Director: Franklin Ritch
A 2023 American science fiction drama directed by Franklin Ritch, The Artifice Girl builds its story almost entirely through conversation, unfolding across three time periods as a small group weighs the reach and the limits of an artificial intelligence built to protect children online.
What is The Artifice Girl about?
A programmer working on his own has written a piece of software able to pose as a child in online spaces so that it can draw out and identify people who prey on minors. When investigators from a child-protection unit bring him in for questioning, the exchange shifts from suspicion to collaboration once they understand what the program is capable of. Told in three chapters set years apart, the film follows the tool as it grows steadily more capable and more independent, until the people responsible for it have to decide what they owe to something that was only ever intended as a means to an end. Much of the running time takes place in rooms where a handful of characters talk, and the questions on the table widen gradually from investigative tactics to consent, personhood, and responsibility.
Cast & crew
The cast is led by Tatum Matthews as the intelligence's on-screen presence, with David Girard and Sinda Nichols as the agents, and writer-director Franklin Ritch also appearing on screen. Veteran actor Lance Henriksen features in the later stretch of the film. The ensemble also includes Rashaud Sessoms, Alyssa Moody, and Lucy Noelle.
Context & significance
The Artifice Girl was released in 2023 and runs 93 minutes. Franklin Ritch both wrote and directed the feature. It sits within a line of small-scale, dialogue-driven science fiction that treats artificial intelligence as material for a contained chamber drama rather than for visual spectacle, keeping its focus on a few people in conversation. The film holds a 6.6 rating on IMDb. Its central subject, online safety and the use of automated tools in investigations, is presented through discussion rather than through direct depiction, which keeps the sensitive premise at arm's length and places the emphasis on the ethical questions the characters raise as the technology develops.
Where & how to watch
The Artifice Girl is available to stream on K-Time with a Persian dub and Persian subtitles, so viewers can follow this dialogue-heavy story in Farsi. Watching requires signing in with a free K-Time account, while this page itself is free to read. The interface is built for the Iranian diaspora, with a Farsi-first experience throughout.