What if AI could read your fear — and decide your future?
You decide...or do you?
RIOT is Karen Palmer’s first emotionally responsive film — a branching narrative where you embody a protestor navigating a volatile encounter with riot police. Your facial expressions, captured in real-time, determine how the story unfolds. Anger? Calm? Fear? The system responds accordingly.
⸺ The Trailer
Awards & Recognition
- Phi Centre, Montreal
- Future of Storytelling, NYC
- Sheffield Doc/Fest, UK (Commission)
- IDFA DocLab, Netherlands
- Creative Tech Week, NYC
- Digital Dozen Breakthrough Award, Columbia University
Themes
- Emotional AI and justice
- Protest, power, and surveillance
- The interface between bias and technology
Developed in collaboration Brunel University and the National Theatre. RIOT uses machine learning and emotion recognition to bring the participant face-to-face with their own psychological triggers — and the systemic biases embedded in law enforcement.Commissioned by Sheffield Festival of the Mind, it marked a turning point in emotionally adaptive storytelling.
⸺ Gallery
