Sex Robot Film Wins Prestigious UK Short Film Contest

December 12, 2018

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A dystopian sexbot flick that’s raising eyebrows and heart rates.

If this isn’t a sign of the times, I don’t know what is.

If (Girlfriend Deluxe)…, a movie about a middle-aged man and his woeful experience with a sex robot he orders online, claimed top prize at the Homespun Yarns Shorts Competition earlier this year.

Created by the UK-based editing company Stitch, the contest has been a career springboard for filmmakers since its inception in 2014.

The sexbot short’s success once again reveals our society’s persistent fascination and fear of all things related to sex and technology. Thankfully, If (Girlfriend Deluxe)… also comes mixed with a good helping of dark humor

Small budget, big praise

Shot on a budget of £1500 by Publicis copywriter Steve Moss, the short film follows a widower named Frank (Kevin Cherry) who tries to fill the void caused by the loss of his spouse with a sexbot (Devora Wilde).

Unfortunately for Frank, his purchase isn’t exactly what he’d hoped for and the experience is clearly awkward—to put it mildly.

What sets the film apart from, say, other futuristic sex tech films such as episodes from the show Future Sex, is that it approaches the dystopian subject matter with more of a wink and a smile than a heavy-handed mallet to the head.

What really gets the giggles is the horrible idea of merging pop-up ads with a sexbot—even though the Reading Tandori doesn’t sound half-bad. The film also gets some serious kudos its spots of animation, which are both touching as well as seriously creepy.

Suitably, Moss mentioned ads when talking about his win to Broadcast:

I felt so lucky to be chosen and even luckier to be the winner. It was certainly a challenge to make a film on such a tight budget but so many brilliant people got behind me and made it possible. This is my first step towards a life with less ads in!

More films on the horizon?

It is obvious that with media like Future Sex and If (Girlfriend Deluxe)… that the public is interested in seeing more films, short or otherwise, that explores the impact of technology on human sexuality.

Here’s hoping, however, that quality will continue to trump quantity and we get more flicks like Moss’s—or even better!

Image sources: Homespun Yarns

M. Christian

M.Christian (they/them) loves nothing better than exploring the intersections of sex and technology—and speculating on the future of both. A highly regarded erotica writer they have six novels,12 collections, 100+ short stories, and 25 anthologies as an editor to their name. Their non-fiction regularly appears in many sites, but they're most proud of being a regular contributor to Future of Sex.

Of their erotic fiction, Tristan Taormino said that “M.Christian is a literary stylist of the highest caliber: smart, funny, frightening, sexy—there's nothing [they] can't write about… and brilliantly.”

Reflecting their unique ability to sympathetically and convincingly write for a range of genders and sexual orientations, their stories have appeared in multiple editions of Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, The Mammoth Books of Erotica, and others. Their collection of gay erotic fiction, Dirty Words, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

While a majority of their stories have been collected into books like Dirty Words, their fondness for combining sex and science fiction is clearly evident in collections that include Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, Skin Effect Effect, Bachelor Machine, and Hard Drive: The Best Sci-Fi Erotica of M.Christian.

As a novelist, M.Christian’s versatility is on full display with Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Brushes, Painted Doll; and the somewhat controversial queer BDSM/horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth, and Me2.

M.Christian has worked on the industry’s production side as an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books and as a Publisher for Digital Parchment Services. The latter dedicated to celebrating the works of science-fiction legends such as William Rotsler, Jerome Bixby, Jody Scott, Arthur Byron Cover, Ernest Hogan, and James Van Hise.

Covering topics like BDSM safety, sexual education, senior sexuality concerns, queer and gender issues, plus reviewing a variety of sex tech products, M.Christian’s non-fiction has appeared on sites like Kinkly, Tickle.Life, Sexpert, Queer Majority, Sex for Every Body, and—of course—their ongoing work for Future of Sex.

If there’s anything M.Christian enjoys more than writing, it’s teaching. A featured presenter, sometimes with their friend Ralph Greco Jr, at national sex and BDSM events, they have lectured on kink play (with an emphasis on safety), polyamory, boosting sexual creativity, and erotica writing--for beginners or those wanting to go pro.

M.Christian is a cohost on two popular sex-education podcasts: Love’s Outer Limits with Dr. Amy Marsh and Licking Non-Vanilla with Ralph Greco, Jr.