soundtrack - end measure
cinematography - Katie Edwards
The final duration of the film is anticipated to be between 10 and 20 minutes. Filming commenced in the summer of 2023, with plans for additional shooting later in 2024. The film comprises a mix of original footage and found social media content. A preview can be seen in our trailer below. The initial version, ‘Frenemy’ 1.0, was accepted for screening at the 2023 Being Human festival and was scheduled to be showcased at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.
Frenemy is an immersive and visually striking documentary that explores the impact of social media content algorithms. Through experimental dance, interviews, dramatic sequences, and high-energy, in-person workshop recordings, the film empowers its viewers to confront and resist algorithmic manipulation and offers a path to a more fulfilling digital existence.
Filmed handheld and in the first-person perspective, Frenemy explores the intimate relationships that young people (aged 13-25) have with the social media apps on their phones. The film looks at how these interactions can be re-evaluated by looking at them through the lens of human to human relationships. It also draws attention to some of the biases and beliefs that are encoded into algorithmic technologies, which reproduce intersectional forms of structural inequality.