Daniel Bittner

Movies

Rimini Protokoll: Uncanny Valley
Props
We mostly think of robots as work machines, as efficient and precise executors of tasks. In German industry, they barely look like people, to avoid emotional complications. Unlike in Asia, where humanoid robots have already been developed for some time, for example for care-work or as sex partners. The external similarity to human beings makes the acceptance of machines easier. However, if the machine is too similar to a human, we begin to feel mistrust: what is human, what is machine? Japanese robotics researchers call this weird similarity the “uncanny valley”. For his play, Stefan Kaegi works with a writer and playwright for the first time: Thomas Melle allowed an animatronic double of himself to be made. This humanoid takes the author’s place and throws up questions: what does it mean for the original when the copy takes over? Does the original get to know himself better through his electronic double? Do the copy and his original compete or do they help each other?
Rogue Saints
Producer
Two guys, Nick and Dylan, set out to steal a gigantic diamond buried in the basement of a church. As the duo bumbles their way through their plans, they find that the people they’re trying to dupe are actually what they both need —quirky, chaotic, and imperfect, but loving and lovable… the family they’ve been looking for.
Dialtone
Mayor's Assistant
A mysterious phone. A missing lawyer. An abandoned warehouse. They all help tell a story about Greg Pleasant, a Seattle lawyer who's held back from leading the dynamic life Christ wants him to live because he fears man's opinion of him more than God's. After Greg loses the control he believes he has over his life, an odd client tells him about an old phone that calls back into the past. When faced with the ultimate wake up call, how will he answer? How will you?