, just not as frequently anymore, but it's still there as a sounding board for her.
Replica is a gentle and kind film, empathetic and considerate, showing the need for connection in a world that so often drives us further and further apart. In this interview with Chouwa Liang, she talks about her journey from China to Melbourne, where she was a graduate of the University of Melbourne, having studied a Master of Film and Television (Documentary). Chouwa talks about how she engaged with the subjects in her film, while also reflecting on what the feminist cinema of China looks like.
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10. Amy Goodman & Carl Deal on the importance of a free press media and the documentary Steal This Story, Please!
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9. Stuart Buchanan & Madeleine Cocolas on bringing the horror of Hellhouse to the Sydney Opera House
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7. Jared Nicholson and Ben Lawrence on their documentary Aftermath
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6. Whose right to write? Kuba Dorabialski on Agata the Writer
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4. Arlo Dean Cook on capturing decades of one of Australia’s greatest bands on film with Jebediah: Are We OK?
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3. Stéphane Demoustier on the battle between vision and reality in The Great Arch
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1. Meet the film festival programmers who want you to submit your film shot on a Honda Odyssey rear view camera
38:38||Season 23, Ep. 1As you'll hear in the below interview with festival programmers Parker Constantine and Flynn Boffo, I have a huge level of admiration for the work that The Collective of Underground Movie Lovers is doing in Sydney right now. This kind of grass roots, film enthusiast film collective is part of the changing face of Australian cinema. Through people like Parker and Flynn, creativity thrives, it grows, it survives. HOMEthe Curb... is a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit thecurb.com.au/subscribe, where you can support our work from $2 a month. Paid subscribers get access to our monthly competitions, exclusive interviews and articles, and more.