The documentary film Sleeping with Siri has won the Seattle Shorts Film Festival Audience Choice Award, in addition to other honors. The film documents Michael A. Stusser's personal experiment with digital gorging and detox and includes interviews with students and experts on the effects of personal digital technology.
Twisted Scholar Inc.
Sleeping with Siri, the digital gorge and detox documentary produced by West Seattle’s Michael A. Stusser and Marty Riemer has won yet another honor, the Audience Choice Award at the Seattle Shorts Film Festival Nov. 9.
The film follows Stusser through an experiment in which he first gorges on all things digital, a process that he demonstrates has negative effects on his health, followed by a detox period that puts him in a decidedly more reflective frame of mind.
He and Riemer were inspired by the digital detox efforts at Chief Sealth High School originally, which led to a long story by Stusser in the Seattle Weekly and subsequently the film.
Sleeping with Siri has won other honors since its release last spring including best overall winner at the Big Easy International film Festival in New Orleans, Audience Award at the American Documentary Film Festival, and Best short Documentary at the Rainier Film Festival
Stusser said, "It's funny that they pick particular movies to win awards when they're all really winners once they're selected for a film festival like this one. They had over 800 submissions for the Seattle Short Film Festival - and it's just great to be selected."
The two film makers now also offer a student challenge called Digital Blackout through Riemer's Twisted Scholar company that challenges students, parents, schools, and community groups to go without their digital devices for a few days and document the results.
