2022 Nominees

Brainstream

National Film Board of Canada, AATOAA

CANADA

- Interactive: Children (0-10)

You’re inside the head of D., a young girl who’s livestreaming her brain activity during a new kind of treatment session. Online, along with other participants, you massage her brain, experiencing the free flow of her thoughts, emotions and obsessions. Now, she’s telling you about her weekend. Earlier, her anxiety played some catchy beats that still lurk in one corner of her mind—like an earworm that won’t let go. Keep massaging. It’s doing her some good. In exchange, she’s giving you a guided tour of what’s going on inside her head, empowered by your gestures and stimulating presence. D. opens up as her mind wanders—perhaps a little bit like your own mind. Brainstream is an interactive film written and directed by Caroline Robert of the renowned creative studio AATOAA. Marrying animation with digital creativity, the film was very deliberately made for a broad, general audience. What if all the energy we spent on our screens every day could be turned into something useful?