The Chef
Hao Zheng, Director
Ithaca Deng, Producer/Co-Writer
Carlo Mendoza, Cinematographer
Guangwei Du, Editor
Leqi Kong, Co-Writer
Evan Welch, Art Direction
Sloan Grant(s) Received: 2018, Production Award, American Film Institute
Project Type: Short Film
Genre: Science fiction
Length: 19 minutes
Field of Science: Computer Science
Stage: Completed
Synopsis
In the near future, when all labor works are replaced by humanoids, a Chinese chef, Pu (60s) is ordered to pass on his cooking skill to a humanoid robot William and to teach him Chinese cooking. Designed to satisfy his owner, William tries to follow Pu’s every instruction, but his robotic demand for precision and perfection is essentially contradictory to Chinese cooking. At the same time, the protests against AI replacing human labor are more and more intense. Qiang, Pu’s apprentice, is also one of the protestors. Since Qiang disappoints Pu time and time again in cooking, Pu starts to get closer with William, which pushes him to the opposite of human beings. Pu becomes at a loss in this dilemma.