‘Sleeping With Siri,’ the movie: Film festivals ahead for West Seattleites’ short

| West Seattle news | WS culture/arts

That’s the trailer for what West Seattle writer Michael Stusser calls the “digital-detox documentary” he made with fellow West Seattleite Marty Riemer – a short film that’s about to make rounds on the film-festival circuit. It’s part of the work Stusser did for his much-discussed Seattle Weekly story “Sleeping With Siri,” about the tech takeover of our lives. As described on the YouTube page for the trailer you can watch above:

Inspired by a high school’s “Digital Blackout” campaign, where students went without Facebook, e-mail or texting for an entire week, journalist Michael Stusser explores both sides of the technological divide in “Sleeping with Siri.” Jumping first into the digital madness with a Techno-Gorge, Stusser explores every single technological opportunity available, 24 hours a day, Foursquaring at every location, Skyping in the car and Tweeting, Pinning and “Liking” everything in sight. He then dropped out entirely for a second week, with no computer, e-mail or social networks, availing himself of the now lost icons of a by-gone era, including phone booths, land-lines, libraries, paper maps and letter writing.

So far, Stusser says, they’ve made it into festivals including the Big Easy International Film and Music Festival March 22-24 in New Orleans and the American Documentary Film Festival in April in Palm Springs. Will we see it on a big screen in Seattle? Stusser says they’ve applied to SIFF.

Bill March 2, 2013 (5:29 am)

This will be great.

lyndab March 2, 2013 (9:55 am)

Great topic!

islewrite March 2, 2013 (5:19 pm)

Pan a little to the left next time, Michael, so that I can see my old front yard. And Marty lives in my childhood home’s front yard. Trippin’…..

Kyla March 2, 2013 (8:38 pm)

Sounds like a really interesting and timely film- but I take great issue with the description of libraries as “a lost icon of a by-gone era”. Hmm, I guess reading, research, e-books, downloadable audio books, CD’s, movies, databases and computer access are quaint old-fashioned ideas…and Seattle and King County don’t use them at all anymore! (See: http://www.wa-list.com/?p=309 as an example)
BUSIEST PUBLIC LIBRARY BRANCHES IN WASHINGTON STATE, 2011

Library Library System 2011 Circulation
1. Central Library Seattle Public Library 1,677,146
2. Bellevue Library KCLS 1,611,085

Michael Stusser March 3, 2013 (6:00 pm)

Thanks for the entry on our film, Tracy. And Kyla, I agree with you whole-heartedly about our wonderful libraries, it was more a description of icons some of us are (sadly) moving away from. If you read my article in the Weekly, you’ll see an entire section during my Digital Blackout devoted to the SPL and my positive experience there….