FRONTIER SOLUTIONS

SHORT FILM

American culture has been closely tied to the “Old West” since the 19th century, with theorists like Frederick Jackson Turner arguing that, for better or for worse, the frontier was a process that formed a composite nationality for the American people. At some point however, this place disappeared from view, and American identity began to be shaped by modern society; shifting from wide open country, to dense cities and suburbs. Today, the west is changing again. In many areas, empty plains become solar fields, and small towns populated in the days of western expansion begin to depopulate, while automated warehouses and data centers take their place. The west’s population is becoming sparse again, but with the help of automation, no less industrious. 

Frontier Solutions is a speculative short film that looks at this place and the future forms of labor that may exist in it. The film explores themes of isolation, loneliness, and the frustrations of on-demand labor in a vast and rugged automated landscape, as we follow the last person left to work in the west.