Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033

Forum Expanded 2018

Inspired by Derek Jarman’s 1978 queer punk film Jubilee, Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033 follows Ayn Rand and members of her Collective, including Alan Greenspan, on an acid trip in 1955. Casting Susanne Sachsse as Ayn Rand, Zach Blas stages a psychedelic fever dream that sees the philosopher and her hangers-on transported to a dystopian future Silicon Valley. As Apple, Facebook, and Google campuses burn, their guide, artificial intelligence Azuma, reveals that Ayn has become a celebrity philosopher to tech executives, as her writings foster their entrepreneurial spirit. Amidst the wreckage, Rand and The Collective are introduced to the Internet and bear witness to techies being captured by anti-campus groupies. Inside an occupied office park, the group encounters Nootropix, a contra-sexual, contra-internet prophet, who lectures on the end of the internet as we know it. Seeking respite, Rand and The Collective find themselves at Silicon Beach, where chunks of polycrystalline silicon mix with sand and ocean.

by Zach Blas
with Susanne Sachsse, Dany Naierman, Lindsay Hicks, Fusako Shiotani, Raquel Gutiérrez, Cassils USA / United Kingdom 2018 English, Spanish 29’ Colour

With

Susanne Sachsse (Ayn Rand)
Dany Naierman (Alan Greenspan)
Lindsay Hicks (Joan Mitchell)
Fusako Shiotani (Azuma)
Raquel Gutiérrez (The Art Professor)
Cassils (Nootropix)

Crew

Written and Directed by	Zach Blas
Cinematography	Alison Kelly
Editing	Amy von Harrington
Music	xin
Sound Design	Tom Sedgwick
Production Design	Alexah Acuna, Kevin Gallo
Costumes	Lauren Warkentien
Make-Up	Catherine Alfonso, Mikayla Gottlieb
Casting	Zach Blas
Assistant Director	Sadé Clacken Joseph
Production Management	Rachel Wilson
Visual Effects	Harry Sanderson, Daniel Swan
Producers	Ali Roche, Tiffany L. Gray, Tara De Maro, Jaclyn Amor, Marcela Coto, Martabel Wasserman, John Palmer

Produced by

Ali Roche

Extra Credit Studios

Photos

Zach Blas

Zach Blas, born in 1981 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, USA, is an artist, writer, and lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London. Blas has exhibited and lectured internationally. His writings can be found in “Documentary Across Disciplines”, “Queer: Documents of Contemporary Art”, and “e-flux journal”. His work has been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers. His solo exhibition “Contra-Internet”, from which the film Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033 derived, ran at Gasworks in London from September – December 2017.

Filmography

2012 Facial Weaponization Communiqué: Fag Face; 8 min. 2016 Face Cages; 12 min. 2017 im here to learn so :)))))); 28 min., with Jemima Wyman 2018 Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2018