In a future where culture is clicks, the ultimate social media celebrity fights to keep her popularity when a computer virus corrupts her systems—and saves her soul.
STATUS: Now Available: Watch it now on DUST »
A massive THANK YOU to all the festivals and all our viewers we met on the Hashtag Film Festival Tour! It was a blast and we are so honored to be a part of so many great festivals and meet so many people around the world and talk Hashtag, science fiction, and the impact of stories.
Watch the trailer:
Winner of 4 “Best of” festival awards with 17 nominations, Hashtag is a sleek, smart, and sexy view of a looming future where social media dominates every moment of our lives. A science fiction short film, Hashtag follows “X”, the ultimate social media celebrity, a charismatic influencer commanding the attention of over 800 million online followers. The film stars Gigi Edgley as “X”, the world’s top social media celebrity, Juliet Landau as the voice of A.I. assistant “Te’a”, and Erryn Arkin as the mysterious stranger.
Hashtag won the top shorts prize “Best Short Film” at Gen Con Film Fest, “Best Sci-Fi Short” at FilmQuest, “Best International Sci-Fi” at New Renaissance Film Fest, “Best Social Media Story” at Sydney Indie Fest, as well as “Honorable Mentions” at both Dragon Con Independent Film Festival and Heroes International Film Festival.
With 22 official selections, Hashtag has screened on 4 continents at some of the most prestigious festivals including HollyShorts, LA Shorts, Comic-Con International, Sci-Fi-London, and Blue Planet Science Fiction Film Festival in Nanjing, China.
A superior and nuanced actress, Gigi Edgley is well known for her role as “Chiana” in Syfy Channel’s internationally acclaimed science fiction series Farscape, and the host of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge. She has also had a leading role in the Australian series, Rescue Special Ops and appeared in USA Network’s TV miniseries, The Starter Wife. More recently, she appeared in the Star Trek Continues episode “Come Not Between the Dragons” as well as a number of short sci-fi films and her first music video, Closer. Gigi is also a co-producer helping Hashtag come to life.
Cutting a dashing figure on screen, Erryn Arkin, also a writer and producer, has appeared in a number of TV shows, including Home and Away (in Australia), CSI (in the US), and the horror movie, The Killing Hour. He is also developing an independent feature film, Leaving Angeles.
Juliet Landau, is the voice of “Te’a”, the AI assistant in the Hashtag world. A superb actress on stage and screens of all sizes, Juliet is known for her many roles including “Drusilla” in Joss Whedon’s Emmy and Saturn winning Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and “Loretta” in Tim Burton’s Academy Award winning Ed Wood as well as her numerous voices from Lois Lane to the Little Sisters in some of the biggest animated series, films, and video game series. Juliet is also currently working on a vampire documentary, A Place Among the Undead.
Hashtag is directed and co-written by Ben Alpi (Cowboy Creed, Silver Lining) who was inspired by a TED talk to write a story about our culture’s obsession with speed. Ben approached veteran sci-fi writer, Kevin Rubio (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Ben 10, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, TROOPS), to co-write the script and the present incarnation of Hashtag was born. Hashtag is an original, imaginative and thought-provoking tale in the tradition of The Twilight Zone. Through the medium of classic science fiction storytelling, our writers weave a disturbing story of our looming future as a social media society obsessed with information and fame.
