Executive Summary
- Indie Film Tackles AI Isolation. Young directors James Hyland and Myles Flusser produced “Anna by the Window” to examine grief and technological estrangement.
- Critique of the “Slop Apocalypse.” The filmmakers call out social platforms for letting feeds turn into non-human, automated bot content.
- Real Chatbot Hallucinations. The production used ElevenLabs audio tools and pushed a live ChatGPT chatbot into erratic breakdown loops to record authentic eerie audio.
- Rooted in Personal Tragedy. Co-director Myles Flusser shaped the central sibling conflict from the recent death of his real-life brother.
- Streaming Launch in December. After community screenings in New York and Los Angeles, the movie will stream on Dolpho beginning December 15.
From tech behemoths scrambling to replicate OpenAI’s success with ChatGPT to Twitter rebranding to X under Elon Musk, Silicon Valley was undergoing an undeniable transformation in 2023.
Nearly 3,000 miles away in New York, two skeptical 20-somethings were trying to make sense of it all. So, they made a film.
“It was very personal. We wanted to put something together that spoke to the things we were going through and what the world was like. That ended up being artificial intelligence and technological alienation.”
James Hyland, co-director
Hyland and Myles Flusser created “Anna by the Window,” a coming-of-age film exploring grief and how technology can stifle human connection in the era of generative AI. The independent filmmakers wrote, directed, and produced the film in 2023 alongside their friends under their production company, Baggysuit.
Table of Contents
The Slop Apocalypse and Digital Exhaustion
The project was born out of frustration with online platforms turning into automated content mills.
“Particularly, it feels like the people running these platforms, YouTube, Instagram, et cetera, seem more contented than ever in letting it become a total slop apocalypse full of AI bots and non-human content. That intrigues me in a way and scares me, obviously.”
Myles Flusser, co-director
Zoomers like Flusser and Hyland grew up inundated with smartphones, social media, and all the risks that come along with them. A year after they filmed “Anna by the Window,” the US Surgeon General said social media should have a warning label because of its impact on mental health. Earlier this year, Meta settled a lawsuit brought by a coalition of states accusing it of designing platforms to addict children.
The din of constant digital exposure has led some young folks to join the neo-Luddite movement, which takes a stand against overreliance on modern technology by emphasizing IRL human connection.
Hyland is an organizer for a Luddite group called The Lamp Club. While the film was not made because of the Luddite movement, it shares many of its themes.
“I think that it speaks to the synergy of our separate film project and this larger organizing project that’s materializing all over the country, where people are fed up with these kinds of technological systems.”
James Hyland, Baggysuit
When Fiction Becomes Reality
“Anna by the Window” is a glimpse inside the world of Ryan, a teenage boy who travels to New York City to reconnect with his older brother, James, the founder of an AI startup.
The film’s crew shot across New York State and used a variety of tools to bring the project to life, including ElevenLabs AI audio software. The pair also pushed a real ChatGPT chatbot toward hallucination and included that audio in the film.
“There’s an AI chatbot that goes off the rails, you could say. We really cranked up all the dials. It started saying ‘error.’ It started speaking different languages.”
James Hyland, co-director
Flusser said they wanted to portray the eerie nature of AI just right. They are not eager to use AI products in future projects, though. The majority of the film relies on traditional tools like a Sony camera, written outlines, and improv.
“There’s a strangeness and alienation that come up when we interact with chatbots and AI. We were trying to capture that feeling as purely as possible, so it felt totally necessary to use AI to do that.”
Myles Flusser, co-director
Personal Tragedy and the Search for Digital Closure
While aspects of the film are fictional, others pull directly from the directors’ lives.
“My brother had recently died. There’s a lot of stuff in there that has to do with that. There is a climactic moment between the two brothers in this movie that is actually surgically removed from my own life and recreated on screen.”
Myles Flusser, co-director
However, the way the filmmakers chose to characterize James in the film, delusional, stunted, and running from reality, is distinct from Flusser’s real brother. In the film, James is portrayed by Hyland, who said his version of an AI startup founder is not based on a specific person.
“My character was in a state of denial. Using this technology to be the thing that could deliver him closure or be the thing that he could connect with. It makes him, in a way, kind of a sympathetic character.”
James Hyland, actor and co-director
Comparison Factsheet: Hollywood Biopics vs. Anna by the Window
The factsheet below contrasts corporate studio tech productions against Baggysuit’s personal indie approach.
| Story Dimension | Mainstream Tech Biopics | Anna by the Window (Baggysuit) |
|---|---|---|
| Narrative Focus | Billionaire founders and market empires | Personal grief, denial, and sibling distance |
| AI Treatment | Sensational sci-fi power or slick CGI assets | Eerie chatbot hallucinations and synthetic audio |
| Production Style | Big budgets, digital soundstages, and heavy VFX | Handheld Sony cameras, real NY spots, and improv |
| Cultural Stance | Obsession with founder drama and disruption | Neo-Luddite skepticism and face-to-face value |
| Audience Connection | Commercial theatrical runs and mass advertising | Independent screenings and direct indie streaming |
Anna by the Window on the Silver Screen
Hollywood is fixated on the real lives of tech founders. Production companies have backed films about SpaceX founder Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, and former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes. Even “Toy Story 5” tackled tech by introducing a smart tablet as the story’s antagonist.
“Anna by the Window” now joins the list of films putting the tech industry under a harsh microscope. As commercial experiments struggle, such as when China’s first AI-generated movie flopped at the box office, and projects like Elon Musk’s Grok AI film releases, indie cinema is capturing the true human tension behind automation.
“When we first started filming this, we were more mystified by AI, but toward the end our relationship with AI felt very cynical. It was strange. When we were making it, we saw this movie as a speculative sci-fi about artificial intelligence. Now, it’s like nothing really is sci-fi about it anymore.”
Myles Flusser, co-director
The “Anna by the Window” crew began screening the film this summer in New York City and the Hudson Valley. There are upcoming screenings in Los Angeles this November. The film becomes available on Dolpho, a streaming platform, beginning December 15.
You can find upcoming “Anna by the Window” screenings on Dolpho’s official film page.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the movie “Anna by the Window” about?
“Anna by the Window” is an independent coming-of-age film written and directed by James Hyland and Myles Flusser. The story follows a teenager named Ryan who travels to New York City to reconnect with his older brother, an AI startup founder struggling with personal grief and digital denial.
Did the filmmakers use real AI tools during production?
Yes. The filmmakers used ElevenLabs audio tools for synthetic voices and deliberately pushed a live ChatGPT chatbot into erratic breakdown loops to record authentic unscripted machine dialogue for the film.
What is the “slop apocalypse” referenced by the directors?
Co-director Myles Flusser used the term “slop apocalypse” to describe major social media feeds like YouTube and Instagram becoming overrun with automated, low-quality AI bot content and synthetic media.
Where can audiences watch “Anna by the Window”?
The film screened in New York and the Hudson Valley during the summer, with Los Angeles screenings scheduled for November. It will be available for streaming on Dolpho starting December 15.
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