“I’m not the one” is a short film with an interactive narrative that gives audience members the opportunity to change the storyline by the choices that they make. The medium for I’m not the one is a touch screen which is mounted on the wall. Audiences stand in front of the screen, put on a pair of headphones and touch the screen in order to choose various options in the story.
The film takes place in a dark dystopian future version of the United States. It is 2024. All Muslims are being captured and tortured by the CIA. The government believes that every single Muslim may be in communication with terrorists and they should be vetted and interrogated by any means necessary. This story focuses on one of those Muslims, Hessam, a young Iranian student.
The film takes place in an interrogation room at the CIA. The film is a comprehensive conversation between Hessam and a CIA officer. The audience uses an interface to assume the officer’s role and choose his dialogue. The plot of the film is guided by these audience choices, culminating in an ending that is a direct result of their narrative choices.
This project is a reflection of events in politics, the media and society which are occurring today. Many have struggled with xenophobia and Islamophobia before. Now, the emergence of a new power in the United States–which supports these movements more than ever–is the beginning of a new era. By engaging with my project, people will be put in the disturbing situation of being a CIA officer deciding Hessam’s fate. His destiny will ultimately be in their hands.
