Exclusively for Daily Dead Readers: Attend a Free, Early Screening of Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s HOT SPOT in Los Angeles on August 19th

“The System is Unstable”

“In Hot Spot, set in a near future society ruled by sentient A.I., a private eye investigates a murder case only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord. As the detective’s identity slowly unravels, his world enters a state of hypnotic meltdown.”

Live in or around the Los Angeles area? Courtesy of Focus Features, we’re hosting a free, early screening of Hot Spot, exclusively for Daily Dead readers!

The screening will take place on August 19th at 7:00 PM at AMC Burbank. Our own Matt Donato will be on hand to introduce the film.

Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska and written by Robert Bolesto, the film stars Andrzej Konopka, Noomi Rapace, and Reika Kirishima.

How to Attend:

• Simply send an email to contest@dailydead.com with:
  • Your name + the name of your guest (if you’re bringing a +1 with you) + the subject “Hot Spot Screening”
• We’ll provide seating on a first come, first serve basis, and will notify you if your name is on the attendee list ahead of the screening date
• If you’re unable to attend after submitting, please let us know so that we can open your spot for someone else.
• Note: This opportunity is only for a free screening to attend the film on this specific date, at this specific location, and does not include travel or lodging.

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Director’s Statement:

HOT SPOT is a playful homage to sci- fi cinema, but it is also about all of the fears we feel but cannot name.

A wild genre-bending ride set in a near-future society ruled by sentient A.I., the film follows a private eye investigating a murder case only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord. As the detective’s identity slowly unravels, his world enters a state of hypnotic meltdown.

My goal was to describe the DNA of our present — and to touch upon our current fears, in a world where advanced technology is very close to witchcraft.

A.I., climate change, war and global unrest — they all make us fearful, and they all seem “too big for  words.”

When Robert Bolesto first wrote the script, which was about five years ago, A.I. was still sci-fi, we were very far from first even hearing about ChatGPT. And yet something was in the air, some anxiety and  premonition about our loss of control. About us humans realizing that as we’ve already allowed so much  digital presence into our lives, it is bound to take control away from us. The whole film is about that loss of control — about its horror, but perhaps strangely, also about its beauty.

On the surface, HOT SPOT is a cop movie set in the dystopia of the future. There is a cop, there is a murder, and there is new technology that puts all reality under constant surveillance…

…and yet HOT SPOT isn’t about following the plot. It’s about immersion and dreaming.

As you watch HOT SPOT, don’t use the logic you are used to using. Allow yourself to experience it, to take part in a shared dream.

HOT SPOT shows a world where we can’t hear our own thoughts anymore. We all yearn for some solitude.