Evergreen brick works
TUESDAY, august 29, 2023

The Matrix

With the short films Roots and Chains and Arlo Alone

In 1999, The Matrix revolutionized the motion picture industry with its futuristic visual effects and action sequences. More importantly, the film asked audiences to question the reality of the world we inhabit, both as a society and individually. The Matrix follows a rogue group at the end of the 22nd century who believe a prophecy that a messiah-like figure known as “The One”  will restore humanity in a world overrun by advanced A.I. In this dystopian future, humans are created in a lab, rather than born, destined to live in a world that is artificially simulated for them – and it’s up to the Real World heroes outside the Matrix to expose the truth. Written and directed by sisters Lana and Lilly Wachowski, both members of this creative filmmaking duo came out as transgender women years later, and have since shared that the film’s themes resonate with their experiences of gender dysphoria, queerness, and trans awakening.

Screening with The Matrix, Roots and Chains depicts one’s search for a chosen “home” while escaping the threat of pursuers on oppressive lands. Thematically evoking the Matrix films, in Roots and Chains a family escapes captivity to make their way home to Senegal with agents of the state hot on their heels. This captivating stop-motion animation short by director-animator Francis Lacelle will have you reflecting on the emotional and physical toll of liberation. 

Filmmaker Nicole Dorsey’s prescient short film Arlo Alone is a futuristic drama set in an alternate not-so-distant setting where we are introduced to Arlo, a young woman isolated from human contact in a world in which environmental conditions prevent her from co-existing with other humans.