Following the acclaimed cyberpunk movie I.K.U., which premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival and screened worldwide, Shu Lea Cheang is set to direct FLUIDØ in 2015 with Jürgen Brüning Filmproduktion and Berlin-based crew and cast members.
Set in the post-AIDS future of 2060, where the Government is the first to declare the era AIDS FREE, mutated AIDS viruses give birth to ZERO GEN – humans that have genetically evolved in a very unique way. These gender fluid ZERO GENs are the bio-drug carriers whose white fluid is the hypernarcotic for the 21st century, taking over the markets of the 20th century white powder high. The ejaculate of these beings is intoxicating and the new form of sexual commodity in the future. The new drug, code named DELTA, diffuses through skin contact and creates an addictive high.
A new war on drugs begins and the ZERO GEN are declared illegal. The Government dispatches drug-resistant replicants for round-up arrest missions. When one of these government android’s immunity breaks down and its pleasure centers are activated, the story becomes a tangled multi-thread plot and the ZERO GENs are caught among underground drug lords, glitched super agents, a scheming corporation and a corrupt government. Check yourself in as a fluid junkie for a super hyper viral ride.
“Throughout the 1980s I was living and working in New York City and very much involved with the downtown scenes of performance and independent filmmaking. The 1980s was a decade of protest and street actions, of clubbing, sex, drugs and the virus. As the 1980s progressed, I and my friends were attending funerals on a weekly basis, funerals of friends passing away because of the AIDS epidemic. With ACT UP leading direct action and civil disobedience cities worldwide, the pressure on governments to find a remedy increased. Yet, more scandals and conspiracy theories would surface that indict government and pharmaceutical industries’ failure to produce and distribute the essential drugs for a cure. FLUIDØ ultimately claims the virus as my own salvation. It is an attempt at reconciliation with the pain of lost intimacy.” – Shu Lea Cheang
* Shu Lea Cheang (1954, Taiwan) is a multimedia artist who works in the fields of net-based installation, social interface and film production.
