Nathan Freise | 10 mins | USA

Based on the English author E.M. Forster’s short-story of the same title, The Machine Stops is a science-fiction drama that follows two inhabitants of an underground technological dystopia, deemed simply as “the Machine.” Kuno and Vashti have conflicting opinions about the world in which they live & struggle to find hope on the very day their society comes to a sudden collapse. This prediction of Man’s oppressed yet complacent role in the midst of a technology-crazed world in relentless pursuit of an undefined “progress” is seemingly more relevant today than when it was published 100 years ago.

SCREENING SCHEDULE
7:00 PM     Sat, Oct 16, 2010
IndieScreen

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Directors | Adam and Nathan Freise
Story Rights | Kings College, Cambridge
Cast | Mascha Moore, Erik VanderWal
Extras | Ihsu Yoon, One Man Chen, Justin Miller, Amjad Olabi, Tatiana von Preussen, Cerone, Mathan Ratinam, George Quaiver, Christina Kooij
Narration | Francis Abbey
Makeup | Rebecca Nordmann
Music | “Devotion” by Sebastian Morawietz, “Celtic Requiem” by Elliot Simons

DIRECTOR’S BIO
Nathan and Adam Freise grew up in Union, Missouri and currently reside in New York City. They both received their B.Arch (Bachelor’s of Architecture) and Minor in Art History at the University of Kansas, Lawrence in 2004. Nathan earned his M.F.A. in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2009. Adam earned his M.ARCH 2 in at Columbia University in 2008. The Freise brothers are designers, graphic artists, and filmmakers working with video, CG, and animation to create digital narratives. Their short films are highly influenced by their background in architecture and design and interest in experimental environments. Stylistically, their pieces range from a flat two-dimensional graphic quality to a more cinematic aesthetic and explore themes of technology and design through both still and moving images. In 2007 they were awarded as two of Chicago’s “Visionary Young Architects”. They both trained under international architect, Jean Nouvel, in Paris France and have also worked in a handful of architecture offices in Chicago as designers and digital illustrators. The Freise Brothers are continuing to explore the relationship of digital design, narrative and cinema in their current and future works.