Creative Control, a sharp, dark send-up of present-day tech culture, made a big splash when it debuted at SXSW last year. Now, with a release both in theaters and online due some time in the coming months, Amazon has provided The Verge with a brand new trailer to get audiences excited about what's to come.
The film, directed by Benjamin Dickinson, explores the life-changing aspects of a new pair of AR glasses called Augmenta. The glasses, in the words of one hyper-hip executive, aim to put "a magical layer" on top of reality. That magical layer serves, inevitably, to alienate the protagonist from the rest of his life. Creative Control shows his experience for the nightmare that it is, and the fact that the film is shot in black and white only accentuates the anxiety that comes with embracing this new technology.
Creative Control will hit theaters later this year thanks to Amazon
Creative Control earned heaps of praise at SXSW, going on to win the special jury prize for visual excellence at the festival. The acclaim eventually attracted Amazon, which bought the rights to the film late last year. Amazon, for its part, has been on a tear recently, as it snaps up more films from festivals and notable directors to better compete with Netflix. Just recently, it bought the American rights to Complete Unknown, a romantic drama that just debuted at Sundance. And with Spike Lee's Chi-raq due to launch on Amazon Prime this week, there are suddenly more reasons than ever to pay for a Prime account.