To make Hashtag a reality, we have assembled an amazing team. Producing the film is Jyotika Virmani (Cowboy Creed), along with Bob Alpi (Cowboy Creed) and Gigi Edgley (One Step Ahead, Nobody Knows). Other Cowboy Creed team members include: Director of Photography, David Berry (Judas Kiss, Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II); Production Designer, Meg Savage (The Skeptic); Composer, Joe Terrana (Cowboy Creed, Cuban Sandwich Crisis, The Gita, Magadog); Film Editor, Jeff Handy (Cowboy Creed); Line Producer, Erik Goodrich (Beyond Scared Straight, Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II); and Sound Editor, Ralph Miller (Star Trek: Renegades, Cowboy Creed, Judas Kiss). Joining this team is our visual effects supervisor, Deke Kincaid (The Chronicles of Riddick, The Water Horse, Pirates of the Caribbean series, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Deja Vu); our Post Production Coordinator, Rick Arthur; Anibrain, an award winning visual effects and creative studio based in India; and over 30 VFX artists from around the world, including Doctor Who alum, Brett Jones, and WETA artists, Christian Poullay (Avengers: Infinity War, Justice League, Game of Thrones) and Rob MacBride (Mortal Engines, War for the Planet of the Apes, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2).
Hashtag is a US-Australian Co-Production of Runic Films and Little Empire Productions.
CREDITS:
Director/Co-Writer: Ben Alpi
Producer: Jyotika Virmani
Co-Writer: Kevin Rubio
Starring:
Gigi Edgley
Erryn Arkin
Simone Alex
and
Juliet Landau as the voice of Te’a
with
Todd Tucker
Leo Camacho
Chelsea Rebecca
Michael Anthony Jr.
Sarah Sterling
James Janisse
Linae Boehme
Co-Producers: Gigi Edgley and Robert A. Alpi, Jr
Director of Photography: David Berry
Production Designer: Meg Savage
Editor: Jeff Handy
Composer: Joe Terrana
Visual Effects Supervisor: Deke Kincaid
Key Makeup & Hair: Lisa Hansell
Supervising Sound Editor: Ralph M. Miller
Line Producer: Erik “Gooch” Goodrich
1st Assistant Director: Jared Hoy
1st Assistant Director (Hollywood): Lucas Bessey
Script Supervisor: Shawn Tira
1st Assistant Camera: Christina Hitchcock
1st Assistant Camera (Hollywood): Curt Sova
2nd Assistant Camera: Lauren Pollock
Gaffer: Kyle Warmack
Gaffer (Hollywood): Anderson Lau
Key Grip: Rob Richards
Best Boy Grip: Marcus Caracci
Best Boy Electric: Andrew Gorrell
Best Boy Electric: Walker Forshee
Art Director: Steve Karman
Costumer: Jamie Costin
Art Department Swing: Dickie Flicks & Jeff Waters
Post Production Coordinator: Rick Arthur
“Dress” Sequence Visual Effects by
Anibrain VFX
Executive Producer: Jesh Krishna Murthy
Executive Producer: Mark E. A. de Sousa
Compositing Lead: Pravin Hodage
Compositor: Rahul Roy
3D Supervisor: Mangesh Awate
FX Artist: Satyajit Barwal
Lighting Artist: Vikas Shinde
Animation Artist: Keshav Khatake
Rigging Artist: Amit Sahani
Texturing Artist: Sukhram Dabre
Production Coordinator: Aditya Kulkarni
Visual Effects Artists
Christian Poullay
Rob MacBride
Austin Ramsey
B. Jones
Ilan Fremder
Chris Harnwell
Neal Hallford
Michael Struck
Jisook Moon
Carlos Aldana
Max Rodas
Visual Effects by
Biota Studios
Music Producer: David John
Key Set Production Assistant: Adam Rady
Production Assistants: Mallory Clark & Stephanie Wander
Poster Artwork by: Scott Deyett
Press Consultant: Ilyce Meckler
PR Consultant: Sharon Handy
Produced by Runic Films and Little Empire Productions
Funding for this motion picture was raised in part with Kickstarter.
A Special Thanks to all the Backers of Hashtag!
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Photographed on the Red Scarlet-X.
Lighting Equipment provided by Luka Grip & Lighting, Burbank, CA and Bayonet Lighting, Los Angeles, CA
Filmed at IllusionLuka Studios, Burbank, CA and the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, Hollywood, CA
Music recorded at MusoSolus.
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