Vinnie, cyberscam startup founder, finds his moral compass when he confronts a rival scammer.

Alice - a Short Film Official: Instagram | Linktree

See Alice at New Hampshire Film Festival

Vinnie lives in the San Fernando Valley where he has convinced his two cousins, Donnie and Jenna, to help him run a small cyber scam startup. When one of their marks, a man named Fred who lives in LA, claims to have money from a lucrative crowdfunding site to pay for his cancer treatments, Vinnie decides to investigate. He calls Fred up to call him out for lying to them, but quickly discovers that, although Fred lied about his name, his cancer is real. When Vinnie asks for more information about his crowdfunding site, Fred gets spooked and hangs up. Vinnie locates Fred and goes to his house with flowers in an attempt to console him, but discovers he may have the wrong man.

The Plot

In October of 2023, I received a scam text. Even though it was fairly obvious that it was scam, I played along. I don't know why. Perhaps I fell prey to the common impulse to "mess with" the scammer. In any case, it got to the part where they asked for a photo. I told them that I couldn't share one because cancer treatments had ravaged my body. Even though this was a lie, I was suddenly confronted by a real human being. "God is here with you" they wrote in response, following up with: "Enjoy the moment, what you feel about, don't think too much, just live ok". They dropped any attempt to get at my money and, after several surprisingly empathetic texts, gently ended the conversation, wishing me well. I found myself filled with questions. Who was this person? Who was their god? What was their relationship to cancer that they would give such warm, calming advice? And so, I came up with Vinnie.

The Story

About the Director

Website

Adam is a filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist from Massachusetts. His work has been shown in galleries in Boston, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and London. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

Directors Bio

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Alice - a Short Film

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Alice - a Short Film

Vinnie, cyberscam startup founder, finds his moral compass when he confronts a rival scammer.

About the Director

About this account

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