Show Your Truth with the New Film From Corey Hughes and MEMORY
MEMORY releases Your Final Meditation, a film by Corey Hughes that explores how an AI-powered mental health game taps into people’s emotions, blurring the line between the personal and the screen.
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Show Your Truth with the New Film From Corey Hughes and MEMORY
MEMORY releases Your Final Meditation, a film by Corey Hughes that explores how an AI-powered mental health game taps into people’s emotions, blurring the line between the personal and the screen.
Your Final Reflectiondirected, written and edited by Baltimore-based filmmaker Corey Hughes, it explores the intersection of real-life emotions and memories with the sometimes disturbing world of dynamic AI. It stars Jodiiie (portrayed by actress and singer Hanna Olivegren), a tie-wearing, art-loving nature lover who wants to manage her anxiety—and finally create a new original song for her “best friends”—with the help of Transcend, a machine-learning AI assistant and VR game that creates customized meditations.
“The film examines how we relate to technology, especially cameras and screens, through the lens of the body,” Hughes said. “It looks at self-help culture, health apps, and emerging technologies as ways to “make a living” or improve yourself. This request is both sincere and irrational.”
What starts as a digital version of what you’d expect in a guided meditation class—think singing bowls, calming nature sounds and breathing box exercises—turns into a more immersive, sometimes anxiety-seduction go through 12 different game levels that bring our character closer to passing, whatever that means for him.
What does it mean if our most intimate, even spiritual, experiences are controlled by technology and controlled by programs we don’t even understand?
Corey Hughes
“I was interested in how tools like meditation apps and fitness trackers, intended to help us fix ourselves, reshape our sense of self,” said Hughes, who was inspired to create the film after managing her anxiety and panic attacks through guided meditation online. “What does it mean when our most intimate, or spiritual, experiences are mediated by technology that is owned and controlled by systems we don’t fully understand? What happens when our spirituality becomes a place for improvement?”
Hughes’ narrative approach utilizes a variety of visual techniques such as 3D animation, a fascinating macro view of insects at work—shot in her backyard during Brood cicada molting season—and AI-generated content to tell Jodiiie’s story. “Some stages are shot with the crew in a cinematic narrative style, some are shot inside virtual game engines, and a few levels are just me running through the woods with a 360 GoPro head,” Hughes said. “Each path speaks something different” as Jodiiie progresses through each level while encountering several real-world technical problems. Even the most innovative VR headsets will inevitably need charging eventually.
Riding the film’s festival circuit, including screenings at the Rockaway Film Festival and the New/Next Film Festival in Baltimore, where filming is also taking place, Hughes and independent, artist-focused animation company MEMORY opted to forgo the traditional release route. Instead, the team released the film through Metalabel, the first platform known for helping artists collaborate and share their work, while maintaining creative and financial control.
“We partnered with Metalabel on the release because we wanted it to be in line with the spirit of the project. The film is not made in a traditional way so it doesn’t make sense to do a traditional film release,” said Hughes. “What I love about the platform is the ability to customize the release in a way that feels more deliberate and structured than just blasting something out on social media. I’ve always been interested in making work that exists between the realms of art and film, and looking at Metalabel’s catalog, it felt like a natural home for this project.”
In addition to the availability of film on Metalabel, there are also other goods to dance to. Your Final Reflection. “I knew I wanted to do something different than just releasing a film on Blu-ray,” Hughes says, “and I love the idea of building a world outside of the film with custom elements connected to the project.” YFM Magic Rock, a limited edition design collaboration with Lorre Mill, is inspired by a key element of the film and features eight unique MP3 cartridges featuring songs and sounds from the film. “The film has an extraordinary soundtrack featuring many of my favorite Baltimore musicians, so it made sense to highlight the music in the physical release.”
The analog feel of Magic Rock offers a marked contrast to the world of Jodiiie and is not compatible with streaming services or smartphones. “I think the media landscape is something we miss with endless libraries of streaming music.” Meanwhile, the 60-page digital edition, part of the YFM Digital Bundle, includes original texts, inspirational images, guided meditations and more for a deeper metaphysical experience.
Whether you’re AI-obsessed or anti- Your Final Reflection may evoke an unexpected range of human emotions during its 52-minute running time. We felt hope, sadness, excitement and fear as we followed an AI-guided journey through the natural, digital and hybrid worlds. How far should one go to seek inner peace when technology touches almost every second of our daily lives? As the soft-spoken narrator reminds Jodiiie (and the viewer, by extension) during her gameplay, “Each day we wander, looking for something new. Show your truth.”
Your Final Reflection is available now on Metalabel.
