404 is a startling short film – opening with a full throttle nightlife scene, it cuts quickly to the crisp morning after, to show hedonistic young father Gregory, aka GR404 (Théo Christine), being visited by his daughter Boo (Ella Ayeni), whose eyes are disproportionately wide, like those in a Snapchat filter. Over a weekend on a French social housing estate by the sea, Gregory and Boo probe their curious relationship.
The French film exists somewhere between The Florida Project and Black Mirror – a touching snapshot of life in a small but intense community, while also interrogating the porous border between the IRL and the filtered online lense.
“Those big eyes are my vision of a futuristic handicap and of the problem we have with the image we see and the one we want to reflect for others to see”, says director Antoine Besse, who made the film with Bordeaux-based Rave Skateboards’ new creative arm. 404 continues the urgent narrative of Besse’s previous projects that navigate between fiction and reality, from the celebrated short Le Skate Moderne and web series Red Creek.
This new short is part of a hybrid project – the film, a music video, and an EP by producer roseboy666, who scores 404. The artist’s 404 Augmented EP builds upon the soundtrack, revealing more about Gregory, Boo, and their fascinating life in this both unsettling and hopeful near-future with short interludes on the EP. The accompanying music video extends the story even further to explore, focusing on roseboy666 and fellow artist k$38.
404 is dedicated to the memory of actor Mabo Kouyaté. Watch the poignant, thought-provoking short above.